Post by RealPitBull on Apr 18, 2008 8:44:45 GMT -5
Taking A Stand
Residents protest outside dog fighting defendants' court date
www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/041808_web_stand.html
By Sandra Cason, News Messenger
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Carrying signs with messages that ran the gamut from simple and short to lengthy and profound, animal lovers staged a silent, peaceful protest Thursday morning outside the Marion County Courthouse.
The placards bore messages aimed at those who appeared inside to answer to misdemeanor charges of being spectators at a dog fight.
Courtney Case/ News Messenger
(ENLARGE)
Wolf Wedding of Lake O' The Pines, center, takes a break from walking around the Marion County Courthouse during the Humane Society of Marion County's peaceful protest of dog fighting on Thursday in downtown Jefferson.
The cases stem from a sheriff's office raid on a Sunday morning in late January at a rural residence on Farm-to-Market Road 2208.
Responding to a complaint of a dog fight, deputies were surprised not to find a couple of neighborhood canines, but rather they came upon two pit bulls fighting in a makeshift ring fashioned from corrugated tin.
Eleven live pit bulls were confiscated and released to the custody of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, McKinney branch.
Caroline Wedding, president of the Humane Society of Marion County was contacted later that day by the sheriff's office and assisted in rounding up the injured animals.
Ms. Wedding was touched, however, by the eight carcasses of pit bulls strewn about the property and the bones of smaller dogs, suspected of being used to train the pit bulls, which were dug from graves on the property. She vowed to take a stand.
Long before Thursday's court appearance by some of those arrested that day, Ms. Wedding had contacted local District Attorney Bill Gleason to arrange for the peaceful protest.
As the date approached, Ms. Wedding and other society members sent out flyers inviting residents of Marion and Harrison counties to "Take a Stand for a Friend."
The document urges: "Take a stand against dog fighting and animal abuse. Show your support for the victims by meeting us at the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. for a court appearance of defendants in the recent dog fighting ring.
"Bring a hand-made sign or photo of your beloved pet with you," it said.
And come they did.
Some signs simply read: "Say no to dog fighting." One said: "Thou shalt not kill." Others read: "Punish the deed not the breed" and one protestor held aloft a sign proclaiming: "No bad dogs; just bad owners." And while one sign bore nothing but a photograph of the bloodied face of a pit bull, another sign-maker waxed profound.
On one side, the sign quoted Cardinal Roger Mahoney: "Any society, any nation is judged by how it treats its weakest members." The other side quoted Mahatma Ghandi: "I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."
While animal advocates stood their ground on the sidewalk outside the courthouse — some with their own beloved canines at their sides — Gleason took pleas inside.
Five people pleaded guilty to Class A misdemeanors. They were Broderick Crawford Stewart, 48, of Texarkana; Curtis Gene Giddens, 57, of Hayworth, Okla.; Derrick Laprende Talton, 33, of Douglassville; Terrence Ray Robertson, 34, of Tenaha, and Barbara Coulter, 36, of Texarkana. Ms. Coulter, Robertson and Giddens were placed on a year's probation, fined $500 and assessed court costs, Gleason said.
Stewart and Talton were given five-day jail sentences and agreed to forfeit $3,850, which had been seized by the DA's office at the dog fight. "As a part of the plea agreement, this money will go to the Humane Society of Marion County," Gleason said.
Three others pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor offense of being spectators and requested jury trials. They are Carlos Dewayne Kelley, 37, of Texarkana; Gerald Herbert Lowery, 47, of Texarkana, and Clinton Melvin Capps, 29, of Douglassville.
"None of the five had serious criminal histories," the DA said. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Three people are charged with felony offenses, including Tyrone Luster, 35, of Jefferson, owner of the property on which the fight took place, and Sean Danton Miller, 35, of Texarkana, Ark., the owner of a dog brought to the fight.
Howard Lee "BoBo" Williams, 32, of Teneha, has not yet been arrested on a felony charge. Gleason said Williams ran into the woods on the day of the arrests. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the district attorney's office at 903-665-2611.
Gleason said Luster and Miller are on the docket for later this month and could face trial in May. The crimes with which they are charged are third degree felonies of engaging in organized criminal activity, punishable by up to two years in state jail and a fine of as much as $10,000.
Luster remains in Marion County Jail. Although his bond was set at $50,000, it was a "moot issue," Gleason said, since Luster was on felony probation at the time of his arrest.
Contact Sandra Cason: scason@coxmnm.com or 903-927-5969.
