Chicken Ticketed for Crossing the Road <br /><br />RIDGECREST, Calif. (AP) -- Linc and Helena Moore may have finally learned the answer to that age-old question: Why did the chicken cross the road? Because the chicken doesn't know jaywalking is illegal.<br /><br />Kern County Sheriff's Deputy J. Nicholson does know, however. The deputy issued a ticket March 26 because one of the couple's chickens allegedly impeded traffic in Johannesburg, a rural mining community near Ridgecrest, some 220 miles northeast of Los Angeles.<br /><br />The Moores were in Superior Court on Friday to plead not guilty. A trial was scheduled for May 16.<br /><br />Nicholson has declined to discuss the matter, but sheriff's Sgt. Francis Moore said chickens on the roadway have been a problem in the community of 50 residents. Officials didn't believe it could be resolved by simply issuing the couple a warning.<br /><br />"Sometimes you have to let people talk to the judge," Moore said.<br /><br />The chicken's owners say they believe they were cited because they were among several people who complained that sheriff's deputies haven't done enough to control off-road vehicle riders who create dust and noise in their neighborhood.<br /><br />Sheriff's officials say that isn't so, adding they are doing what they can to keep off-roaders away from homes.<br /><br />"The chicken thing has nothing to do with the motorcycle thing," Moore said.
