RESCUING THE HELPLESS…

One Woman’s Battle against almost unbeatable odds in Houston County
Story by Teresa N. Settle

PART FIVE: The Sheriff Responds

Houston County Sheriff Kennith Barnes said in an interview that he did not get a call from the 911 center on Sept. 12, but he did get a call from Dep. Laxton. He said McCoy did visit him at the Sheriff’s Dept. after leaving the scene, and that he asked for her charter. He disputes having her charter since March of 2000. Contrary to the reports of the neighbors, Sheriff Barnes also claims that Dep. Laxton did not help remove the puppies from the first location.
Sheriff Barnes said Dep. Laxton acted appropriately on Sept. 12, and that the first situation was due to the dog owner being sick and hospitalized.
When asked if Dep. Laxton acted appropriately on Nov. 1 by kicking McCoy off a different location weeks later (yet due to the situation again with the same puppies, and at the request of the officers on duty), Sheriff Barnes said, “Yes.”
Barnes said the deputy followed proper channels, speaking with a judge and the assistant district attorney before making McCoy give the puppies back to the owner due to her “refusal to supply credentials.”
“I feel like it was an unintentional case of neglect,” Barnes said, regarding the animals, . Sydney Warden (son of William Warden) was charged, however, with five counts of animal cruelty, a Class A misdemeanor.
Barnes said jail time is not likely, based on the circumstances and since the owner is a first time offender.
According to Sheriff Barnes, if anyone in Houston County suspects a case of animal cruelty or neglect, they should call the Houston County Central Communications non-emergency number, 721-4019. When asked if his office ever encounters of a bad case of neglect or abuse of domestic animals, Sheriff Barnes said he will continue to contact McCoy for her assistance, so long as her charter (which he says he now has) does not change.
McCoy did contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and on Nov. 7, she was interviewed over the phone for two hours concerning the events of Sept. 12 and Nov. 1. However, later, the TBI investigator phoned her from the Dickson County Central Communications office, to tell her the investigation had been cancelled by none-other-than District Attorney General Dan Alsobrooks.
In the meantime, the dog owners’ arraignment took place Tuesday, Nov. 25. A trial date has been set for Feb. 3 at 8 a.m.
“Faith,” “Hope,” and “Charity,” the three remaining puppies, have been taken into custody by St. Francis, where they have been placed into a foster home. The puppies may be permanently crippled from their ordeal, but they are now getting much-needed love, are improving daily, and are gaining weight.
As for McCoy and St. Francis: The stress of the past two months has nearly killed her and the animal rescue itself. She has contacted other animal rescues in order to downsize her operation. Caring for over 100 animals and serving Houston County almost single-handedly has taken its toll, and this ordeal has been traumatic enough to even cause her to consider closing her doors and leaving Houston County for good.
But then again, who would take up the charge of caring for neglected and abused animals here?
“My commitment is to the animals,” says McCoy. “And as long as I live, there will always be a St. Francis. The bottom line is I have worked too hard to achieve what I have achieved.”

If this five-part story has moved you, there IS something you can do…
1. Become a volunteer with St. Francis;
2. Adopt a pet from the animal rescue; or
3. Dig deep in your pockets for this non-profit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible.
Call 289-4858 or mail your check or money order to St. Francis Animal Rescue, P.O. Box 266, Erin, TN 37061.
St. Francis was the patron saint of animals. In Houston County, after the ordeal she’s had, Annamaria McCoy should get that title, too.

To contact the author…
E-mail the author with your comments at redwriter@hctn.net Read more!

RESCUING THE HELPLESS…
One Woman’s Battle against almost unbeatable odds in Houston County

