CNY Family Fights for Right to Food Security

We are selling the new coop we only used one spring and could use the help in finding an owner for it. We now need to make up the cost of our expenses, somehow pick up the pieces and move forward.

If you or anyone you know are interested in our coop, please DM us. Serious inquiries only. We’re asking for 1,500.00 and paid 2000.00 originally for it. It’s Amish made and we will throw in a feeder and waterer. Must have tools to help take it down and at least two men to lift it into a truck. It’s heavy, but nice!

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After two years, the judge has finally released our case. We lost last fall, but were kept until spring to make sure we were under strict “compliance” or we were threatened with jail time.

My wife is brokenhearted, our daughter has gone through post traumatic stress.

Unfortunately, they denied any wrongdoing and the judge agreed they didn’t have to pay for any damages for 8 years of upkeep.

We are selling the new coop we only used one spring and could use the help in finding an owner for it. We now need to make up the cost of our expenses, somehow pick up the pieces and move forward.

If you or anyone you know are interested in our coop, please DM us. Serious inquiries only. We’re asking for 1,700.00 and paid 2000.00 originally for it. It’s Amish made and we will throw in a feeder and waterer. Must have tools to help take it down and at least two men to lift it into a truck. It’s heavy, but nice!

We were to have a court date last week but we sent them video and photographic evidence of us giving up our chickens. The judge then set a new court date for 9/4/24. Our lawyer is guessing that this is a one year conditional discharge; presuming we were not violating the law that we were charged with. Why is this necessary if we already rehomed our hens? We just want it done. We think this is the judge’s compromise with the village.

It’s the end of an era. Rehousing our hens is not an easy process☹️. Thank you to TravisandTanya Muhlnickel for providing a new home to them, and making a difficult transition a little more bearable. .

We have been strong armed with threats of ENORMOUS fines on our family. The judge and corrupt lawyer in this case have told us we have until court date to comply or the fines will be BIG.

WE ARE BEING CRUSHED.

There should be farmers, Homesteaders, backyard chicken farmers, gardeners and the body of Christ willing to stand up with us in numbers. Yet unless people feel affected, many will not stand.

It is a very sad reality we face. We are living paycheck to paycheck after monumental COVID Unconstitutional mandates which left many folks jobless fending for themselves. Our chickens fed us. Those chickens were allowed in 2015. We should be grandfathered in. Still, the corruption continues.

Without the support of many we will not win in this state. It starts local.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

On the 17th, we are potentially facing jail time and/or fines dating back to August of LAST YEAR. This among addicts, s*x offenders and narcotic and alcohol violations.

Threats of fines on a family who have been struggling for 3 years without unemployment, while having chickens we were told by the code administrator that we could have because in 2015, there were no codes for poultry of any kind.

For doing what our grandparents did for food security.

Let this sink in…threats of jail time and/or fines retroactive for chickens they approved in 2015 BEFORE they created a code without making any contingencies for those they knew already had chickens.

Again, if you think this won’t affect you, look at the bill on the ASSEMBLY floor and ask why they’re pulling this?

Most NYS citizens see our case as an isolated case. They don't see themselves in it. This bill will make it everyone's business, as it will give your local politicians free reign to do what they please.

We have noticed less and less people taking part in their local village and town board meetings. Many of which are going to the back rooms and shutting out the very people they hold office for.

We are pleading with NYS Residents to take part in their community leadership. We are unknowingly handing over our God-given rights as property owners.

Please stand WITH us as we battle Goliath.

Since June of 2022 The Shearer Family has been fighting a personal battle to keep their chickens for food preservation after being told by their village Code Administrator in 2015 that there was nothing in the code book saying they couldn’t.

In 2019, the village, without notice, implemented a code pertaining to chicken keeping but did not enforce it until a neighbor complained in June 2022 that they had too many hens.

Since then, several attempts to work with the village, with the village lawyer stating that village board refuse to cooperate with their requests to reimburse them for their losses, not to take down the existing structures they have, an illegal inspection of their coop as stated in the NYS AG law, full access to their property without notice, and have a signed agreement in writing.

His response to their requests came two months after their lawyer sent the request, and on THE DAY they suspiciously were told via mail from the judge, that they missed the cut off date “forcing” the village lawyer requesting a bench trial. The Shearers felt set up!

On top of nefarious accusations by the village, The Shearers presented a list of signatures from neighbors within the vicinity of their chickens and stated there was no issues with noise and/or smell, but the village lawyer and court never even looked at the signatures.

It is also The Shearers concern that not only does this lawyer work for the Village of Phoenix, but also for The Town of Schroeppel under which the judge over their case presides.

The Shearers were approached by a Board Member of their village at approximately 10pm at night in August 2022 who threatened them in front of their home drunk after conversations with complainants who do not live on the side nearest the chicken coop.

The Shearers are also concerned because of selective enforcement. No other backyard chicken owners were notified of this law, nor the same enforcement. At the time of approaching the board in July 2022, no other community member has filled out a “permit” for chicken keeping.

The Shearers are concerned about their property rights being violated as well as their Constitutional right to feed their family as Mr. Shearer lost his job with no unemployment. Both their garden and their hens fed the family.

With Assembly Bill A1694 on the NYS Assembly Floor, as well as eminent domain used to take family farms for Micron, The Shearers fear their battle is just the start of political overreach and loss of the Constitutional rights of property owners and food growers. They are asking for help from the public. To stand with them and change the course our small villages and towns are heading.

We The People are who these politicians serve. Whether Republican or a Democrat, we are all guaranteed these rights through both Federal and State Constitutions. The Shearers’ case is being brushed quietly under the rug. Please peacefully stand with them!