Marion Township officials aren’t getting involved with a one resident’s complaint about another resident’s noisy peacock.

The Board of Trustees discussed, what if anything they could do about Bonnie Circle resident Gregory Gerrish’s letter to fellow Bonnie Circle homeowner Steve Bibbee, requesting that peacocks being kept there be removed from the property. Gerrish’s letter claims that birds are “extremely loud all hours of the day and night and in violation” of the township’s noise ordinance. Gerrish was not present at the Board’s meeting, Thursday night, but Howell firefighter Bill Fenton, who is renting the property and is the owner of the peacocks was. Fenton claims that it’s just one male bird, Dexter, who makes the noise, and that it isn’t louder than a rooster. The Board asked Fenton what he did with the birds, to which he replied he ate their eggs and sold some. His selling of the birds led the Board to believe that they were protected by the Right to Farm Act. Supervisor Bob Hanvey said that put this out of their jurisdiction, and if it is a problem or violation with the homeowner’s association, then it’s on them to deal with it.

Fenton says the peacocks are a big hit in the neighborhood with everyone except Gerrish. Gerrish’s letter referenced a fire caused on the property and the potential risks that a second one might bring to the neighborhood. Fenton said the fire was caused when a heat lamp became displaced and fell into a nearby chicken coop, and he was confident that it would not happen again. The firefighter says he’s had Dexter for 9 to 10 years and has no intention of giving him up. (MK)