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Greenwood-area woman told to remove animals

Grassmyer says pigs, chickens, ducks and goose are pets

A Greenwood-area woman plans to appeal an order from the Logan Township zoning administrator to get rid of a pair of potbellied pigs, along with chickens, ducks and a goose on her property — an order triggered by complaints from a neighbor who said runoff from pig manure has created a stench at his property that he can’t abide.

The animals are pets to Ashley Grassmyer, substitutes for children she can never have because of an illness, and a salve to her depression and anxiety, according to Grassmyer, who told supervisors at a recent meeting the complaints amount to “harassment.”

“Feces are running down my property,” the neighbor, Robert Heaton, told the supervisors. The smell is so bad, it has invaded his home and attached to his clothing — as he discovered from his son during a recent visit to the son’s house, Heaton said after the meeting.

Both sides claim support from others: Heaton said all of the neighbors have been complaining about Grassmyer, while Grassmyer said 30 people from “around the neighborhood,” along with 482 from elsewhere, have signed an online petition supporting her.

Both sides claim the other is trafficking in lies.

Heaton has complained to the Humane Society that Grassmyer was mistreating the animals, but the society found that to be false, according to Grassmyer.

Heaton also complained to the Department of Agriculture, but the department has approved a manure plan for the property, Grassmyer indicated.

No manure is running onto Heaton’s ground, Grassmyer’s grandmother, Sharon Cherry, told the supervisors.

Heaton has also complained to the township about noise from the animals, Grassmyer said.

He wants her removed so he can take over her property and establish a deer farm, but her property is not for sale, she said.

Heaton wanted to bring in a pair of deer as pets, but he abandoned the idea as too expensive after the Game Commission told him he’d need a double fence to prevent contact with wild deer to reduce the risk of his deer contracting chronic wasting disease, Heaton said after the meeting.

The pigs are outside Grassmyer’s home only because one can’t be housebroken, and the pair can’t be separated, Cherry said.

He’d be satisfied if only the pigs were gone, Heaton said after the meeting.

Some of the animals could be sent away, the grandmother suggested, perhaps smoothing the way toward a compromise.

Both properties are near the basin of long-emptied Pottsgrove Reservoir, which I-99 bisects — with Grassmyer’s backing up to the city side of the interstate and Heaton’s downslope, closer to Altoona.

The animosity between the neighbors began in connection with a foster son of Heaton’s who got into drugs and who is now in prison, Heaton said.

It blossomed after Heaton, on the advice of an insurance company representative, erected a fence at his property line to protect himself from liability for potential injuries to a person connected with the Grassmyer family who routinely came onto his property, Heaton said.

That fence ended up destroyed after the Grassmyer family told him it was on their property, Heaton said.

It wasn’t, based on a survey he’d had done, he said.

He’s since re-erected the fence and anchored it more securely, he said.

The animals are her “pride and joy,” Grassmyer said.

“They’re my feathered and furry children,” she stated.

The property is zoned agricultural, but only for properties large enough — and Grassmyer’s is less than the necessary 1.5 acres, according to a township official and Heaton.

The Grassmyer property once hosted horses, although that ended around 1985, Grassmyer said.

More recently, her mother kept ducks there, until five years ago, she said.

She herself has had animals there for six years, she said.

The Zoning Hearing Board could consider arguments that the currently unauthorized use should continue because of the grandfather principle, said solicitor Dan Stants.

But there is also a potential issue with that use having been discontinued longer than permissible, he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.

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