Goats

Three mutilated goats that may have been slain as part of a ritual were found yesterday in a wooded area in East Bradford Township, authorities said. Chuck McDevitt, public relations manager for the Chester County SPCA, said the goats had been decapitated and their stomachs were slit with a steak knife and then stuffed with legumes similar in size to baked beans. Also, in place of one of the goat's heads were two small bird heads. The birds appeared to be either pheasants or guinea hens, McDevitt said.

The Goats took the stage at the Trocadero on Thursday night in a rush. Speaking the praises of "Philly Blunts," rappers Madd and Swayzack (the third MC, OaTie, who rapped on the Goats' debut, Tricks of the Shade, is gone) bounded out to the screaming crunch of bass, drums and guitar. They were in a hurry to serve up material from their long-time-coming sophomore effort, No Goats, No Glory (Ruffhouse/Columbia), due Sept. 20. Madd wore a bearded, goatish grin; Swayzack seemed calm, until he leapt head-first into the crowd.

"Anybody heard any good April Fool's jokes today?" Goats co-leader Swayzack (Patrick Shupe) asked an extremely enthusiastic packed-to-the-gills house in the middle of an absolutely smokin' set at a smoke-filled Khyber Pass Pub on Saturday night. "Yeah, I did," a voice called out from amidst the flailing arms and legs. "The Goats broke up. " That's no joke. Or is it? Last week, Swayzack's partner in rhyme, Madd (Maxx Stoyanoff-Williams), announced that the Philadelphia hip-hop band that played Woodstock '94 was calling it quits due to dissension within the group and with its record label, Conshohocken-based Ruffhouse Records.

Any manager of natural lands knows the plague of invasive plants. Now, the Friends of the Wissahickon are trying a new weapon: goats. The group has chosen six test sites in Wissahickon Valley Park with comparable terrain and conditions. At two of the sites, the herbicide glyphosate will be applied in midsummer and again in late summer. At two more, volunteers will yank away weeds. The last two will be the purview of six Angora goats owned by Yvonne Post, who reports that "goats like to eat vertically, and anything on the ground they will pull.

LANCASTER - A man says he stole two goats to make his girlfriend happy but shot and killed the animals after they butted his pickup truck. Calvin Flahart pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals on Thursday in Lancaster County Court. A prosecutor says Flahart stole the goats and some farm equipment from a barn in Martic Township in January 2009. The foreclosed property belonged to his girlfriend's grandfather, and its contents were about to be auctioned. Flahart told a judge that he had killed the animals a few days later because "they were not nice goats.

No more Goats, no more glory. On Saturday night at the Khyber Pass Pub, the Philadelphia rap band the Goats will play their final show. The Goats had two good-to-great albums under their belt: 1992's politically charged Tricks of the Shade and last year's No Goats, No Glory. But the larger bummer is that the Goats are that rare group of rappers who can bring their music off on stage with a crackling, funky live band. "It's a major loss for the whole Philadelphia music community," said Glenn Manko, publicist for the band's label, Ruffhouse Records of Conshohocken.

Donald and Barbara Mangus don't want Mansfield's zoning rules to get their goats. So they have filed suit in Burlington County Superior Court challenging a township ordinance that threatens three of the four goats kept on their land. The suit, filed yesterday, contends that an ordinance restricting the number of livestock on township land is so vague as to be unconstitutional. According to the ordinance, only "one livestock" can be kept on one acre. But, the suit contends, the word livestock is not defined.

The goats that will rescue the serpentine were released yesterday morning in Nottingham County Park in southern Chester County. Serpentine is the gray-green rock that occurs mostly on ocean bottoms but breaks land in a few rare places - like Nottingham Park. The only places in North America where it occurs - outside of eastern Maryland and Southeastern Pennsylvania - are California, Quebec and Nova Scotia. And where serpentine occurs, prairie grass grows. So, down near the Maryland border are prairies just like in Nebraska and the Dakotas.

Pygmy goat owners in Tredyffrin Township need worry no longer that their animals may be banned from their property, after the Zoning Hearing Board ruled that the goats were exotic pets and not livestock. The board unanimously agreed last week that Susan Hansen, of Tory Hollow Road, did not have to find a new home for her pygmy goats, Daisy and Samantha. Hansen's home is in a residential area, and zoning ordinances prohibit keeping livestock on her property. "I was shocked," Hansen said.