Story by Teresa N. Settle

PART FOUR: A Cry for Help

Going to her computer, unable to sleep and armed with the digital pictures she took to document the atrocity, McCoy began e-mailing everyone she could think of, asking for help.
By Sunday, the story via the internet has gone national and international. Some of the organizations contacted were: the American Humane Association, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the United States, Animal League Defense Fund, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. To see some of the graphic pictures of the puppies, for instance, go to canadianvoiceforanimalsand click on “A Cry for Help.”
On Monday, Nov. 3, the Houston County Animal Clinic received a visit from Dep. Laxton and a member of the dog owner’s family. They brought a puppy for Dr. Beuerlein to examine. The vet’s findings: the pup was emaciated, had worms and an ear infection, and was suffering from rickets (a malady due to malnourishment). He estimated the dog to be about five to six months old. It weighs 11 pounds. (A healthy dog would weigh 55 to 65 pounds at this age.)
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, District Attorney Dan Alsobrooks responded to an e-mail from an animal welfare officer who had gotten wind of the case.
Alsobrooks wrote, “I have talked with one of my assistants, who indicated that the Houston Co. Sheriff’s Dept. and a local veterinarian have been involved in an inquiry concerning some puppies that were allegedly to be mistreated. I have further been advised that no criminal charges have been issued and that the circumstances you have described, upon being investigated, have not been supported by the actual facts at this time.”
Alsobrooks had apparently not seen McCoy’s pictures or spoken to her about the incident.
Alsobrooks added in his e-mail, “I am confident that the Sheriff’s Dept. has taken the appropriate steps to investigate this matter.”
On Thursday, Nov. 6, two months after the first call and a week after the second call, the Sheriff’s Department did charge Sydney Warden with animal cruelty, but the puppies remained in his custody.
Later that same day, Carey Thompson, the assistant D.A., told McCoy in a phone conversation that he had informed the dog owner of his right to press charges against McCoy for trespassing, in spite of the fact that she was acting on the request of the Sheriff’s Department and in the company of two deputies.
“I have no idea why they are protecting [the dog owner],” McCoy said of her two harrowing run-ins with Dep. Laxton. “I put my family and the lives of these dogs (referring to over 100 she currently cares for at St. Francis) in danger. I feel very much threatened. How far are they going to go to protect him?” she wonders.
“This is a case when animal rights and human rights alike were violated,” she said.
Ironically, for unknown reasons, the district attorney’s office did appear to reverse its position, contacting the Sheriff’s Department and instructing them to allow McCoy to take charge of the puppies on Thursday, Nov. 13. (Yes, it’s now her THIRD attempt to RESCUE these animals). Well, third time’s a charm, even though the property owner again did not want to relinquish them. However, with a deputy on the property, McCoy was able to get the animals and take them to the Houston County Animal Clinic for further treatment.
Log on tomorrow for the final segment of this Five-Part Series Read more!

RESCUING THE HELPLESS…
One Woman’s Battle against almost unbeatable odds in Houston County

PART THREE: Several Weeks Later
Story by Teresa N. Settle

It’s Saturday, Nov. 1, at 9:29 p.m. The phone at St. Francis rings. It’s the dispatcher at the Houston County 911 center requesting her assistance in yet another case of “severe animal cruelty.” The central dispatcher gave her the cell phone number of the deputy on duty, Officer Randy Hagler. Dep. Hagler explained that he had never worked this kind of case before, and that his supervisor (Dep. David Barnes, told him to contact McCoy for assistance.
McCoy and another animal rescue volunteer met the officer at Tennessee Ridge Elementary School and followed him to where the dogs were being kept. Neighbors Dale and Mary Johnson (who had called 911 this time) said they had knowledge of the severely neglected coon dogs.
“As soon as we enter, the stench is so strong you just want to throw up right there,” McCoy recalls. The two deputies escort McCoy and the other volunteer to the kennel.
“I can’t believe this,” McCoy thinks, “they get me back out here for the same case, the same dogs.”
This time, McCoy has brought along her digital camera (since the Sheriff’s Dept. hadn’t bothered with one in September). So she starts taking pictures of the evidence. The stench is unbearable, but McCoy is sizing up the situation. There are two dead dogs in a black plastic container and three live dogs eating on the decayed dogs’ carcasses, because the food that is in the kennel is covered in maggots.
Meanwhile, the deputies have confronted the property owner, who has come out of the house. The deputies talk the owner into agreeing to hand over the emaciated dogs, and McCoy continues to call 911 to get the Sheriff out to the property.
Instead, Dep. Laxton (the same officer from the Sept. 12 incident) arrived and according to McCoy began threatening with physical violence if she did not leave.
“You can kill me if you want to,” McCoy returns, “but not until you look at these puppies.” She wanted Laxton to see the horrific situation she felt he helped create with his interference on Sept. 12.
“There is nothing wrong here,” Dep. Laxton says, as the Johnsons look on.
Dep. Laxton gave McCoy two choices: return the puppies to the owner and leave, or be arrested for trespassing (even though she is there at the property at the request of the other two deputies), blocking an official vehicle (because she has followed the other deputies and is parked behind them), and theft (even though the owner had already relinquished the puppies into her care).
McCoy did the only thing she could by relinquishing the puppies, although she refused to return them to their maggot-infested home.
Dep. Laxton told McCoy and the concerned neighbors that the owner had fed the pups earlier in the day and none were dead at that time. The neighbors disagreed, claiming that at least one puppy had been dead for several days before they finally called 911.
At home, McCoy was distraught and infuriated.
“I cannot begin to describe to you what I felt.”
Log on tomorrow for Part Four of this Five-Part Series Read more!

