6-Year-Old Takes on Goat Battle
Actually, they want him to get rid of them
By DOUG GREENE
Updated 3:02 PM EST, Fri, Nov 6, 2009
Emelia wants to save the Daniel True’s goats in Southington, so the 6-year-old has started a petition to make sure they don’t go anywhere.
True is in a battle with the town to keep his seven goats, and Emelia Pettit his the youngest supporter.
The problem is this: True's family had 70 acres of land in Southington, but after several subdivisions he's down to an acre and a half, too little to keep the goats, the town said.
From a folder, he pulled out a white paper on Wednesday. It’s a cease and desist order from the zoning enforcement officer, telling him he has to have three acres to have farm animals. It's an order to get rid of the goats.
At 6, Emelia had probably never before heard of a cease and desist order, but she is devastated when she heard about this one.
When she found out that the goats might have to go, she asked her mom what she could do and they came up with a petition drive.
"We're probably gonna mail it to them and they'll know about it and hopefully the goat farm will be OK," she said.
Zoning Enforcement Officer Frank Vinci recently told the the Meriden Record-Journal that True can do is go to the Zoning Board of Appeals to request a zoning variance.
True plans to request a special exemption. Mentally disabled people come to see his goats, he said. The neighbors like seeing them and he doesn't want to euthanize his pets.
"Two of them are pregnant," he says. "That would be.....," his says, his voice trailing off.
First Published: Nov 4, 2009 2:45 PM EST
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