Recently, for reasons unknown, I noted myself wondering about a couple of old friends from Bloomington, Melissa Overton and Jenna Hanes. I most recently saw Melissa on my last visit to the town, in 1999, I think. It’s possible I actually saw her on the prior visit.

I haven’t seen Jenna for years and years, though. It was my impression that she was working for Bloomingfoods at the time I was there last but it’s clearly possible that that was only true ten or more years ago. Googling for her proved a touch difficult as her name is partially shared by a porn star and a brand of clothing. I suppose creating this post means it’s possible that either person might come across it while eGoogling, in which case, hi ladies! Hope you are well!

Eventually, I did come across the minutes of a Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals meeting in which a mighty battle was fought concerning a person’s chicken colony. Jenna appears to have testified in favor of the chickens, noting that she and her daughter enjoyed them. A surprisingly large number of people appear to have attended the meeting, all favoring chicken lib.

A pair of articles in the local paper by editor Carrol Krause were cited, and upon further investigation, I found this recent article on a chicken seminar held by none other than Carrol Krause: Chickens in the City.

This journalist student’s work cites one David Rollo, a member of the city’s Environmental Council, as recalling the chicken-oriented activism:

“There was one citizen’s group, called CLUCK, which stood for Citizens Love Urban Chickens,” he said. “They wanted a change in the municipal code so that they could keep chickens as pets and get their own eggs and such right at home.”

Sadly, no further trace of CLUCK was uncovered in using Google to scratch at the dirt of the farmweb. All power to the glorious people’s poultry protesters!