Monday night at 7pm, the city of Balch Springs will hold a city council meeting and discuss 

outlawing live roosters anywhere in the city,

limiting a family to 2 hens and

forbidding a family from processing their own meat.

Some feel this is a bit like telling someone where they can shop for groceries and they plan to speak up at the meeting during citizens' comments.  Non-English speaking Hispanic residents may not even know about this agenda item and will largely be affected as raising of poultry and livestock is a common cultural practice.

Apparently the city feels outlawing the animal in the city will stop the practice of the illegal activity of rooster fighting, overcrowding and neglect.  Nothing has been said about what will happen to the extra animals if outlawed. The purpose of outlawing the processing of livestock is not known. 

Julie Greer of the Balch Springs city council states as a comment to the original blog posting, "Our community is changing and so our our needs. This came about, because of cock fighting and citizens that are slaughtering animals in their backyard."

The owner of Eden's Organic Farm, which supplies part of the local grocery list for about 25 families in the metroplex through Communty Supported Agriculture, is urging attendance to the meeting by anyone with any connection to the farm, who raises poultry or any of their own food in general, as the ordinance also calls for outlawing processing of hoofed livestock on any residential land - i.e., a family farm. 

"What happens when someone decides they don't like the way a large span of land that grows produce looks? Do we then outlaw all farming next?"  Marie Tedei, new agriculturist and local, organic food proponent asks, in reference to the possibility that part of the proposed rooster ban is due to people not liking the sound of a rooster's crow. 

"This is really about your right to feed yourself, as much as it is about protecting the rights of animals - which can and should be done, without making ownership of them a crime."