Star-Journbal Editor
Watching him calmly pull a nursing piglet away from an easily angered, sofa-sized sow, and then take it to pose in a pen full of suspicious, mud-caked pigs, even a city boy can see that Marvin Hill is a man at home with his hogs.
For now, at least, any city boy or girl in Hillsboro can see Hill and his hogs, without ever leaving town.
"These pigs pretty well know me," said Hill recently, shouting to be heard over the piggybank-sized prop, squirming wildly in his arms.
"But I might have to get out of here pretty soon. They'll get after me because they'll think I'm hurting this pig
"A lot of people wouldn't sit in a hog pen like this."
Welcome to the Hill Family Hog Farm, home for more than 100 "Babes in City" in Hillsboro.
The hog feeding and breeding operation, a sloping two-acre parcel, is tucked in a thicket of trees, a block beyond the pavement, on the gravel road, at the western-most end of Third Street.
A lot of people, including frustrated code enforcement officials working for the City of Hillsboro, have tried and failed to prevent Hill from penning his hogs there. To them, Hill's farm is the biggest two-acre headache in town.
Documents obtained by The Hillsboro Star-Journal through the open records act from Hillsboro City Hall reveal that on Jan. 13 a formal complaint was filed by the city against Hill and his wife, Barbara, charging that their hog operation was a nuisance in violation of several city ordinances.
The complaint reads, "The owner of the property is operating a small swine breeding and feeding process.
"The animals are kept on mainly open areas, which results in offensive odors drifting to neighboring residential property.
"The animal wastes are deposited on bare ground, which creates waste run off. This waste run off is unmonitored and is draining into a natural drainage way that runs to a pond used for storm water ponding and recreation.
"The building on the property is unsightly creating a blighting impact on the general area."
However, the Hills disputed the charges, hired an attorney, and asked for a hearing, which was held July 26 at City Hall before Standards Hearing Officer, Judge Bryson E. Mills, of Wichita.
According to records, Judge Mills ordered the Hills to remove junk stored on the property not specifically related to the hog operation within 120 days. The judge's ruling asks the city to continue to monitor Hill's cleanup project. If the city isn't satisfied with the results, a second hearing could be held in December to determine whether or not the presently suspended fine should be imposed.
But, at the same time, Mills dismissed other more serious charges brought against the Hills, which, in effect, affirmed their rights to continue the hog operation.
Hill, 70, took advantage of the cooler weather this past Friday to continue property cleanup in compliance with the judge's orders.
"I've picked up a few odds and ends here and there, because if that makes them happy, fine," Hill said, before adding a few more thoughts not suitable for printing in a family newspaper.
It has been a difficult year for Hill, who feels betrayed by the city, and a few anonymous neighbors he says turned him in.
"It's bothered me since I've started this," he said. "I always would have bragged on people who lived in Hillsboro, but now I wouldn't."
Hill isn't sure which of his neighbors complained to the city about his farm. He has some ideas, but says no one will say.
It wasn't the family across the street, because they were among those who signed an affidavit saying the odors were infrequent and not offensive to them, he said.
Most of the people who have moved near to Hill's farm have no idea of its history, or Hill's longtime connection to the community, he said.
"I was born and raised three miles north of town here," he said. "Right straight through here, you can almost see the big square house.
"I've been here longer than Delores Dalke has. I've been here in town longer than any of these people."
For 30 years or so, Hill's pig farm was located just outside the city limits.
When he wasn't welding stainless steel pipe at the dairy, Hill spent many an hour with his four children and his wife, Barbara, tending pigs there with nary a bother, until 15 years or so ago.
It was then that the City of Hillsboro annexed hundreds of acres west of the city, including two occupied by Hill's hog farm.
Which is why to this day Hill reminds all who'll listen that he never brought his pigs into town; the town brought itself to his pigs.
"They annexed me," Hill said. "They took in my land, but they never addressed the issue of the hog farm."
That's why the Hills' swine have been perplexing some of his neighbors and city officials, ever since.
He and his wife live together in a small house on Ash Street, a few blocks east of his hogs.
He tends his hogs every morning, from the crack of dawn until 10 o'clock, without fail.
"It's small as hog operations go, but it's more than a hobby," Hill said. "It's just like I told the judge. He asked me why I do it, and I said to help pay my health insurance, other than what Medicare pays."
Hill says he feels the judge has exonerated him, but the ruling may leave open the possibility of future challenges by the city.
Regarding the farm's odors, the document reads, in part "
"They should remember that they are in the City."
Regarding the impact of animal waste run-off, the ruling reads, "
"At the present, that portion of the City's complaint is dismissed without prejudice."
With reference to the buildings on the property, the report reads, "
"That may be reviewed by the City in conjunction with cleanup charts that are hereinafter ordered."
The ruling is specific, however, in its demands that Hill clean up the property:
"As to the unsightliness of the property, the City and the property owners have just complaint. In essence, the Court is ruling that riding mowers, golf carts, cement blocks, bicycles, old and unused farm implements, fence materials, broken up concrete and all items of construction or personal property not necessary for this hog feeding operation do constitute an unsightly blight and must be removed from the property
"This is not a storage facility for clutter or debris or construction materials, vehicles, machinery, etc, The exception to this ruling would be that Mr. Hill keep any such items inside of a building."
Hill believes Mayor Delores Dalke is behind the most recent attempt to close him down, acting at the behest of one of her family members, who built a house and lives next to his farm.
Dalke denied that she or any other elected official had had anything to do with the decision to bring charges against the Hills. She didn't feel a need to recuse herself, she said, because the matter never came up.
"We made no decisions," Dalke said. "Because it was not a city council issue.
"Years ago, before I was mayor, things like this came in front of the city council, and there were political fights all the time, and that's why we changed all that," she said.
"Today these kinds of things don't come in front of the city council; they go in front of a judge. It takes the politics out of it.
"I feel like the system worked in his case, very well," Dalke added.
Hill says fighting city call has cost him $3,000 in attorney's fees.
"That's probably more than I can make back in the next five or 10 years from this farm," he said.
Since he was exonerated of most of the charges brought against him, he says the city should repay him the $3,000 he spent to defend himself.
"I need my money back that I spent for my lawyer, don't I?" he said. "I'm already out three thousand dollars or better, and I'm going to spend more if I have to."
Since he plans to comply with the judge's orders to clean up the property, he feels the battle is over.
"It's probably over, other than the fact that I should get some payback from somewhere," Hill said.
"I've spent a lot of money unnecessarily, because as far as I'm concerned, I wasn't bothering anybody."
Dalke, who said she once had to spend thousands of dollars defending a family member, said she could empathize with Hill's frustration, but there will be no help from city hall.
"Sometimes you have to defend yourself and it costs money," Dalke said. "I feel sorry for someone who has to defend themselves."
As for the long-term future, Hill says the farm has been willed to his 50-year-old son, with a provision that it be passed on to his grandson; which means there might be a Hill hog farm in Hillsboro for another 50 years.
Or maybe, someone will take Hill up on his offer and buy him out, lock, stock, and pig troughs.
"I've offered to sell it to them if they want me out," Hill said. "If they want me out they can buy my business and I'll quit raising hogs down here.
"I'll take $20,000 cash."
