(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. — The closely watched Pleasant Prairie “chicken case” concluded Wednesday with a mixed outcome for the rural family that drew community attention after being cited for keeping backyard chickens on their property.
The case involved homeowners Courtney Breit and Randy White, who had challenged the village’s ordinance after being cited for keeping chickens on their large residential lot along 116th Street.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
After hearing testimony at trial, Municipal Judge Dick Ginkowski acquitted the family on one citation but convicted them on another, saying the law as written leaves him no authority to override the village ordinance.
(Cell Phone Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Court records and post-hearing details reviewed by Kenosha County Eye show that the judge dismissed the citation alleging the couple built a chicken coop without a permit, finding the way the ordinance and citation were written made it legally defective.
However, the judge ruled against Breit and White on the separate charge of illegally keeping chickens on residentially zoned property.
(Cell Phone Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
According to the court discussion and the judge’s explanation of the ruling, the couple acknowledged during the proceedings that they kept between five and ten chickens on the property, a practice prohibited under Pleasant Prairie’s municipal code unless the land is zoned for agricultural use.
Because of those admissions, the court found the violation proven.
The judge imposed financial penalties totaling just over $1,000 combined for the couple.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
“Right Building, Wrong Room”
During the hearing, the judge told Breit and White that their frustration with the ordinance may be understandable but that the courtroom was not the place to change it.
In explaining the decision, the judge told the couple that if they believe the ordinance is unfair, their remedy lies with the Pleasant Prairie Village Board rather than the municipal court.
Municipal judges interpret and apply ordinances but cannot rewrite them, he explained.
The judge noted that if the family wanted to challenge the ordinance itself as unconstitutional, that would require a legal argument and evidence, something that was not presented in the case.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
A Controversy That Drew Community Attention
The dispute gained attention after Breit contacted Kenosha County Eye earlier this week, calling the village’s enforcement of the chicken ordinance “un-American” given the size and rural nature of their property.
Breit and White live on a large lot along 116th Street and have raised chickens there for roughly five years.
Their chicken coop was built by hand with help from a neighbor, who initially supported the project and even assisted with drilling posts for the enclosure. That same neighbor later filed the complaint that triggered the village citations.
When Kenosha County Eye visited the property earlier this week, the family showed off their coop and flock, joking that their chickens “live better than some people in the city of Kenosha.”
Several surrounding neighbors told KCE they had no issue with the birds and supported the family’s right to keep them.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Village Stands by Ordinance
Before the court hearing, Pleasant Prairie officials provided a statement defending the village’s poultry rules.
The village said its municipal code limits chickens to properties zoned agricultural, citing concerns about noise, odors, pests, and waste management.
Officials also noted that while legislation in Madison could eventually force municipalities to allow backyard chickens statewide, the village currently has no plans to modify its ordinance.
Debate Likely Not Over
The judge suggested that if residents want the rule changed, the proper forum is the Pleasant Prairie Village Board.
For now, however, the ordinance remains in place — and the court’s ruling means the couple’s backyard flock is still considered illegal under village law.
Unless the decision is appealed or the ordinance changes, the case marks the end of the courtroom chapter in Pleasant Prairie’s backyard chicken dispute.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
32 Responses
As long as they don’t have a rooster – I don’t see the problem.
Here they come to snuff the rooster
😂🤣😂
I feel bad for Courtney not having her chicken and she go to my school so I will make her feel happy and her husband is nice to her and i love her ask her a teacher and she is the best teacher ever
Courtney is the best teacher ever i want her to be happy and i am her Lexi girl
So its OK to pile all these sex offenders into the village, but not a few chickens… WOW
For sure, how ridiculous. 🙄
Wi Social Services sex offender “management & control operations” provides direct county revenue. A chicken coop operated for private profit without a “cut/payoff” for the village doesn’t.
You’re a bootlicker.
And you have no sense of humor.
excellent point
This world is all bass ackward.
I’m glad the guy who helped build the coop and then made the complaint isn’t my neighbor. What an asshat.
It happens. If you live next to or near a municipal employee and piss them off, they can make a lot of trouble for you. There are many litte mini-tyrants that get their psychological rocks off making trouble in municipal administration.
Chicken shit case
Regarding the neighbor, how many stool pigeons are allowed to exist on a residentially zoned lot?
What douchebag neighbor turned them in?
The one who helped him build it. He’s a nut job.
Coop looks well built. Clean. What’s the issue? Shitty neighbor
Did they ever go to the village board to get a zoning variance?
It’s not like he filled in a wetlands, he built a coop. Oh wait, wrong village
Village Prosecutor Donald Mayhew is one of the grumpiest worthless people you ever don”t want to meet!!
Sure, until someone is breaking the law and you want them prosecuted the way you believe you would be prosecuted if you were caught breaking the law. 😝
My chickens identify as mosquitoes
Your government overreach that you all ask for..
Mr Mayew has been a well respected attorney is this community for over 50 years. The least you could do is spell his name correctly.
People seem to forget how things drunk out over and over and over with a gigantic chicken farm on highway 50. If you don’t think there’s any correlation, then you are thinking so small that you aren’t thinking at all. The ruling was absolutely correct, particularly with the explanation that if you don’t like the law you need to get the law changed, not break it and expect a sympathetic Court to not do its job. That is the mess we have gotten recently in the Wisconsin state supreme court where the most recent member simply campaigned on making law and ignoring law instead of doing the one thing that the position is supposed to be doing, ruling whether or not laws are unconstitutional under Wisconsin’s state constitution. Now we have another one promising to make up her own laws on abortion in exchange for votes. I’m all for abortion, but not for a state supreme court ruling against constitutional laws because they don’t feel like agreeing with them. Kind of like Biden administration with open borders.
You’re also a bootlicker. This country sucks because of people like you.
And a nazi, don’t forget to call me a nazi. Everything you hate is a boot licker or a Nazi or someone else that isn’t a moron, so they decide something based on law instead of emotions. If you build a chicken coop and fill it with chickens in a place that doesn’t allow it, it doesn’t take any time with a boot to figure out you will eventually have a light shined on it that you won’t like. I don’t think you are an anarchist, so use the brains you do have and admit whether it’s a chicken coop or a fence or whatever, if you build it without a permit you’ll eventually end up paying a lot more. Or move someplace where you don’t need a permit for anything, maybe Portland Oregon?
You vill own Nothing, not even Chickens und be Happy….
Gone to the Birds
Courtney and her husband they love their Chicken and it,s sad that her chicken are gone cuz there mean neighbor who told Courtney and her husband they can’t have chicken