Newport Beach is making a mountain of out manure

Of all the ordinances to come down from City Hall over the years --

many of which have been good for Newport Beach -- the new ordinance

that requires horseback riders to pick up poop from their horses

takes the cake for being the most ridiculous.

The argument that a little horse manure here and there poses a

serious bacterial threat to the Upper Newport Bay is ludicrous. The

fact that some biologist says it’s so doesn’t make it so at all. All

it shows is his or her preference toward removing horses from the

trail system of the Back Bay.

Another biologist of equal credentials could tell you just the

opposite: that horse manure is rich in nutrients and amino acids,

which are essential building blocks for the Back Bay’s ecosystem. So

whom do you believe?

The simple answer is it doesn’t matter. It’s not like there are

truckloads of manure being dumped into a concentrated area. We are

talking about a little manure here and there and perhaps a few

football fields away, another pile of manure. And in almost every

case, the trail system has a buffer of 20 to 50 yards of land before

reaching the water. The manure, which is nothing more than decomposed

grass, simply dries up and mixes into the soil long before it reaches

the water.

And what if a few traces of dried manure do reach the water every

now and then? So what? Compared to the thousands of boats in Newport

Harbor with ongoing eroding bottom paint, the dozens of jet flights

overhead that coat the Back Bay daily in toxic emissions, or the

debris and run-off that flows into the Back Bay on a daily basis, the

possibility of a few teaspoons of dried manure reaching the bay is a

non-event. Besides, there are thousands of birds and fish that poop

in the Back Bay every day.

Let’s be honest. The “bacterial threat card” is just a ploy, pure

and simple. The real issue is whether we want horses in Newport Beach

anymore. If a handful of newer residents or residents relocating near

Mesa Drive object to horses, remember this: The properties along Mesa

Drive in the Back Bay have been horse properties for the past 75

years, long before you moved into town or relocated near them. To say

that horses now have to go, and cook up studies to support your

views, would be just as wrong as if you moved next to Harbor High and

then started a petition to remove the stadium lights because they

cast a glare into your living room. The point is, you would have

known that before you moved there and need to accept it.

If you don’t like horses in the Back Bay, or feel that it is an

inconvenience to have to step around their poop once in a great

while, maybe it’s you and not the horses that needs to move. We like

our town just the way it is, horses and all.

If I were a police officer, I would be very embarrassed to have to

write a citation for this, not to mention that our police force has

more important things to do than conduct stake outs for, uh, horse

manure. So City Council, please do the right thing and repeal the

horse poop law at your next meeting.

DREW LAWLER

Newport Beach