By: Danny Jacobs

Eric Daxon stood outside the Old Courthouse in Towson on Monday night handing out tangerine-colored fliers. He offered them to many citizens heading inside for the County Council’s public hearing on a proposed zoning change that would allow Glen Arm dairy farmer Bobby Prigel to operate a creamery on his property.

The fliers advertised “Prigel Farm Fest 2009,” a legal defense fundraiser to be held Memorial Day weekend on the Prigel farm. A Facebook group for the event currently has 162 members. Daxon, in an interview Wednesday, said his goal is to raise $50,000, or half of Prigel’s legal expenses. (Creamery opponents filed a lawsuit in Baltimore County Circuit Court that was dismissed last month but might still be appealed, and an appeal of county zoning officials’ decision to allow the creamery has been postponed pending the County Council’s decision.) Three people have called Daxon since Monday night about making donations, he said.

Daxon said he spoke to Prigel about holding the fundraiser, which includes a pig roast and live music, and Prigel welcomed the idea. Daxon organized the event because he lives in nearby Sparks and runs his own business like Prigel, in Daxon’s case home theater installation and computer repair.

“He did everything right,” Daxon said of Prigel. “I don’t understand how you can get all the permits and all of the approvals [needed] and not open the creamery.”