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A holiday weekend protest will go ahead as planned for a Salt Lake City-based animal rights group after obstacles addressed in a lawsuit were resolved amid discussions with a federal judge.

As the Nov. 28 protest drew nearer, ordinances and requirements created by Morgan County seemed to decrease, ultimately allowing the Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement to hold its mink farm protest in Morgan.

The issue began when SLAAM sent a letter to Morgan County officials outlining its plans. A response came from Morgan Mayor Dean Pace, asking that the group obtain a mass gathering permit from the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office. A month later, an anti-picketing ordinance was passed by the city of Morgan requiring that picketers stay at least 1,000 feet from residences, including the homes on mink farms.

SLAAM spokeswoman Colleen Hatfield said that with 16 fur farms in the county, it left the group with virtually nowhere to go. “Just try to go to Morgan County and not be 1,000 feet from a fur farm,” she said.

When the group filed for its mass gathering permit, it was told it would need to amend its planned route and pay $400 for law enforcement on the day of the protest, Hatfield said.

After meeting in the chambers of Judge David Sam for close to an hour Tuesday, a resolution was reached.

“The County Council decided to waive the fees to show good faith,” Morgan County Attorney Jann Farris said. “We wanted to show that there was no ill will, that we didn’t want to cause this group problems.”

He said the county will still provide the extra law enforcement, but will foot the bill. He said the Morgan County Council also amended the picketing ordinance last week so that it will “mirror Salt Lake City’s word for word.” The major change was that picketers could go within 100 feet of a home, as opposed to 1,000 feet, and could picket a residence if it was the “targeted occupant’s sole place of business.”

Brian Barnard, attorney for SLAAM, said the group felt the ordinance had to be challenged because it was “overreaching.” He said that once Farris “did his homework,” he realized that the 1,000-feet rule was too extreme, leading to the amendment.

Barnard said the mass gathering statute was also amended, as it currently had no stipulation for an “indigent” group such as SLAAM, which lacks the resources or backing to pay a $400 fee for additional law enforcement.

Hatfield said the group will now get to march the protest route SLAAM had originally planned.

e-mail: emorgan@desnews.com