In Zoning Fight, It Makes Scents to Have Lots of Pigs

--Psychologist Thomas Hefele is trying to hog the attention of his neighbors to get their help in his battle with the zoning board. After the Groton, Mass., Zoning Board of Appeals denied his request to build two homes on the four lots he owns behind his large house, Hefele raised quite a stink by starting a pig farm on the land. He said town zoning allows 15 pigs per building lot. “He wrote to us and essentially said that if people on the hill would agree to help him get his house lots, he would call off his pigs,” Russell C. Squires, a neighbor, said. Since June, Hefele’s neighbors have gone to various local boards in an attempt to get rid of the pigs and their smell. The smell is indisputable, but not actionable, according to Diana Monson, chairwoman of the town health board. Hefele, past president of the Massachusetts Psychological Assn., said: “Instead of getting depressed and feeling powerless, I’ve studied the issue and made certain of my rights and am proceeding assertively to address the issues. This is what we try to get our patients to do. . . . People don’t have to like you for you to be psychologically healthy.”

--Prince Edward won’t get the royal treatment as he begins a yearlong Royal Marines commando training course in southern England, roughing it like everyone else in the rugged outfit. Early Wednesday, he will start what his instructors at the commando training center at Lympstone call “the real thing,” living in a Spartan 8-by-12-foot cabin. Edward, 22, a recent Cambridge graduate, will spend cold winter nights under canvas, swing from ropes and plunge through tunnels filled with icy water. At the end of the year, if successful, the prince will lead a commando unit of up to 33 men for a year.

--Sean Lennon, the 10-year-old son of the late John Lennon, welcomed a Soviet-American theatrical company of youngsters to New York and praised their pro-peace performance. “I want to welcome you to America and New York, and I hope you have a wonderful time,” he said during a news conference. “I think I speak for everyone, I mean everyone, when I say I hope this will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” The group’s musical, “Peace Child,” depicts children working together to promote peace. The group includes 12 American and 10 Soviet youths ranging in age from 10 to 18. The company has toured in the Soviet Union and is in the midst of a U.S. tour. In each tour city, local children provide choral backup. Sarah Hardin, 11, a cast member from Santa Barbara, said: “I think it’s for a good cause. Peace becomes more important to me as I tour with the group.”