Wednesday at 1:00 The Powells had their hearing with the Board of Zoning Appeals to decided if they could keep their family pet, a story discussed weeks ago. READ HERE.

I’m not sure how many meetings like yesterday I can attend. Listening to this group of self important overlords of Roanoker’s property rights is maddening beyond description. To their credit, the Powells conducted themselves with professionalism and respect. Don’t let this photo fool you. The hearing had Chelsea in tears by the end. Shame on you Board of Zoning Appeals!!

The Powells made a well reasoned and researched presentation to the board who questioned them on things like “what is the point to having an Emu” and “wouldn’t an Emu attack be dangerous”? Give me a break. If this was about the danger of an animal attack, then by the logic of this line of questioning Pit Bulls, Rott Weilers and other more aggressive breeds of dogs would be banned as well. In answer to the possible danger of an Emu attack, the Powells research had discovered that Emus are a favorite of petting zoos because they are great with children.

The Powell’s neighbor, Sharon Hatfield, seems to be accusing them of being poor caretakers to their animals. In fact numerous complaints have been made to animal control who have been to the Powell’s home over and over. To clarify the situation with the complaints, a statement from animal control was read aloud in the hearing. The statement said that animal control had been called to the Powell’s home numerous times and in not one of those cases did they find any issue with the care of the Powell’s animals. The Powell’s have never been cited in any of those visits. The letter went on to say that the animal control officer in question had even handled the Powell’s pets personally. It sounds like the neighbor is using this government enforcement office to harass the Powells.

In the end, the Powells will get to keep their Emu, but the board voted to only grant them eighteen months on their request. This means that next year the Powells will have to go through this process all over again even if at that time the Emu has proven to be a respectable member of the Grandin Court community. The Powells are pleased, but your News Guardians are not. It is wholly unacceptable that the Powell’s will have to go through this interrogation again after proving their case so well.

Visiting the Emu in person was delightful. It is a very interesting an endearing animal that I’ll be the children in the neighborhood love. Click the image of Chelsea Powell kissing the Emu and you can see a short 30 second video of the two of them.

In closing, giving government at any level this kind of authority to tell people what they can and can’t do with their personal property is wrong. It is not an authority government is meant to have and this story is a prime example of that. The police power Roanoke’s citizens have allowed the city to exercise has become a powerful weapon of harassment in the hands of a neighbor with an apparent ax to grind. That is wrong no matter how you spin it.