Editor's note: This article has been modified from the version originally posted to clarify the final disposition of the proposed ordinance.
Murphy – A contentious meeting with opposing sides seated in a standing-room-only audience and at the board room table itself resulted in status quo for Cherokee County’s animal control ordinance.
The board of commissioners met Monday evening, during which the board took up Commissioner Jan Griggs’ proposed ordinance. Right off the bat, there were two competing motions on the floor.
Commissioner Dan Eichenbaum made a motion to move the animal control ordinance to the top of the night’s agenda, while simultaneously Griggs made a motion to remove the ordinance from the agenda.
Eichenbaum sought to move the most contested subject of the evening to an earlier time slot in deference to the large crowd – 15 people signed up to speak on the subject during the public forum portion of the meeting.
Griggs, who single-handedly drafted the ordinance and only sought feedback from the full board after submitting it, said it was clear that her proposal didn’t have the support of the full board, but her motion to withdraw it lost on a 3-2 vote.
She was right about board support.
In the end, the board opposed Griggs' ordinance by a 3-2 majority, with her lone prospective supporter, Ben Adams, having several issues of his own with it. Board opposition came from commissioners Cal Stiles, Randy Phillips and Eichenbaum.
Social media weighed in heavily on the issue in the weeks leading up to the meeting. An widely distributed anonymous flyer listed issues with the ordinance – including mandatory microchips or ownership tattoos, leashing in public, cost to pay animal control officers, and even a provision that a dog that barks or growls at a stranger being at risk of being declared “vicious” and taken away by authorities.
Griggs called the flyer “fake news” and went through it line by line, arguing that many of the provisions are already in state law while other provisions clearly would not get full board approval.
Another widely distributed social media post showed the actual multi-page ordinance but incorrectly attributed it to the full board – only Griggs was involved among board members, with Adams being the only board member to provide input to the draft prior to the meeting.
Griggs said she decided to withdraw the proposal after meeting with Adams and county attorney Darryl Brown, when she came to realize that state law already covers animal control. She advised people with animal control issues to call the sheriff’s office if it isn’t an emergency and 911 if it is.
Griggs also spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting, saying she “will not be threatened, intimidated or muzzled by anyone.” She wrote the proposal because of complaints about vicious dogs. Griggs said there were more than 500 calls to 911 in the county in 2022 alone.
She added that the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office already has a deputy on the force who is fully trained in animal control, and the county already pays the Valley River Humane Society to house animals. Everyone in the county has a right to be on public property and not fear being attacked by vicious dogs.
Three people who spoke during the public forum were victims of dog attacks, including one who said her treatment and lost time at work cost her $20,000.
Kim Dossett, said she was attacked by her neighbor’s seven dogs. She reported the attack and was told there were no laws that could be enforced, but that if she could get photographic evidence, she could go to a magistrate to file a complaint.
She worries about how her neighbors would react if she went to a magistrate.
“I can’t use my own property; I have no rights,” Dossett said. “… I have no power, no safety and I’m sick of it.”
Melissa Van Keuren said she has already shot and buried one dangerous dog, but three more are a threat to her.
“If I shoot them, which one of you will help me bury them?” she said, confronting the board. She urged the commissioners to compel the sheriff’s office to enforce the law.
Crista Blackman said her neighbor’s vicious dogs circle her property like sharks.
“I’m here because I’m literally scared every day that my child will die,” she said.
Kimberly Trantham said she keeps dogs for bear and hog hunting, while other dogs guard her property and can’t be leashed. She worried that her dogs might be declared vicious and taken from her.
Eichenbaum admitted there is a problem with vicious dogs, but he said it is because of a relatively small number of people.