Honestly, I was incensed when I read this article: A small one-horse town in Nebraska named Hickman wants its one horse gone. Looks like the town grew up (and got re-zoned) around this old horse, Peter Rabbit, 32, who was born there. Now the City Council wants to enforce the laws that prohibit livestock since it appears there is no grandfather clause to protect old Peter Rabbit. His owner, Harley P. Scott, 76, says the horse is too old to move and just wants him to live out his days on the same pasture he was born in well before the ordinance banning livestock was created. Only 4 acres remain of the once 40 acre farm, which by the way, should be plenty to house one horse.
Being a horse owner myself (who recently had to say goodbye to a 30+ year-old best friend) plus the constant fighting with our own County Commission to keep our neighborhood rural, this story pulled at my heartstrings (and yes, I have one). I found Hickman’s city council website, where the home page is taken up with their version of the Peter Rabbit Story. I clicked on the contact us button to give them a little input from Lithia but it has been “temporarily disabled”. Guess there are no shortages of cowards in Hickman, either.
I couldn’t help but notice their vote on this issue was 5-1 against the horse. That sure sounds familiar to those of us battling growth issues here at home. Wake up, Hillsborough! This could be us very soon if the sprawl is allowed to continue and if the majority of our board consists of mere puppets for the development community.
This article appears in Aug 20-26, 2008.
