ORANGE : Crackdown Is Bad Sign for 2 Critters

He has been knocked over, roughed up, abducted and once even decapitated.

Now the rooster that has perched atop Jack’s Broaster restaurant for 29 years is being called a lawbreaker.

And he is not alone.

Farther east on East Chapman Avenue, a white horse that graces the roof of the Feed Barn is also being told to get lost.

The crackdown began earlier this month when a caller complained to the city code enforcement office about the proliferation of signs in East Orange. Enforcement officers handed out about 20 citations for signs that lacked permits, and the rooster and the horse were caught in the roundup, said John Godlewski, a code enforcement manager.

The critters, city officials say, wouldn’t even qualify for permits.

David Cheng, owner of Jack’s Broaster for the past 10 years, has been through all this before and said he is not backing down.

He saved the rooster from a dreary fate in 1983 when he bought the mostly takeout restaurant. The fiberglass bird was literally in pieces on top of the roof, Cheng recalled. He fixed him and placed him outside the restaurant, but in 1987 he was told he would have to buy a permit. Instead, he moved the 10-foot-tall bird indoors, but that didn’t work either.

“This room is too small for the big chicken,” Cheng said.

Earlier this year, he said, he heard a rumor that the city was loosening code enforcement, so he put the bird back on the roof. That rumor was wrong, but Cheng said he has justice on his side. “It is a landmark,” he said of the rooster. “It is part of the history of Orange. And it is art--it is a beautiful chicken.”

The bird, long a part of local high school lore, has been stolen at least 10 times, Cheng said, including the time that someone stole just his head.

But he always comes back, and Cheng has collected about 1,000 signatures over past weeks to make sure he stays there.

Norma Gustafson, part owner of the Feed Barn, said she feels the same way about the city’s notice.

“It’s sort of ridiculous. It’s always something,” she said.

She is concerned because the life-sized horse statue on the trellis over her entrance is the store’s signature. Customers might not spot the place without it, she said.

She added that she is not worrying about it for now. “I’m not much of a fighter,” she admitted. “If I have to take it down, OK, but it makes me mad.”

Godlewski said the city has not decided what to do about the animals, although it ultimately could take the owners to court or fine them on a daily basis.

“We will stick with it, and make sure that we have a proper resolution to it--whichever way it goes,” Godlewski said.