Wisconsin Ag Connection - Loyal Working with Amish to Keep Horse Manure Off Streets

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Loyal Working with Amish to Keep Horse Manure Off Streets
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 11/21/2008

For the past several years, the City of Loyal has been mulling over the idea of requiring horses that pull Amish buggies through town to wear a diaper-type device in order to eliminate manure from piling up in the streets. The Clark County community of 1,300 people finally approved the proposal through an ordinance last month, but now many of the Amish residents who patronize local businesses are threatening to boycott the city.

As a result, the city council voted on Tuesday to repeal the rule, but instead are now requiring horse-drawn vehicles to stick to certain routes.

Loyal Mayor Carol Lampsa says the small town depends on the Amish to keep their businesses open. She also noted that many of them had concerns that the bags would make their horses skittish.

The new route will be announced in the local weekly newspaper for two weeks before the law will go into enforcement.

The issue has been brewing for years. In 2005, the city's police committee thought about implementing an 'Adopt-a-Highway'-like program where city residents would get together and voluntarily clean up horse manure from the city streets. That idea has since been rejected.

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