Big News From The Big City

This is from the Associated Press. My brother in law clipped it from a paper in Chicago and sent it, probably because our sister lives in Ridgecrest.

RIDGECREST, Calif. - Linc and Helena Moore may have finally learned the answer to that age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because the chicken doesn't know jaywalking is illegal.
Kern County Sheriff's Deputy J. Nicholson does know, however. The deputy issued a ticket on March 26 to one of the couple's chickens for impeding traffic on a road in Johannesburg, a rural mining community southeast of Ridgecrest. The Moores arrived in Superior Court on Friday to plead not guilty to their chicken's alleged transgression. A trial was scheduled for May 16.
Nicholson has declined to discuss the matter, but sheriff's Sgt. Francis Moore said chickens on the roadway have been a problem in the community of 50 residents. Officials didn't believe it could be resolved by simply issuing the couple a warning.
"Sometimes you have to let people talk to the judge," Moore said.
The chicken's owners say they believe they were cited because they were among several people who complained that sheriff's deputies haven't done enough to control off-road vehicle riders who damage roads and create dust and noise in their neighborhood. Sheriff's officials say that isn't so, adding they are doing what they can to keep off-roaders away from the area's homes.
"The chicken thing has nothing to do with the motorcycle thing," Moore said.

In a follow-up story not yet picked up by the national wires, picketing chickens marching in protest were ordered to clear the road by a Kern County Sheriff SWAT team fearing a bloody confrontation with local motorcycle enthusiasts. Ridgecrest's mayor, interviewed at his nearby dust ranch, reported that he has been in constant communication with Governor Schwartzenneger, who promised to either send in National Guard troops or terminate the chickens himself should violence break out.