"The Men Who Stare At Goats" is the latest Hollywood look-in on the Iraq war and, well, it's not "The Hurt Locker. " In fact, it's not the least bit interested in capturing any kind of boots-on-the-ground reality, and I guess the title is your first clue. "Goats" wants to be more of a contemporary "Catch 22" - a sardonic take on the madness of war, and of the operation Iraqi Freedom in particular. To that end, it purports to tell the history of a secret U.S. Army initiative, dating to Vietnam, to train and deploy a squad of psychic soldiers to conquer the enemy through mind-control (they train by staring at goats and stopping their hearts, hence the obscure title and the TV commercials)

PITTSBURGH - Ilya Bryzgalov knows better than anyone that in the Stanley Cup playoffs, a goalie can be one of two things. There is no gray area, no in-between. You either stop the puck, or you don't. You either win, or you go home. It's a polarizing position for a polarizing personality. "Goalies have two ways to be," Bryzgalov famously said last spring. "To be a hero. To be a goat. I am goat. " For three games this series, Bryzgalov's Flyers teammates circled around him at the buzzer to congratulate him as the hero.

4-6 tablespoons melted butter 7 sheets of phyllo 3 green garlic shoots,? (substitute 4 scallions or small? bunch of chives and 2 cloves of? garlic) 8 ounces creamy fresh goat? cheese, at room temperature 1 egg 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil 1 large bunch greens (approx.? 1 pound) such as Swiss chard, ? kale, or spinach, washed and? trimmed Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You'll do something creative. People will come together to experience your work, one of the most satisfying feelings. TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Though you are concerned with physical necessities, you have one foot in the spiritual realm today. GEMINI (May 21-June 21). When you expand your identity, you don't leave the old you behind. It's more like that version is absorbed into the new you. CANCER (June 22-July 22). A loved one's history will color the action today.

Stephen Rush and his family moved to Doylestown roughly 10 years ago. After helping out on a local farm one day, he was told he'd be taking home three of its goats. "I said, 'Really?' " Rush recalled. His daughter, Olivia, then 8, had reached that decision after a day with the animals. She picked out a goat, but the farmer said the animal "comes with her sister and mother," Rush said. Years later, Rush estimated his family had cared for more than 100 goats on their 10-acre property.

Any manager of natural lands knows the plague of invasive plants. Now, the Friends of the Wissahickon are trying a new weapon: goats. The group has chosen six test sites in Wissahickon Valley Park with comparable terrain and conditions. At two of the sites, the herbicide glyphosate will be applied in midsummer and again in late summer. At two more, volunteers will yank away weeds. The last two will be the purview of six Angora goats owned by Yvonne Post, who reports that "goats like to eat vertically, and anything on the ground they will pull.

Only the flies are free to come and go at a stinky warehouse in Upper Darby that advertises fresh meat. The yellow street sign outside the Madina Live Poultry Co., on Fourth Street just off Baltimore Pike, says fresh lamb, goats and chickens are right inside, past the barbed-wire fence. "00% Halal fresh," reads the sign, which has lost a "1. " The manure-like smell invades your nostrils the closer you get. Inside, a turkey sits on the floor in a cage, along with smaller birds on a shelf.

Lisa McCurdy and Laurie Jenkins did not set out to be farmers. Five years ago, having outgrown their small Mount Airy backyard garden, they happened upon a house in nearby Flourtown with 1½ acres - in a township where zoning allows for farm animals. Soon they were raising kids (that would be baby goats) in an idyllic setting just behind Fort Washington State Park and offering neighbors a chance to buy their just picked vegetables and freshly made goat cheese. In Philadelphia neighborhoods and surrounding suburbs, more and more people are sharing harvests from back- and front-yard gardens with all kinds of formal and informal agreements.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - If you watch the Planet Green channel, it's a good bet you're familiar with its most "fabulous" program. The Fabulous Beekman Boys, that is. A gay couple from New York City - a doctor who used to work with Martha Stewart and an ad man and best-selling author who used to work as a drag queen - buy a weekend place in Upstate New York and try to make a go of farm life. But the simple life, they discover, is anything but. To keep their farm - a near-million-dollar home known as the Beekman Mansion on 60 acres several hours north of New York - they start making specialty soaps and cheeses.

THE CHICAGO CUBS' dugout rarely has been a safe place to be, whether you're a teammate, a manager or an umpire within chasing distance. On Wednesday, pitcher Carlos Silva and third baseman Aramis Ramirez added to the legend of the unfriendly confines. The trouble erupted when a frustrated Silva was upset with the fielding behind him as he came off the field following a three-error, two-homer, six-run first inning against Milwaukee. Ramirez, who dropped a pop fly in the inning, had to be separated from Silva by teammates and coaches.

IT'S ALMOST inconceivable to think that despite the year the Union has had, making the Major League Soccer postseason is still not out of the question. In fact, with losses by Seattle and San Jose, the Union still has life. Of course, the Union must win its last four games, namely against three of the top teams in the league, but that's like hoping for a puppy at Christmas and getting a hamster wearing a red bow instead. Recently, I was informed that the Union isn't "mathematically" out of contention, despite a must-win game Wednesday night that resulted in a demoralizing, 4-1 loss to Colorado.