Missing Manure Mystifies Middlefield

Missing Manure Mystifies Middlefield

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio (AP) - A case of missing manure in this Amish community has a village street cleaner so upset that she reported the messy poop pilferer to police.

It seems that someone, perhaps a home gardener, is taking manure droppings from hitching rail posts outside stores in Middlefield, located about 30 miles east of Cleveland.

The hitching posts are a common site in the Amish country of Geauga County and are used by Amish to secure their buggy horses while they shop.

Lisza Wright, who gets paid $25,000 a year by Middlefield to clean the three dozen hitching rail areas daily, told police last month that someone has been taking manure, with the manure left behind getting spread out and packed down, making her job harder.

Police Chief Joe Stehlik suspects a gardener looking for fertilizer.