By KAREN PARKER | County Line Editor
“We were getting so many complaints, we had to do something,” Town of Clifton Clerk Mary Cook said to justify the board’s resolution banning the deposit of horse manure on town roads.
Although the resolution is clearly aimed at the Amish, who make up about half of the town’s residents, it is primarily directed to carriage horses and not farm horses, Cook said in an interview with the County Line on Monday.
Motorcyclists and ATV operators have the most difficulty with piles of horse manure, as riders can slip, resulting in accidents, Cook said.
Owners and operators of the horses will be required to either clear the manure from the roadway or diaper their horses.
How the resolution will be enforced is not clear. The town has no law enforcement, so Cook thought the public could take matters into its own hands.
“They can take a picture of the buggy operator and send it to the board,” Cook suggested.
All of this may be a slippery slope. In Auburn, Ky., two old order Amish filed a suit against the town, charging religious discrimination in an ordinance mandating diapers on horses.
The ordinance, passed in 2014, broadened an existing law mandating the removal of dog waste in public places. The new law, which the city said was spurred by complaints from neighbors about horse manure, requires a “properly fitted collection device” to be placed on all horses walking on the street.
Auburn residents say the issue has divided the town of about 1,300 for years. Members of the town’s Amish community have refused to comply with the ordinance, saying equine diapers violate the community’s religious standards. That stance has landed many of them in court, or worse.
Last year, after a jury found Dan Mast guilty of violating the ordinance, he refused to pay the $193 fine and spent 10 days in jail.
Attempts in other areas have met with similar failure. Allowable behavior varies from Amish community to Amish community, and so far the Clifton community has not responded to the resolution.
Cook said the board voted unanimously to pass the resolution; however, no Amish attended the meeting. Board members are Tom Trepes, Dennis Boeder and Kevin Cook.
Cook said there was interest from the Town of Wilton to pass a similar resolution. Furthermore, Sheriff Scott Perkins indicated it was a matter the county may consider, she added.
But the lack of a “poop police” to enforce the law suggests most horse diapers can probably remain in the stable for now.