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14 OUR YUCAIPA | JUNE 2016 under the cage in a pile that forms a cone shape, eventually reaching the bottom of the cage. "The clean out is less often, every three to four days," said Bogh. Then it's another three to four days until it's hauled away. This gives flies plenty of time to flourish. Back at the Lewis home on Plum View, simply walking up to the front door is an aerobic event as you wave the flies away wildly as to not get a mouthful while you wait to be let in—quickly—so none of them follow you into the house. Then there's the air pollution. Typical pollutants in the air around chicken manure include ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and methane. Lewis said this particulate matter is affecting her 7-year-old daughter Olivia's health. Olivia has been plagued with an unrelenting cough that has baffled doctors for years. She's scheduled to have part of her lung removed this month. "She actually has sticky mucus in her lungs that is not a congenital issue, which is extremely rare," said Lewis. "Pulmonologists finally figured out that she was reacting to something in the environment that actually gave her scarring in one spot in her lung that has become a haven for bacteria." Lewis points to stacks and stacks of papers carefully organized on her dining room table. Evidence, she says, that gasses from the piles of manure at the chicken ranches are creating a toxic environment for Olivia. "I'm not some crazy mom that just thinks her kid got sick from living next door to this. I've got research to prove it all," she said. For now, the family has escaped to Grandma's house in Chapman Heights, where the flies are fewer, and Lewis feels the air quality is better. But the family isn't sure what to do about their home. "We love our home and we've spent so much time, energy and money on it. It's very emotionally draining," she said. Ideally, Lewis would like the chicken ranch property areas rezoned to residential like the nearby houses, but ranch owners would, of course, have to sell, and that's not likely. "My beef is not with the ranches but with the city for even zoning this area residential right against the factory farms," she said. Margo and Bob Reeves bought their North Bench home on Fremont in 2002. They said their realtor never once mentioned the ranches or fly problems in the area. "We did see the Hoover Ranch of course, but the stalls were empty and it was so dilapidated that we never thought it would be in use again," Margo Reeves said. "We loved the area and the house was such a good deal. Now we know why." When Hoover Ranch #7 started up again in 2014 the flies and smell came with it. "I grew up on a farm in Iowa and I've still never seen anything like this," said Bob Reeves. "We kept our farm clean and the manure under control." The Reeves are proud grandparents with a backyard filled with toys, power wheel jeeps and even a wooden playhouse sitting idle, waiting for the grandkids to play. Instead swarms of flies land on playthings covering them with fly poop. "The chicken ranchers are literally breeding flies. It's ridiculous," said Margo Reeves. In 2015, the Reeves decided to take action. They distributed flyers to their neighbors listing names and numbers of staff at County Vector Control and city of Yucaipa representatives. Residents soon found strength in numbers. One vector control inspector told Reeves she had a stack of 200 as of yet unanswered complaints on her desk. Residents also began showing up to city council meetings, and this past April, a vector control committee meeting was held for the first time since 2011. Yucaipa's Vector Control Committee, made up of two city council members and four North Bench residents, was created in 2010 and met on an as needed basis. "At that time, the real issue was smell," said committee member and Yucaipa City Councilman Greg Bogh. "We started meeting with chicken ranchers and somewhat tackled that issue, but now we have the flies." Bogh said the city is working with ranchers to double up efforts on spraying and removing the chicken manure. "The biggest problem with the coning and drying method is that in order to really dry it has to be 'thin spread' before it can be hauled off," he said. Bogh added that another issue with coning and drying is that the water cups in the cages often break and leak onto the manure cones, making drying nearly impossible and providing ideal conditions for fly gestation. Bogh said efforts are being made to strike a deal with waste management companies where they can haul the manure off still wet, lessening the time it sits to dry, all the while breeding flies. Photo from Yucaipa North Bench Flies Facebook page

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