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Pig farm noise irritates neighbors Mail Tribune photo by Steve Johnson Madden�s propane-powered, smokeless cannon, below, is protected from theft or vandalism by a fence. Propane cannon repels vermin By Mark Freeman PHOENIX � A rat-infested pig farm on the edge of town is housing a strange sort of gunfight that is pitting farming against neighborhood tranquillity, and it�s leaving the neighbors shell-shocked. The chronic blasts of a propane cannon, which Shirley Madden says are needed to keep rats and birds out of her pigs� troughs, are maddening to nearby residents who believe their pig-raising neighbor creates too much pomp for the circumstance. "It�s loud enough that I hear it in my sleep and I dream about cannons all night," neighbor Dorothy Hettinga says. "It goes off every five to six minutes at night. In the house, it sounds like a gunshot, and outside, it sounds like a boom." One neighbor believes Madden is just retaliating against neighbors who helped prevent her from developing her farm. State laws written to protect farmers from complaints by city folk actually allow Madden to fire her propane cannon as often and as loud as she wants � as long as it�s in the name of reasonable farming. Though the pen on Houston Road is less than 6 feet from Phoenix�s city limits, Oregon�s Right to Farm Law grants Madden immense leeway for acceptable farm practices on her 41-acre plot that is zoned exclusively for farming. Madden says the propane cannon, which she borrowed from a friend, is the only cheap way she�s found to keep the birds and rats from eating all her feed, as well as keep the 28 pigs free from rat-borne diseases. Every few minutes, the cannon fires a projectile-less, smokeless blast that immediately sends the birds skyward, the rats scurrying and the neighbors cursing. Madden says the pigs pay no attention to the blasts, and that she can barely hear the booms in her home � which is several hundred yards from the pen. There are several dozen homes within western Phoenix that are well within earshot, depending upon the weather and wind. The cannon, which is locked in a cage to protect it from theft or vandalism, has kept her pen rat- and bird-free for the two weeks she has used it. "The cannon is doing a tremendous job," Madden says. "We have to protect our pigs from disease. I don�t know anything else to do about it." The Right to Farm Law grants farmers immunity from nuisance complaints over dust, noise, odor or other irritants generated from regular farming practices. Not all pig farmers use propane cannons to keep rats out of their troughs. But cannons are used somewhat regularly on vineyards and orchards to keep birds at bay and to keep geese out of grain fields. It all boils down to the fact that farmers like Madden, under most circumstances, have the right to irritate their neighbors � if it�s done in the name of agriculture. "Farming, because of its nature, can be a nuisance," says Brent Searle, a mediation program coordinator for the Oregon Department of Agriculture. "If someone is moving to the nuisance, then you accept the conditions that exist in that (farmland)." All of which makes homeowners like Harold Burks go ballistic. Burks accuses Madden of erecting the pig pens, and now deploying the propane cannon, as a way of biting back after neighbors helped scuttle her 1997 plans to develop the farmland. Madden flatly denies the claim and says she�s willing to let her neighbors settle the problem for her differently, as long as it is proven to work as well as the cannon does. Burks, a 69-year-old retired bricklayer with a bad back, has written letters to everyone from county commissioners and local police to state environmental and agricultural officials. He�s asking anyone and everyone for help in getting the cannon stopped before Burks, his old dog, and all of west Phoenix go crazy. "I�m not an agitator or a complainer," Burks says. "I don�t have any problems with pigs. "Really, all I want to do," he says, "is get some SLEEP!" Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA