Cherokee To Discuss Roosters Not Raised For Food as Potential "Nuisances"

The Cherokee County Commission will meet today and discuss whether the use of roosters for non-sustenance purposes could be considered a nuisance.

The board will meet for its work session today at 3 p.m.and its meeting at 6 p.m. at the Cherokee County administrative offices in Canton.

County Commissioner Harry Johnston will lead the discussion and will ask County Attorney Angela Davis to draft a revision to its ordinance that would include roosters not housed with hens and/or not used primarily in food production as potential nuisances.

Johnston noted he sometimes gets complaints from northern Cherokee residents about farms that allegedly raise fighting roosters. He noted the county's ordinance already makes it a violation to raise the birds for this purpose, but "it's essentially impossible to prove."

"The main issue is the noise they make when there are dozens or hundreds of them," he wrote in an email. "It's not like an occasional rooster crowing."

When the county revised its ordinance, they exempted livestock from the section on nuisance animals and livestock is defined to include all chickens.

"I'm not trying to say all roosters, or even all fighting roosters, are nuisances," he added. "I'd just like the marshals to be able to make a nuisance case against them if warranted."

Commissioners will also discuss funding for a new library in eastern Cherokee County to serve the Free Home, Macedonia and Lathemtown communities.

The library, slated to be built on Highway 20 at Old Mill Road, is in danger of not opening anytime soon due to a lack of funding available for operations from the county government.

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