Hawkins Teague

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Cadiz resident Harry Todd says he has been through quite a lot of trouble with his neighbor’s dogs. Last week, he came to the Cadiz City Council meeting to talk about his ordeal and offer his assistance in crafting a new animal ordinance.

Todd said that in June, he began to have major problems with his neighbors and their dogs. When the hottest days of the year arrived, Todd complained to the neighbor about the odor of the dogs’ feces, which he said he could smell through his bedroom window. Todd said that the neighbor told him that he was actually smelling the blooms from the chestnut trees.

“I’ve been around chestnut trees my entire life and I’ve never smelled one that smelled like dog poop,” Todd said.

Todd said that after two weeks, there were quite a few piles of feces in the neighbor’s yard. He said that Cadiz Police Chief Hollis Alexander and Trigg County Sheriff Randy Clark came to the house to investigate the complaint, which ended in the neighbor’s arrest. Todd complimented Alexander on his assistance throughout his troubles.

Although Todd did not mention the owner of the dogs by name, the arrest report identified him as Paul Brown, resident of 70 Wharton Rd. He was charged July 10 with two counts of cruelty to animals. The report said that police found that Brown had two dogs in a pen “with (the) gates wired shut, low water supply,” and a “filthy water bucket.” It said there were several uncleaned stools in both pens and that one of the dogs was tethered inside of the pen.

Todd told the city council that his phone rang at 10:51 that night and rang periodically until about two o’clock the next morning. He said that when he answered, there was no voice on the other end.

The next day, Todd called his house to retrieve his messages and found one from Brown’s son, identified by a later arrest report as William Timothy Brown.

“They called me everything you could possibly think of,” Todd said. “They threatened me and told me to keep my mouth shut and stay in my house.”

Todd said that Alexander came to his house and made a copy of the obscene message. According to the arrest report, Officer Chad Grace arrested William T. Brown, 19, on July 13. He was served with three warrants and charged with retaliating against a participant in a legal process, menacing and harassing communications. Alexander made the criminal complaints.

The first complaint stated that William intentionally placed another person “in reasonable apprehension of physical injury.” It alleged that William had made a threatening call to a neighbor. The second complaint stated that he made “threatening gestures over the phone.” The third complaint stated that William “engaged in, or threatened to engage in, conduct causing or intended to cause bodily injury to or damage to tangible property of (a) participant in (a) legal process.”

Read more on the city's examination of pet ordinances on Page 3A of The Cadiz Record.