Residents protest outside dog fighting defendants' court date
www.marshallnewsmessenger.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/041808_web_stand.html
By Sandra Cason, News Messenger
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Carrying signs with messages that ran the gamut from simple and short to lengthy and profound, animal lovers staged a silent, peaceful protest Thursday morning outside the Marion County Courthouse.
The placards bore messages aimed at those who appeared inside to answer to misdemeanor charges of being spectators at a dog fight.
Courtney Case/ News Messenger
(ENLARGE)
Wolf Wedding of Lake O' The Pines, center, takes a break from walking around the Marion County Courthouse during the Humane Society of Marion County's peaceful protest of dog fighting on Thursday in downtown Jefferson.
The cases stem from a sheriff's office raid on a Sunday morning in late January at a rural residence on Farm-to-Market Road 2208.
Responding to a complaint of a dog fight, deputies were surprised not to find a couple of neighborhood canines, but rather they came upon two pit bulls fighting in a makeshift ring fashioned from corrugated tin.
Eleven live pit bulls were confiscated and released to the custody of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, McKinney branch.
Caroline Wedding, president of the Humane Society of Marion County was contacted later that day by the sheriff's office and assisted in rounding up the injured animals.
Ms. Wedding was touched, however, by the eight carcasses of pit bulls strewn about the property and the bones of smaller dogs, suspected of being used to train the pit bulls, which were dug from graves on the property. She vowed to take a stand.
Long before Thursday's court appearance by some of those arrested that day, Ms. Wedding had contacted local District Attorney Bill Gleason to arrange for the peaceful protest.
As the date approached, Ms. Wedding and other society members sent out flyers inviting residents of Marion and Harrison counties to "Take a Stand for a Friend."
The document urges: "Take a stand against dog fighting and animal abuse. Show your support for the victims by meeting us at the courthouse at 8:30 a.m. for a court appearance of defendants in the recent dog fighting ring.
"Bring a hand-made sign or photo of your beloved pet with you," it said.
And come they did.
Some signs simply read: "Say no to dog fighting." One said: "Thou shalt not kill." Others read: "Punish the deed not the breed" and one protestor held aloft a sign proclaiming: "No bad dogs; just bad owners." And while one sign bore nothing but a photograph of the bloodied face of a pit bull, another sign-maker waxed profound.
On one side, the sign quoted Cardinal Roger Mahoney: "Any society, any nation is judged by how it treats its weakest members." The other side quoted Mahatma Ghandi: "I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man."
While animal advocates stood their ground on the sidewalk outside the courthouse — some with their own beloved canines at their sides — Gleason took pleas inside.
Five people pleaded guilty to Class A misdemeanors. They were Broderick Crawford Stewart, 48, of Texarkana; Curtis Gene Giddens, 57, of Hayworth, Okla.; Derrick Laprende Talton, 33, of Douglassville; Terrence Ray Robertson, 34, of Tenaha, and Barbara Coulter, 36, of Texarkana. Ms. Coulter, Robertson and Giddens were placed on a year's probation, fined $500 and assessed court costs, Gleason said.
Stewart and Talton were given five-day jail sentences and agreed to forfeit $3,850, which had been seized by the DA's office at the dog fight. "As a part of the plea agreement, this money will go to the Humane Society of Marion County," Gleason said.
Three others pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor offense of being spectators and requested jury trials. They are Carlos Dewayne Kelley, 37, of Texarkana; Gerald Herbert Lowery, 47, of Texarkana, and Clinton Melvin Capps, 29, of Douglassville.
"None of the five had serious criminal histories," the DA said. Class A misdemeanors are punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.
Three people are charged with felony offenses, including Tyrone Luster, 35, of Jefferson, owner of the property on which the fight took place, and Sean Danton Miller, 35, of Texarkana, Ark., the owner of a dog brought to the fight.
Howard Lee "BoBo" Williams, 32, of Teneha, has not yet been arrested on a felony charge. Gleason said Williams ran into the woods on the day of the arrests. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the district attorney's office at 903-665-2611.
Gleason said Luster and Miller are on the docket for later this month and could face trial in May. The crimes with which they are charged are third degree felonies of engaging in organized criminal activity, punishable by up to two years in state jail and a fine of as much as $10,000.
Luster remains in Marion County Jail. Although his bond was set at $50,000, it was a "moot issue," Gleason said, since Luster was on felony probation at the time of his arrest.
Contact Sandra Cason: scason@coxmnm.com or 903-927-5969.
I look forward to learning much here