Whitney Harker was sent a demand letter Thursday by Ross & Thomson, attorneys for the City of Grant City, giving her seven days to deal with what the city attorneys say are numerous complaints and violations of city dog ordinances regarding three dogs that she owns within city limits. The letter told her to remove the dogs from the city limits, destroy them, put a bark collar on them, or face charges for every day that she fails to comply. The letter stated that the city had received numerous multiple complaints from citizens of the dogs running at large and excessive barking and also charges Ms. Harker of failure to license them as required by city ordinances. A copy of the letter was sent to her mother, Gwyanda Harker, as the owner of the property on which Whitney lives.
But Gwyanda Harker, mother of Whitney, accused the city of selective prosecution. She told the Express that she came home from work at the Office late at night and she heard other peoples' dogs barking all the time, yet the city never did anything about them. She said that two of the dogs were Red Heelers that Whitney started raising six years ago for an FFA project at school. The other is a Blue Heeler owned by Whitney's boyfriend and kept by Harker on her property.
Gwyanda said that she had gone out of her way to be a good neighbor and keep the dogs from being a problem. She said that she built a chain link fence around the dogs after one of them had dug itself out. She said that the city would not tell her who was making a complaint against her, but said that she thought it was one set of neighbors who she says has been making a lot of trouble for her. She said they even called the law on her one time for trespassing when some neighboring kids had let a ball go onto the neighbors' property when Whitney was not even involved. She said that she has owned the home in question since 1990 and had never gotten complaints of this nature until the past year although she had gotten occasional letters from the city in the past.
Gwyanda said that the dogs never barked unless provoked. "Now, we're being told that we have to get rid of them," she said. She said that putting a bark collar on the dogs was not an option because she needed to protect her property against theft, something she says has happened in the past.
Whitney Harker told the Express that it was a matter of two people who "just don't like us." She said that she has had the dogs for the last six years and that she had never gotten such a demand letter from an attorney before. She said that she had done everything she could to be a responsible owner, including securing the kennels and getting them all their shots. Harker, who is an ag student at Northwest Missouri State, said that she has not been there all the time but that the city had never given her a chance to hear her side of the story before taking legal action. "People are making assumptions without knowing what happened," she said. "Everyone else has dogs running about as well."
The city has gotten numerous complaints over the last two years regarding dogs running loose around the city. In response, the city has set up a dog pound where it keeps stray dogs that it captures and has purchased a dart gun to help capture stray dogs. Dogs that are not claimed by their owners in a sufficient amount of time are taken to a veterinary clinic where they are either adopted out or euthanized. Persons interested in adopting dogs which are not claimed by their owners and which are targeted for euthanasia can contact the city for more information. The city euthanized four dogs and adopted out two more last month.
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