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Lewis County man plans legal action against dog warden
Saturday, September 1, 2007 12:33 AM EDT
According to George Baker of Garrison, his two Siberian Huskies — Bandit and Rocky — were last seen late last week in the area of the Baker home on Kentucky 1306. Baker said the dogs have about 600 acres on both sides of the road to roam, but the dogs had been following a female dog that was apparently in heat and failed to return home.
On Friday Aug. 24, Baker said he called the Lewis County Dog Warden Billy Bowles several times to inform Bowles the dogs were missing and to contact Baker if they were located so that he could come and get them.
Baker said he was not able to talk to Bowles in person but left messages on an answering machine.
"I said, 'I don't want them harmed'," said Baker." All of our neighbors love our dogs. They are gentle and not vicious dogs."
On Aug. 29, Baker was told by neighbors the dogs had been seen alive on Town Branch Road on Aug. 26. Later the same day, Wednesday, Baker finally managed to contact Bowles.
"He said, 'I put that young Husky down but the big one got away from me,'" said Baker.
According to Baker, Bowles did not offer to tell him when or where the dogs had been killed. The older dog, Bandit, had returned home on his own, with a bullet wound in his leg by Wednesday.
Baker said he intends to pursue legal action.
"We're trying to file a class action lawsuit against the city," said Baker.
Baker has also been in contact with several local authorities about the incident.
Calls to Bowles by The Ledger Independent were not returned by press time.
Magistrate Joe Bentley confirmed Friday that Baker had spoken with him about the incident.
Lewis County Judge-Executive Steve Applegate, who has been out of town on business, said he had been made aware of Baker's complaint and that Sheriff Bill Lewis was aware of it, but had little information to base a comment on.
"I need to get more information before I can give an opinion," said Applegate.
Bowles past performance was complimented by Applegate.
"He does a good job at what he does," said Applegate. "I really can't say, because I haven't talked to either party. I really need to talk to my dog warden."
Both Baker and Applegate want to get to the bottom of the incident.
"We're going to put an organization together and fight this," said Baker. "This is not going away. We're going to stay on it until we get something done."
Applegate is reserving comments until more information is gathered.
"I don't think it's anything we'll brush off," he said.
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