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STORIES AND ANTIDOTES

 

 

A free-swine zone

By ED SEALOVER THE GAZETTE

 

Chrystal McEntee wasn’t technically squealing after the Colorado Springs City Council voted to allow pot-bellied pigs within city limits Tuesday, but she may as well have been.

A 5-4 council vote ended McEntee’s fourmonth fight to change a century-old law that barred all types of swine from Colorado Springs.

The new ordinance allows just the pot-bellied variety of pigs within the city, and it comes with restrictions. Pigs can’t exceed 100 pounds, must be spayed or neutered at 4 months of age, must be on a leash and harness in public and will cost owners a $12 registration fee.

But McEntee and her children — who fought for the change after being ticketed when their pet got out of the yard — now can keep Piggy, a 16-yearold quasi-celebrity, in their central Colorado Springs neighborhood.

“I’m going to go home and celebrate with my family,” McEntee said while leaving City Hall. “My daughters are waiting for me to come home and tell them.”

The debate over the largely unknown law ranged from a humorous collection of bacon jokes to a serious discussion of individual rights at recent council meetings. The split vote

Tuesday reflected one camp of members asking why a new law was needed for one porker and the other asking: “Why not?”

Councilman Margaret Radford suggested restrictions on pot-bellied pigs should be no harsher than those on dogs and cats. Councilman Bernie Herpin went a step further, saying domesticated swine will pose fewer problems in neighborhoods than other pets.

“My neighbor’s pig has never chased my cat, nipped at my feet or chased the postman,” Herpin said. “Given the choice between having a neighbor with a barking pit bull or a pot-bellied pig, I’ll take Miss Piggy.”

But Councilman Jerry Heimlicher — who opposed the ordinance with Larry Small, Randy Purvis and Scott Hente — said he preferred to exempt Piggy from current law rather than writing a new law for the only known pot-bellied pig in Colorado Springs.

Neighborhood activists Jan Doran and Marjorie Smith said they feared little pigs would grow too big and cause problems where homes are close together. Doran said the Council of Neighbors and Organizations board voted unanimously to support City Manager Lorne Kramer’s recommendation to keep the ban in place.

However, several council members mentioned they’d received more than 100 e-mails on the subject, mostly from supporters of allowing the pigs.

“I’m excited,” McEntee said. “I’m so happy I get to go home and tell my family we get to keep her.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0184 or

ed.sealover@gazette.com

THE ORDINANCE

The new ordinance allows just the potbellied variety of pigs within the city, and it comes with restrictions.

- Pigs can’t exceed 100 pounds.

- Pigs must be spayed or neutered at 4 months of age.

- Pigs must be on a leash and harness in public.

- Pig owners must pay a $12 registration fee.

 

    

One Fine Swine

When Jo Ann Altsman had a heart attack, she swears her pet pot-bellied pig LuLu waddled to the rescue.

When it comes to pet heroics, dogs are the usual champs. But Jo Ann Altsman would rather take her chances with a pig.  While vacationing on Preque Isle, PA on August 4, the 58-year old grandmother of seven recently revealed, she suddenly felt pains shooting down her left arm.  Having survived a heart attack in 1996, she knew the feeling.  She fell to the floor of the trailer she shares with her husband Jack, 63.  "I thought I was going to die," says Altsman, who was alone with the couple's American Eskimo dog, Bear, and LuLu, their Veitnamese pot-bellied pig.  (Jack had gone fishing.) "Bear just stood there and barked at me," she recalls.

But LuLu swung into action.  The 150-lb pig squeezed out the doggie door, scraping her belly.  When her whines brought no notice, the plucky porker waddled to the road and plopped down.  Witnesses later told Altsman that a man driving a convertible stopped for the bleeding LuLu, who led him to the trailer.  He knocked on the door and yelled, "Your pig is in distress."  Altsman cried, "I'm in distress too.  Call an ambulance."

He did. After bypass surgery in September, Altsman went back to work in her home of Beaver Falls, PA, as a volunteer for the local Republican party and word of her tale spread. Altsman hopes the driver, who didn't tell the paramedics his name, will step forward to be thanked.  Meanwhile, a healed LuLu--whom the Altsmans bought last year as a 40th-birthday surprise for their daughter (she said thanks, but no thanks)--is getting lots of her favorite grapes and french fries.  Now, says Jack, "I know the Lord gave LuLu to us for a good reason."

Hogs and Kisses,------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Kathe

		©2006 Kathe Avey