Last year, State College Borough Council permitted residents to keep up to four hens per single-family home. That wasn’t of much help to Britten McKinley, said Virginia Squier, his sixth-grade teacher at Mount Nittany Middle School.
Britten, 12, was planning to raise chickens on his family’s property in Lemont earlier this year, Squire said, but was crushed to learn that College Township prohibits keeping poultry in residential neighborhoods.
After state Rep. Kerry Benninghoff visited Britten’s class a few months ago to talk about the lawmaking process, Britten decided to take matters into his own hands.
He petitioned College Township Council on May 21 to amend the zoning ordinance. Council members decided to forward Britten’s petition to the township’s Planning Commission. He hopes to plead his case in July, he said, but the commission may decide to table the issue.
Britten said he would like to keep up to four laying hens in a coop in his backyard. He is mostly interested in incubating eggs, he said.
Britten’s classmates have rallied behind him, he said. On Take Your Child to Work Day, Squier said, the students who stayed in school looked up ordinances from cities around the country that allow chickens and researched coop designs. Britten has contacted people from around the country asking for help, Squier said.
It’s summer @ Schlow
Schlow Centre Region Library will kick off this year’s Summer Reading for All Ages program with a free family event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday featuring strolling magicians, entertainment, a visit from Ike the Spike and a musical instrument “petting zoo.”
Schlow is once again offering summer programs for everyone from infants to adults centering on the themes “Be Creative @ the Library” for children, “Express Yourself @ the Library” for young adults and “Master the Art of Reading” for adults.
This year, public relations officer Melissa Sinner said participants can register, record and post reviews of what they read on the library’s Web site. Each program offers in centives for reading, Sinner said, such as gift certificates and coupons donated by local merchants.
“It’s just to make sure kids keep in practice in reading,” Sinner said of the children’s program. Getting books has been made easier by the library’s new Centre County Federation of Public Libraries card.
The new card lets readers place holds on items from public libraries in Bellefonte, Centre Hall, Aaronsburg, Philipsburg and State College.
For more information, call Schlow Centre Region Library at 237-6236 or visit www.schlowlibrary.org.
Stephanie Koons writes a weekly column about community news in the Centre Region. Contact her with news at 235-3927 or at skoons@centredaily.com.
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