By Michael Silence, News-Sentinel staff writer
June 24, 2002
If Knox County commissioners follow the advice of their attorney, Diana Martin and her family will be getting their dog back.
In a case pitting public safety versus personal rights, Knox County Law Director Mike Moyers said he would advise commissioners the county's ordinance prohibiting "wolf hybrids" has a "serious" constitutional problem.
"It's probably not enforceable. We're going to strike it. That will be my advice," Moyers said.
If commissioners vote today to change the ordinance, then the Martin family in Powell will be able to bring back Yukon, a 120-pound Malamute mix, from a relative's home in Virginia, Moyers said.
Yukon was shipped off to Virginia in April after local authorities took him into custody. Yukon had killed a baby goat, and authorities became suspicious that he is a wolf hybrid, which is not permitted under a county ordinance.
Martin appealed to commissioners, arguing many experts say a wolf hybrid cannot be defined, essentially because dogs and wolves share the same genetics.
When authorities took Yukon away, Martin was charged with disorderly conduct for attempting to stop the seizure.
As part of a plea agreement, the charge was dropped in exchange for Martin agreeing to send Yukon out of state.
After her story was made public late last month, she was contacted by Knoxville lawyer Herb Moncier, who is now representing her.
Late last week, Moncier sent a letter to commissioners and Moyers saying he was retained to file a federal lawsuit to seek an injunction allowing her to keep Yukon.
"Under the Knox County ordinance, a Knox County resident is allowed to possess a TWRA permitted bear, lion, crocodile, poisonous snake, rhinoceros, etc., but not a dog that has any native wolf in its blood line," Moncier wrote.
So Moncier offered a compromise to avoid expensive litigation by just deleting the wolf hybrid reference.
"We're working on getting her dog back," said Commissioner Phil Guthe, who originally was not in favor of amending an ordinance just for one person.
But after talking to Martin and then getting Moncier's letter, Guthe believes the ordinance should be changed.
In a committee meeting last week, Commissioner Mike Arms voted against changing the ordinance. But later in the week, after being informed of Moyers' opinion, he said, "I don't mind removing that line. She can have her dog back."
Commissioner Mary Lou Horner was the first commissioner to take up Martin's call. "Of course I'm in favor of striking the language," she said. "That's one of the problems we have. We come up with something on the spur of the moment, and it gets us in trouble. We need to put a little more time and effort in what we do."
Moyers said the commission can strike the language, and if large wolflike dogs become a problem in the county, commission can enact a new ordinance to govern them.
Michael Silence can be reached at 865-342-6310 or
[email protected].
