Youth Speak About Chicken Keeping, WHS Conditions Before Council Monday

Ariana Kithes and Alicia Mello's speeches at Monday night's City Council meeting, about chickens and conditions at Woonsocket High respectively, had some things in common: passion, delivery, and applause.

Kithes was one of several people who spoke on behalf of an exeption to the city's ordinance on animals and fowl that would allow people to legally keep chickens in the city.

"I didn't realize that facts were a matter of opinion," Kithes said in response to what she said were willfully ignorant opinions on the subject. 

Kithes said there is no meaningful risk of salmonella from keeping chickens locally, because birds with a healthy immune system don't contract the disease. In fact, she said, when she talked with her doctor about the chickens' possible impact on her health in relation to her Crone's Disease, he told her the chickens her family keeps aren't a danger to her health, she said.

She also warned councilors that commerically produced eggs were more of a risk than eggs from locally raised chickens, which shouldn't be outlawed. "If you want to do so because you never see the chickens that lay your eggs, it's not my risk of salmonella that concerns me."

Her speech drew a lot of applause, which may have only been partially thanks to a room full of pro-chicken raising residents. "That was outstanding, miss," said Jim Cournoyer before speaking his own mind in favor of the Budget Commission's supplemental tax plan, with the caveat that it be made contingent on the rest of the Commission's deficit plan coming to fruition.  

John Reynolds Jr. said that if the young people who spoke at the meeting such as Kithes were a sign of the future, "OK, I'm good with that. Seventeen years old and she had a presentation that sounded more adult than most I've heard at this city hall."

Julie Kearns, the Kithes' neighbor, spoke against allowing chicken raising, saying the smell from their droppings is very offensive and attracts rodents. "This will affect me and my neighbors immediately, but it will affect you and your neighbors," as well, she said.

George Kithes, whose son, Alexander's chickens were the subject of the original complaint that raised the issue, said that Kearns didn't know about the chickens in their yard for eight months, and only found out when they made her a neighborly offer of eggs. For anyone who thought chickens would be a nuissance, he said, "After eight months she had no clue that there were chickens there." 

Mello also drew applause for her presentation on what she said were unhealthy conditions and disrepair at Woonsocket High School, from her senior projec examining how the budget had affected maintenance at the building.

Mello said she'd taken photos of the school for her project. "I'm going to show you this photo album I made. I want to show you how bad it is," she said.

Mello offered the album to the Council, giving each member a chance to have a look at the photos while she described the lack of ceiling tiles in the cafeteria, water damage to the school's existing ceiling tiles, mold and rusted lockers. 

She said the lack of ceiling tiles in the cafeteria can be a major health threat as students eat, because "...you don't know what dust particles, what mold particles are in the air, what's falling on their food," she said.

Mello also noted some wonder why many students aren't showing up for school because they're sick. "Maybe it's because the conditions in school aren't healthy enough for them to be there," she said. "We have students with diseases, cancer and everything and who knows, conditions at the school could be the reason why, could have triggered something and be the reason why some of these kids are really sick. Something needs to be done about it."

She said that even though she's graduating, she wants to make sure it's going to be safe enough for all of the people attending the high school in the future, including her sister in four years. "I don't want her having to put up with the same conditions that me and my fellow classmates had to deal with."

"All of the taxpayers are paying money into the budget, and where is it going? It's not doing anything to clean up the school," she said. "I hope you will see that this is a dire thing that needs to be looked at right away. It can't wait months or years. It needs to happen now. I appreciate your time. Thank you."