[Rhodes22-list] Country Living

[Paul Grandholm]

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Ottawa County officials are
raising a stink as they try to educate would-be
residents of some of the realities of rural living.



The Ottawa County Planning Commission has created a
new brochure designed to reduce nuisance complaints
that new homeowners sometimes make against farmers.
The pamphlet includes a scratch-and-sniff section that
emits a genuine odor of manure.


"It's an attention grabber," said Mark Knudsen,
director of the county's planning and grants
department. "The whole purpose is that people should
not move into a rural area unless they're willing to
accept and embrace the practices that happen on a
farming operation."


Ottawa remains a major farm county, with dairy cows,
beef cattle, chickens, turkeys and hogs. Too many
buyers with a taste for country life are moving in and
complaining about noise, dust and odors, farmers and
county official say.


"We've got people near us calling the police and
saying they don't want to hear the tractors," said Ann
Pyle, whose family has a dairy herd.


The pamphlet explains that state law generally
protects farmers from complaints about their
operations, especially when spraying pesticides,
spreading manure, transporting products and driving
slow machines on two-lane roads.









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Paul Grandholm
C&H Technology
GrandPower Components Div.
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