Where Should I Live and What Can Live Here?

The Newton Falls Public Library staff is asked questions about places to live and what is allowed to live in places. One patron was thinking about her future retirement. She didn't need to know financial information, but about lifestyle, and where she and her spouse may consider relocating. Our second patron wanted to know if people are permitted to keep a monkey in the city limits of Newton Falls.

Searching for "best places to retire in the United States" brings up a long list of websites for our patron to examine.  One site, www.topretirements.com  offers not only the top places to retire but also a list of the worst places. It also had links to other sites including: CNN Money Magazine 2011 Best Places to Live, Wall Street Journal -MarketWatch  "Top 10 Places to Retire", Kiplinger's Retiree Tax Heavens (and Hells), Forbes/MSNBC Best Places to Retire,  AARP 10 Best Places to Retire Happily, and US News Best Places to Retire. www.bankrate.com also has a whole section on retirement as well as a cost of living comparison calculator.  This is very useful when considering relocation, to compare how much purchasing power an individual's income will have as compared to where she is currently living. The patron's final decision will be determined by her personal lifestyle choices, preferences, and finances.

We were able to give a second patron a more definitive answer to the question. Going to Community Links on the library's home page, we selected Newton Falls City. From the city's website we chose Mayor,City Council and Legislation. On this page one may select CODIFIED ORDINANCES – Including Charter. These have a search function. There were no results for a search of "monkey," but the term "exotic pets" brought up Chapter 505. 505.13 is Report of escape of exotic or dangerous animal addresses the escape of animals not  indigenous to this State, but not specifically monkeys. Under "505.16  Certain Animals Prohibited (a)     No person shall keep or harbor any horses, cattle, sheep, ponies, mules, goats, pigs, hogs or poultry in the City." We informed our patron of this list. Our staff remembered that several months ago an article appeared in one of the local newspapers listing individuals in Newton Falls who had applied for exotic animal licenses for a variety of animals including monkeys; unfortunately we were unable to locate the article