McCune Mayor Don Call, Mayor of McCune, Mo., may wish he lived in McCune, Pennsylvania where shooting dogs was found not to be covered under animal cruelty statutes. Call faces animal cruelty charges for killing two dogs with a rifle that were threatening children in the area. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.
Call had warned the owners previously that the dogs were acting aggressive, though they never bite or attacked anyone. He explained what occurred: “The dog had come through the screen door after the kids again. So she called me over at the shop and I went and got my van and a rifle. I shot them six or seven times with a 9 mm rifle. I don’t think I was showing cruelty to animals. I was trying to save some kids from getting bit by those dogs,”
According to one report below, he went to the residence of Duane Wahl to shoot the dogs. if the dogs were shot after any danger had passed. There is no question that an owner may kill an animal in self-defense or defense of others. However, home owners cannot take it upon themselves to kill pets due to such fears of future conduct. Under these circumstances, Call could be criminally charge and civilly sued. It is not clear why he did not simply call the sheriff if the dogs were no longer in the house.
Before you show Don your support, you really need to know the truth. What is not being reported is that the Mayor drove around the block 2 to 3 times (as reported by witnesses and the Sheriff) and each time shot the dogs some more. Alot of the controversy is the Mayor claims he is a great shot, well why is there bullet holes in the house and fence. Also, Don is saying the dogs were lying on the sidewalk. There is no sidewalk, They were chained up in front of the house. What if there had been a person inside the house. The mayor could be facing murder charges instead. Don Call is nothing but a bully in this town and runs it the way he wants. As far as a court system in this town to enforce our city ordinances, its the same mayor who voted to not keep the court system. So he is one of the reasons the ordinances are not being followed. Don did not even file to run for mayor again, he forgot so now he has to run as a write in. Is this a political move for him to get support and sympathy now. Who knows what he will do next. So before you feel sorry for him, check out facts about him and you might think twice.
McCune is so small, and the people so divided that I don’t really know what is going to come of all this.
McCune,
Thanks for your insights, and the link. Mayor Call will have to defend his actions. Could the municipality pay for some of Mayor Calls legal defense?
McCune,
I am really glad that your son was ok. I hope that was a very good pair of jeans!!
I agree, but to be honest, our small town, which has no local cop, has to wait a considerable amount of time before law enforcement shows up. Sometimes you just don’t have the time to wait that long.
I am just really torn between the moral and legal issues of the whole thing. Morally I stand behind him as I would have done the same. Legally he should not be able to take the law into his own hands like that. What kind of example does that set? Everyone in town is so divided right now. Some support Don, and some do not. It is truly a mess.
I have a link here for any who are interested. It is our local news and gives a lot more detail than most sites that are reporting on it.
http://www.koamtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9773423#poll80365
There are video interviews with Don himself, and Tim, whose children were chased, which prompted him to make the call that started this snowball. I feel bad for Don because I think he may have acted out of frustration with a problem that has plagued our town for years. I think it should have been handled differently, and I honestly do understand both sides of the story. I am just heartbroken that our town is so divided on this.
And thank you. My son was fortunate. He had his jeans ripped, no skin, thankfully. He kicked and punched and was able to get away. I did, however, manage to get a new pair of jeans out of the dog owner over the deal.
I am sorry that your child was attacked by these dogs. I hope the child is fully recovered. As to the Mayor, I have to admit that he has a right to shoot the dogs if they were in his house or maybe on his property, but he no longer had the right to shoot them in the owners house. This Mayor should be held to the same standard as anyone else when it comes to using a firearm on an animal. Professor Turley hit the nail on the head when he asked why the Mayor didn’t call the sheriff. He may have had good intentions, but he violated the law and should suffer the consequences.
McCuneResident,
Thank you for the first hand account!
McCune is in Kansas. And yes, the dogs had attacked children in the past. My child was one of them. Happened about 2 years ago and I am surprised it has taken this long for something to be done about them. The sheriff has received numerous calls on the issue, and the owner was warned to do something about the dogs. I wish Don the best. If I owned a gun, I would have done it myself.
I’m with you on this one Buddha
wrong?
Sorry, punctuation is sometime key. Silly chiclet keyboard.
JT,
That’s how the local KC media is relating the story – their primary issue wasn’t with protecting the children, even the sheriff said he understood why the mayor did what he did, but the issue was indeed about how he did it. An example of good intentions gone wrong.