THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605160169
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Jennifer Hodge calls ``Pepper'' and ``Peanut'' pets. A zoning ordinance calls them livestock.
Pepper and Peanut are Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs and Hodge wants to keep her pets. The city says the ``livestock'' has to go.
``I bought Peanut at a pet store in Pembroke Mall,'' Hodge said. ``A pet store!'' She paid $500 for it.
She and her husband, Gene, bought Pepper, the female, from a breeder in Culpeper.
Hodge claims that a zoning inspector, Betty Harris, appeared at the Hodges' Birchwood Gardens house May 8 and served her with a zoning violation notice. The violation states that the keeping of livestock is prohibited in residential neighborhoods and gives the homeowner one week to respond.
The two women had a confrontation, Hodge said.
``I asked her who had complained,'' said Hodge, who has a signed petition from almost all of her neighbors stating that they do not object to the animals.
``The woman was rude to me,'' Hodge said. ``She just handed me the violation and didn't answer me. Just told me that it was confidential.''
When Harris tried to take pictures, Hodge asked the zoning inspector to leave her property. The pigs are enclosed in a chain-link fence in the back yard of Hodge's home near the Great American Outlet Mall. Harris tried to take the pictures from the road, Hodge said.
The Hodges have lived in their house for three years. They have owned the pot-bellied pigs as long.
``Look at them,'' said Hodge, as she petted the pigs in her back yard. ``They oink some, but they don't bark like dogs. They're clean. I bathe them. They're gentle with my children.''
The Hodges have two children, a 6 year-old daughter, Lauren, and a son, Austin, 1 1/2.
``All they (the pigs) do is lie in the sun, eat grass and play,'' Hodge said. ``Peanut has been neutered, so they aren't going to have babies.''
Hodge said that at least one South Hampton Roads city, Chesapeake, has changed the law governing the pigs as pets.
``Why not let the people, the voters, decide?'' Hodge asked.
Harris said that the people have decided - through their lawmakers.
``Keeping livestock in R-zoned (residential) areas violates article 5, section 501 of the city zoning ordinance,'' Harris said.
As to her behavior at the Hodges' house, Harris said, ``I tried to be nice about it. To present the notice of violation, get a picture of the pigs and leave.
``She became hysterical and told me to leave her property.''
Harris said that the fact she saw the pig should hold up in court, despite the lack of photographic evidence.
Harris added that the Hodges have received an additional week from the zoning inspector to respond to the violation. Gene and Jennifer Hodge now must respond by May 22.
The law is clear cut and enforced evenhandedly, Harris pointed out.
``A pig is a pig and it's livestock,'' she said. ``Even if it eats caviar, it cannot be called a pet in an R-zone.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY EDWARDS
Jennifer Hodge shows off her pot-bellied pigs, Peanut and Pepper.
``I bought Peanut at a pet store in Pembroke Mall,'' Hodge said. ``A
pet store!''
by CNB