No man nor chicken are an island.  I don’t know who Chickenman of West Vincent is, but ya’ know what?  He puts it out there.  He seems to get from my estimation from afar that the truth is his best defense.  Chickenman also gets the joke that people only have as much power over you as you allow them to.  That goes for local government types too.

So I am going to post his latest West Vincent Infos e-mail below.  So why can’t some helpful citizen help a chicken out?  Surely someone maybe has or can take some photos from a public viewpoint about this manure runoff and send them to the Chickenman?  You all seem to be better for his courage, so help a chicken out.   I don’t have the lay of the land, so it needs to be a West Vincent regular.

He puts it on the line for all of you and the betterment of the community, right? So help a chicken out.

Of course the easiest thing would be for this Supervisor Miller to fix his poo piles and lead by positive example, right? But I am naiive to these pooing doings in West Vincent, so am I hoping for too much?  Or he’ll just say there are no poo problems at all?  Or maybe Lower Merion transplant Supervisor Brown could encourage the end of the pooing doings by just getting it done? I mean didn’t some of you tell me some of the land farmed on by Supervisor Miller is in a sense owned by We The People of West Vincent?

Here’s what he is clucking about today:

Hi
Continuing with the DEP Report on Ken Miller:

The report mentions a storm drain near the exposed manure pile that appeared to be clean of any contamination. Whether contaminated water makes it into that drain or not does not mean that the water isn’t flowing downhill.

Whenever it rains, there is runoff from the Miller Farm that flows across the street (Horseshoe Trail). This has been observed in any heavy rain. This runoff from the manure pile and Miller’s barn area carries the contaminants to the downward sloping field across the street (where Miller’s veal calves are located). That effluent then goes DIRECTLY to the Birch Run at the bottom of the hill, entering the “exceptional value stream”. There are ways to resolve this issue but apparently Ken Miller doesn’t feel it is necessary, even while he is embraced by the environmentalists.

The report states: Discussions with Mr. Miller included the possible construction of a manure storage facility in the location of the pile that would be under roof and bermed to prevent exposure to stormwater runoff.

Followed by: Mr. Miller stated at the time of the inspection that he did not have a conservation plan and a manure management plan. Both plans are required for the storage of manure onsite.
Note where I have underlined. REQUIRED is the important word. It isn’t “recommended” or “like to see”, or “hope Miller would be a team player and do us a favor”. The word is REQUIRED. Why are these plans REQUIRED? To protect people downstream. That would be all the Birchrunville supporters. Again, Miller is delivering exactly what he thinks of you.

This report does not mention that Miller was in violation for the EXACT SAME THING between 12-18 months before. He is a repeat offender.

I noticed recently that there was a Conditional Use hearing for a resident (I believe the name was McKenzie) that wanted to install a pool and there was great concern that during a pump down of the pool water, there would be an issue of the chlorinated water getting into the Birch Run. Isn’t it funny that the greenies prefer raw sewage to chlorine? Sounds like a good shot of chlorine is just what the Birch Run needs to help clean up Miller’s contamination. Isn’t anyone living alongside this creek getting a bit concerned? Clare? Pam? Oh, that’s right, neither lives next to the Birchrun, so it doesn’t matter to them.
There’s more on this subject to come.
On a lighter note, here is a touch of chicken humor: http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume12/v12i5/chicken-12-5.pdf

To see my previous mailings please click on http://tinyurl.com/westvincentinfos  As usual, if you want to be on or off my list, or have some comments or suggestions, or know someone who would like to be on the list, please let me know.  Feel free to forward this email on to anyone you think might be interested.   Especially though, if you don’t want to continue to receive my mails, please tell me, it will be done.  Just hit reply to this email or write to chestercountynews@gmail.com
Best wishes
Chickenman