By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

Charles Golden's neighbors got his goat recently — actually his goats — when they complained about several small goats he was keeping as pets and county marshals made him get rid of them.

But now the Fayette County Commission has helped Golden get his animals back.

Golden's Hood Road home is on 4.5 acres, and five acres are required for keeping animals defined as “livestock,” which goats are.

But Golden said the animals are not livestock; they're pets. “My wife and I really enjoy them,” he said, adding that he felt the law should be changed.

Commissioners voted unanimously to solve the problem another way, changing the zoning of 78.4 acres next to Golden's home from R-70, a subdivision category, to A-R, agricultural-residential.

Golden told commissioners he intends to buy several acres of the land, owned by Johnie Williams, so he can build a pen and keep the goats there.

The land is mostly wetlands, and is in a watershed protection area, so commissioners rezoned the land conditioned on Golden's penning the animals outside any flood plain.

Golden said out of six goats he originally kept as pets only two remain. After being warned by marshals, Golden temporarily boarded his goats at the Oddo family's farm on Redwine Road, and “a pack of dogs killed four of the six recently,” he said.

But he wants to buy some more, but he assured commissioners he doesn't want to raise a herd, just a handful. “They are all neutered, so I'm not going to be breeding them,” he said.

In other action last week, commissioners formally conveyed the land occupied by Fayetteville's historic Hollingsworth House to the city.

City leaders are planning to open the house as a community center and art studio soon, after having moved and restored it over the last year. It was rescued from the path of the bulldozer when First Baptist Church offered to donate it if the city would move it to make room for the church's expansion project.

The county last year agreed to let the city use a small parcel between the County Administrative Complex and the Board of Education building on Ga. Highway 54 to sit the house on until such time as the county needs the land, but city leaders last week asked the county to give up the land permanently.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to that, limiting the conveyance to the footprint of the house plus five feet. The parking lot behind the house will remain county property.