Hooper: Exemption favored for the local small producer

For Lincoln County hobbyist egg producers, there may not be a reason to get into a scramble as there could be an exemption to a discussed licensing fee.

Lincoln County Environmental Health and Sanitation Department Director Kathi Hooper on Monday said she has had conversations with Commissioners about an exemption that could exclude local egg producers who supply themselves and or sell or supply small amounts to neighbors.

“Yes, for someone who supplies eggs for themselves, family and may sell a small amount, we are looking at an exemption,” Hooper said.

“I’ve talked to Commissioners, and they have agreed to pursue an exemption with legislators,” she said.

Hooper admitted the regulations are not generated locally, but coming from state offices that seek to maintain health standards for not only eggs, but huckleberries, wild mushrooms and comb honey.

Hooper was given an example of someone whose hens may produce five dozen a week, such as John Sievers, who lives just off Pipe Creek Road.

Sievers, 80, has been raising chickens, collecting huckleberries and even picking mushrooms for just about as long as he can remember. 

“For me, it’s a money-losing proposition. I average about eight eggs a day, about five dozen a week. That’s it,” Sievers said. “I do it because I like fresh eggs.”

And, for Sievers, he’s thinks the government is putting its nose where it doesn’t belong.

“This is about money,” Sievers said Sunday evening. “It’s nothing but revenue and the control of the people.  That’s it.”

Sievers has 38 chickens, most of which he calls his “senior citizens.”

Sievers, who is as active as someone half his age, cuts his own firewood, gardens, bakes his own bread and has even been known to spend a little time in the woodlands hunting mushrooms and picking huckleberries.

For now, licensing the sale of products is just in the discussion stages, but fees could be as high as $85 annually for selling eggs, huckleberries, wild mushrooms and comb honey. The topic came to discussion recently when Commissioners held their meeting in Eureka.

Hooper said she is coordinating efforts that would bring an egg-grading class to the area, a certificate that is required if locally produced eggs are sold in markets. If arranged, Hooper said, the class would be free and the grading license fee is just $5.

“Our office fully supports an exemption for the small producer,” Hooper said. “Most of these people would never make enough to get back that $85 fee.”

“It’s my guess, this might not come to fruition,” Hooper said.

If it does, folks like Sievers will stop giving and selling his surplus eggs.

“I’ll just stop raising chickens,” Sievers said. “Oh, I’ll keep some for myself, but when these old hens die, I just won’t raise any more.”