Letter: Council Members Should Talk To Watson Concerning Dog Dispute

Dear Sir or Madam:
In May of this year, my friend Kerri let a friend that lives on Glenwood Mill Hill watch her teacup chihuahua Lucy while her and her family went on vacation.  

While watching the dog, it was able to escape out of the friend's house and ran off.  Kerri spent weeks and weeks looking for the dog, posting pictures and scouring the internet trying to find where her dog could possibly be.  Kerri has 5 children.  Meri is 3, Will is 4, Madilyn is 11, Zach is 16, and Shane is 23.  

So you can imagine the devastation of her children at the loss of a treasured part of their family.  

Kerri has never given up looking for the dog.  

Then she saw the story on the Easley Patch about the city council meeting about the dog ownership/responsibility day and to her shock and amazement, the dog that was at your meeting that you all played with that you thought was Gracie was actually her Lucy.  

As you know, Lucy has very distinctive color patterns and Kerri was able to identify her.

She excitedly told her kids that their puppy had been found!  

The Watson family was contacted and much to our dismay, they refuse to return the dog.  

They say they found the dog, so they know it is not theirs.  

Kerri was very upset at this news, as she was wanting to bring the puppy home to her children.  

She contacted the police and they say there is nothing she can do, even though she has pictures of the dog that proves that the dog is hers.  

The city judge recused himself from this case and another said this is not a criminal case.  

I would like to know what this is, if it is not a criminal case.  If my neighbor's dog comes into my yard and I keep it, that's not stealing?  

If a storm blows up and all their patio furniture blows into my yard I can keep it unless they take me to court?  

This is not justice, this is just cowardly behavior on the part of a man that has already had his dealings with the law due to poor behavior this year.  

We are pursuing this case through any and all news outlets that will listen, and we will not stop until Lucy is returned to the Blanton family.  

Kerri Blanton is one of my best friends, she has been there for me for as many years as I can remember and has never asked anything of me.  

She did not ask me to do anything about this case, I am doing this on my own because she is a good, honest, Christian woman and for anyone to treat her and her family this way for nothing other than greed and selfishness is sad.  

As a city councilman, I would hope that Mr. Watson would hold himself to a higher standard and have better morals than this.  

I know you cannot make him do anything, but I am begging you to please talk him into returning the dog before this story gets any bigger than it is now and paints an ugly picture of Easley.  

I love this town, I have lived here my whole adult life and never plan on leaving.  

I don't want any negative publicity on anything we do, but I will help my friend as she has always helped me.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Alison Underwood

Easley