How to get along with your neighbors

So, picture a Northern New Jersey suburban, real suburban, community about 15 miles west of NYC. Highways, malls, schools, hospital, offices and houses on somewhat uniform lots with grass and fences. Town pool, couple of lake communities, volunteer ambulance and fire department.

And into this midst there is a guy who now wants to start raising his own chickens. Talk about ruffling the feathers of the town fathers. The local town forum comment section is up to about 100 comments, surprisingly equally divided. The old liners , of which there are many, could care less about the chickens. They live in the old neighborhoods where they grew up with the town as it converted from farms and woods to suburban sprawl. The Mc Mansion crowd is equally strident---no chickens. They of course complain when the deer eat the shrubs or the coyotes eat their miniture poodles. They complain when someone cuts down a tree on his property, but remain silent while their landscaper powers out 400 decibels of lawn care noise on any given day.

Me, I could care, for it makes for good theatre. Now if they would only let me run my dog after the Canada Geese without complaining.