STINKY SITUATION
Proposed fee on smelly cows, hogs angers farmers

MONTGOMERY, AL � For farmers, this stinks: Belching and gaseous cows and hogs could start costing them money if a federal proposal to charge fees for air-polluting animals becomes law. That�s right, farmers could be charged for the natural reactions of their animals.

Farmers, so far, are turning their noses up at the notion, which is one of several put forward by the Environmental Protection Agency after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that greenhouse gases emitted by belching and flatulence amounts to air pollution.

�This is one of the most ridiculous things the federal government has tried to do,� said Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, an outspoken opponent of the proposal.

So how will feds measure such gases? Well, government officials won�t be in pastures tallying each �crop-duster� a cow or hog releases. The proposal would require farms or ranches with more than 25 dairy cows, 50 beef cattle or 200 hogs to pay an annual fee of about $175 for each dairy cow, $87.50 per head of beef cattle and $20 for each hog.

The executive vice president of the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, Ken Hamilton, estimated the fee would cost owners of a modest-sized cattle ranch $30,000 to $40,000 a year. He said he has talked to a number of livestock owners about the proposals, and �all have said if the fees were carried out, it would bankrupt them.�

Sparks said Wednesday he�s worried the fee could be extended to chickens and other farm animals and cause more meat to be imported.

�We�ll let other countries put food on our tables like they are putting gas in our cars. Other countries don�t have the health standards we have,� Sparks said.


Garbage Gestapo apply $500 fine to Atlanta suburbanites who have recycling mishaps

GWINNETT, GA � While neighboring counties in Atlanta encourage recycling, Gwinnett County�s new solid waste management ordinance puts teeth into it. The ordinance provides for a civil fine of $500 for sustainability violations, which includes those who fail to �source separate residential recovered materials.�

Mandatory recycling is not common in metro Atlanta, but Gwinnett County Commission Chairman Charles Bannister said the move is in line with a state policy that local governments develop plans to reduce solid waste by 25 percent.

�We want to save landfills as long as we can,� Bannister said. �Nobody wants to open up a new landfill.�

�We don�t intend for this to be the garbage gestapo, running around, looking in people�s garbage about what�s there and what�s not there,� said Connie Wiggins, executive director of Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful, which is administering Gwinnett�s waste disposal program. �I believe the fine applies to all categories, and certainly, if we saw excessive abuses of materials being thrown in the garbage.�


To repair Rhode Island roads, report calls for new tolls, taxes, higher fees

PROVIDENCE, RI � To fix crumbling roads and bridges, and to bailout Rhode Island�s financially challenged public transit system, a draft report made public this month says the state should consider charging tolls at the state line on every interstate highway and creating a new tax for each mile a vehicle is driven.

The report calls for tolls on a new Sakonnet River Bridge, increasing the state gas tax and a long list of other things related to using the roads. One proposed tax would apply to anything made from petroleum, from paint to detergent to plastics.

The panel, Governor Carcieri�s Blue Ribbon Panel for Transportation Funding, was formed because the lack of maintenance over the years has caught up with the system. More than half of the state�s roads are in fair, poor or �failed� condition, according to the Department of Transportation, and 164 bridges of 772 are classified as structurally deficient. Raising taxes to give to the bureaucrats who created this mess appears to be the only solution to the problem.


Property-tax collections climb as home prices fall

Property taxes are rising across the country despite the steepest drop in home values since the Great Depression.

Home values dropped 17 percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in 2007, reports the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. At the same time, property tax collections across the USA rose 3.1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

State and local governments are on track to collect more than $400 billion in property taxes this year, the most ever. One reason: Laws in most states that prevent big tax hikes when property values soar also block big tax drops when values sink. 


Kids watch police shoot family dog

CHARLESTON COUNTY, MD � A family�s dog was outside their house, the family said, and two children were watching, including a 2-year-old who was a foot away from the dog when it was shot.

Deputies from the Charles County Sheriff�s Office had arrived at the house around 7 p.m. to serve legal papers to a resident who no longer lived at that address.

The homeowner said deputies asked her to put her 2-year-old sheep dog, Dixie, inside the house while they sorted things out. The homeowner complied, but her 2-year-old niece pushed the door open a short time later. Dixie came running out, and the deputy shot the dog, according to an account from the homeowner�s sister.