OXFORD — Like the Beverly Hillbillies, there are still more than a few Mississippians who take their country ways to town.
Oxford, one of the fastest-growing cities in Mississippi, is reported to have a population of more than 23,600. That’s up from 11,756 in 2000 and 5,283 in 1960, not counting about 20,000 students at the University of Mississippi.
It’s a nice place to live, with plenty of attractions, but there are some growing pains, including a street infrastructure that is strained to handle the traffic some days, especially if there’s a major event such as a football game or graduation at the university.
The police are beginning to worry about security in and around the historic Courthouse Square, which at times draws shoulder-to-shoulder crowds to the sidewalks, bars and restaurants.
City leaders seem to be doing a good job of planning for and meeting the challenges, some of which are more vexing than others.
Recently, according to the local newspaper, The Oxford Eagle, the wheels have been put in motion to handle a problem I did not heretofore know existed.
Plans are in the works to run the roosters out of town; not the Rooster’s Blues House bar and restaurant by that name but chickens that crow. Cackling hens will still be permitted.
Banning roosters from the city limits, which is yet to be approved by the Board of Aldermen, is included in zoning modifications announced at a Oxford Planning Commission meeting.
City planner Judy Daniel said the decision to prohibit homeowners from keeping roosters in town came after multiple complaints about what roosters do early in the morning: crow and wake people up.
“We were just surprised, in the city, that you would have a rooster,” Daniel was quoted as saying. “We were not surprised by people keeping hens — that’s a thing these days. But you don’t need a rooster to get eggs.”
Zoning enforcement officer Flint Ussery, whose job it will be to enforce the anti-rooster rule if it becomes law, says he isn’t surprised there are male chickens in town.
“This is still Mississippi,” Ussery was quoted in the Eagle. “People grew up with them on farms, and they moved to town.”
Daniel said that under the proposed ordinance, existing roosters won’t be removed, so long as noise isn’t an issue.
That begs two questions: How do you keep a rooster from crowing? And, how hard is it going to be for Ussery to determine an existing rooster from a newcomer?
The Eagle article pointed out that roosters aren’t the only farm animals mentioned in the proposed code change.
“If it passes, you’re allowed to have one sheep,” according to Daniel. “Some people with large lots have a sheep to mow the grass, It takes less gas. We didn’t put in goats because they can get a bit smelly. Actually, goats cut the grass a little too close to the ground, but sheep keep it at a reasonable level.”
Someone who lives not far from me has some chickens — to produce eggs, I presume. The hens don’t make much noise, and even a rooster wouldn’t be as loud as some of the college students living down the street when, after certain celebrations, they head home past midnight from Rooster’s and other establishments on the Square. I doubt there will be any zoning proposals to run them out of town, though.
• Charles M. Dunagin is the retired editor and publisher of the Enterprise-Journal in McComb. He lives in Oxford.
