SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER

MR. ERIC BRAZIL

12/21/1999

SUPERVISORS SIDE WITH NEARBY TURKEY BREEDER WHO FEARS DISEASES

UKIAH-- Breeding rare parrots may save dwindling gene pools, but parrot ranching isn't agriculture, Mendocino County supervisors decided, handing victory to the world's biggest turkey egg producer in a high-stakes zoning battle.

The supervisors concluded Monday, after a fractions four-hour hearing, that the Point Arena parrot breeding operation of Barbara and Geoffrey Gould, located within 700 feet of Sonoma-based Nicholas Turkey Breeding Farms, is an incompatible use.

The Goulds, who have been breeding the exotic birds for the past 26 years, moved their operation from Arizona starting last June with what they thought was full assurance from county planners. They vowed Monday to fight on.

"It was a railroad job", said Barbara Gould.

If Mendocino County continues to play hardball, the couple may simply donate thier 16.4 acre ranch to the nearby Rancheria of the Manchester band of Pomo Indians, said Geoffrey Gould

"That way we wont have to pay taxes and I can build a big hotel," he quipped. "The Pomo's welcome us".

Stornetta Ranches, a major Mendocino County landowner, is a critical player in the turkeys-vs-parrots dispute, because it leases the land to Nicholas Farms, which has threatened to cancel the lease on 12/31/99 if the parrots aren't gone.

Nicholas, whose fertile turkey eggs are shipped throughout the United States as well as Europe, Asia and South America, moth balled its Point Arena operation in late July, after the Gould's parrots started arriving in their cages. The turkey breeder expressed fear that parrot-transmitted diseases might destroy it's prize 10,000 bird flock.

"They've been run off by the parrots" said Tim Morrison, attorney for Stornetta Ranches.

The Mendocino County Farm Bureau supports Nicholas and Stornetta Ranches.

In a declaration presented to supervisors, Nicholas president Charles S. Clausen called the parrots 'the only impediment to the return of our breeding turkeys' to the 700,000 square feet of barns they had occupied on Stornetta property since l991.(note his written testimony was allowed, while Dr. West's testimony, in support of the Goulds, was not)

The Goulds, who said they spent more than $50,000 moving their operation from Arizona to Point Arena, in addition to the purchase price of the property, insisted that they had been repeatedly assured by county planners that parrot breeding is an agricultural use.

County planner Alan Falleri said his department's records are devoid of data about the Gould's plans. Only one staffer acknowledges talking to them, he said.

The department was advised of a potential problem involving the parrots in early August, said Falleri, who declined to identify the complainant. In October, the department ordered the Goulds to cease their operation, an order that the Goulds appealed - and supervisors sustained.

Two of the Gould's dogs have been shot and killed since their dispute with Stornetta Ranches and Nicholas became public.

"I didnt sneak in here, " said Barbara Gould, who noted that she had consulted with half a dozen Mendocino County real estate agents, in addition to the planning department.

"Somebody here is dissimulating, " said Supervisor David Colfax, the only dissenter in the board's 4-1 decision to uphold the planner's stop order.

"Perhaps the county was a little sloppy here, but to tell (the Goulds) to "Pick up your operation and go back to Arizona is irresponsible".

Falleri questioned the grounds on which parrots could be classified as agricultural. He said 'Parrots are not fowl nor poultry. Nor do they provide food or fiber....They are household pets."

While parrot breeding has many of the trappings of an agricultural operation, "the end product is a pet", said Supervisor Particia Campbell.

Pomo Indian artist Dale Birmingham and Point Arena resident Will Ivey displayed several decorative items made of parrot feathers to demonstrate, they said, that parrots produce useful fiber.

County Agriculture Commissioner David Bengston and UC Extension poultry specialist Francine A. Bradley said that siting the parrot operation next to the Nicholas operation was ill advised from an avian health standpoint. "I am amazed that we only have one major poultry operation in the county and the parrots wind up next door," Bengston said. "You just dont locate that close to somebody's herd or flock".

Both the Goulds and Stornettas are likey to go to court to seek injunctions - the former to delay their eviction, the latter to speed it up.

Dissimulate - to conceal under a false appearance, to dissembe - to conceal or hide the actual nature of - to conceal facts...

Gould note - what these people dont know about biological classifications and farming would fill a book!! A bird is any vertibrate with feathers, two feet, a beak of some sort and wings where arms would normally be.