RESCUING THE HELPLESS…
One Woman’s Battle against almost unbeatable odds in Houston County

Story by Teresa N. Settle

PART TWO: A Rude Awakening

It all started in March of 2000. St. Francis Animal Rescue was looking for a country setting to relocate from Clarksville. Houston County seemed ideal at the time, or so McCoy thought. With no zoning or restrictions, a small farmhouse off Hwy. 49 just outside Erin was purchased to relocate the organization.
Within a week of opening its doors, St. Francis had its first run-in with Houston County officials. Though no laws were being broken, neighbors were upset with the noise of the barking dogs, and the county commission got involved. McCoys says she received a late night visit from a sheriff’s deputy a week after she moved here. At that time, McCoy says, she handed over a copy of her charter, showing that St. Francis was a non-profit corporation whose purposes included “to provide benevolent relief of unwanted dogs, puppies, and other domestic animals; and to provide food, shelter, medical assistance, and general relief to those animals that have been injured, abused, abandoned or made homeless through the acts or omissions of people; and to do EVERY ACT AS MAY BE DEEMED NECESSARY to promote the goals and gains of this mission.”
With the county in possession of the charter, and attempts to pass a nuisance law foiled, things settled down. In fact, over time, St. Francis began to get local calls for assistance with animal control issues. Over the years, the Sheriff’s Department has asked her to quarantine dogs in bite cases, and they have handed over to her stray and hurt dogs.
“You name it,” says McCoy. “They would call me and involve me. So many cases. Any time, day or night.”
Just this past March, McCoy says Sheriff Kennith Barnes’ brother David, who is also a deputy, called her about a relative who had died and left behind 34 coon hounds. True to form, McCoy came to the rescue, providing thousands of dollars in services for the homeless animals. This is just one example of McCoy’s commitment to her mission and to her community.
Given the solid relationship McCoy had established with the Sheriff’s Department, the events of September 12 came as a rude awakening for this tireless champion of animal rights. It began innocently enough, with a rather typical phone call.
Liota Powell, a Hurricane Loop Road resident, contacted 911 to report that there were dogs starving to death near her home, with no one feeding or watering them. The owner, William “Bill” Warden had apparently had a heart attack and was a patient at the nursing home. According to Powell, the 911 center told her to contact McCoy.
This was business as usual for McCoy, who had prosecuted over 300 animal abuse cases in Montgomery County, including one precedent-setting case that resulted in jail time for the abusive pet owner.
McCoy arrived at the location, with another animal rescue volunteer in tow. They found a litter of emaciated puppies, a half-starved mother dog to weak to stand, and a chained up male dog without water or shelter. After assessing the severity of the situation, McCoy herself called 911 and asked for Sheriff Kennith Barnes to come to the site. Over two hours later, Deputy Jason Laxton arrived according to mccoy Dept. Laxton threw her off the property. Before leaving, she told Dep. Laxton to NOT remove any evidence, that she would be contacting the local animal clinic AND the sheriff about this. But instead, the neighbor who first called 911, watched as Dep. Laxton helped in removing the dogs from the location by loading them into the back of a truck.
True to her word, McCoy did go to see the Sheriff, who met her on the sidewalk in front of the jail. According to McCoy, the sheriff told her that in order to proceed with her complaint, she would have to file her professional credentials with the district attorney. The D.A.’s office was closed, however, and would not reopen until the following Monday. Of course, by then, the neglected dogs were nowhere to be found.
Log on tomorrow for Part Three of this Five-Part Series.
Read more!

RESCUING THE HELPLESS…
One Woman’s Battle against almost unbeatable odds in Houston County

Story by Teresa N. Settle

PART ONE: All’s Well That Ends Well???

Annamaria McCoy is a champion of animal rights. As president of St. Francis Animal Rescue, located in Houston County, she has spent the past three-and-a-half years helping domestic animals here. It hasn’t been easy. It may never be.
Take a suspected case of neglect or cruelty. Who should you call? According to the Tennessee Cruelty to Animals Statutes (Title 39, Chapter 14), animal offences against domestic pets such as dogs and cats refers to “any act, omission, or neglect whereby unreasonable physical pain, suffering, or death is caused or permitted.”
For instance, if a dog owner fails to provide necessary food, water, care or shelter to an animal in the person’s custody, that constitutes cruelty. [TCA 39-14-202(a)(2)]
St. Francis Animal Rescue has a special place in state law with regard to animal cruelty. Section 39-14-210 says that the agents of any society which is incorporated for the prevention of cruelty to animals (as St. Francis “Animal Rescue” clearly is chartered) may make arrests and bring before any court cases of animal cruelty [TCA 39-14-210(a)] and any officers or members may LAWFULLY interfere to prevent the perpetration of any act of cruelty upon any animal in such person’s presence [TCA 39-14-210(b)].
Ironically, these laws have not been carried out well here in the past two months. According to McCoy she has had to fight battles with local law enforcement officers here, and even the district attorney general’s office, in the past two months to save the lives of three coon puppies—appropriately named “Faith,” “Hope,” and “Charity.”
It’s a story full of emotion: Sadness for two puppies who died of neglect; Helplessness as McCoy made attempts to save the puppies all the way back to September. Confusion as local law enforcement officers would not assist her in her mission to save the animals; Anger, as a deputy threatened her with charges as she tried to save the animals; and finally, Hope, as the three live puppies continue to improve and get much needed love and attention.
It’s a story whose ending we still await, and it all started back in March of 2000 when St. Francis Animal Rescue opened its doors in Houston County.
Log on tomorrow for Part Two of this Five-Part Series.
Read more!