Animal Cruelty

LIBERTY — A Casey County woman has been charged with cruelty to animals after complaints led deputies to discover about 100 dogs, some with health problems, living in poor conditions on her property. On Thursday, police charged Cheryl L. Turner, 3718 Chelf Ridge Road, with one count of second-degree animal cruelty. More charges could be added after a veterinarian has examined the dogs, the Herald-Leader reported. Turner is cooperating with authorities. Sue Craig, a neighbor who lives near Turner, said she reported the dogs’ situation to the Casey Sheriff on July 30 and deputies responded almost immediately.

STANFORD - Charges of animal cruelty have been brought against former Lincoln County school board member David Hacker, after witnesses said his fallen horse was left laying in a field for days until it died. Hacker has since pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree cruelty to animals. He is scheduled to appear in Lincoln District Court Thursday for a pre-trial conference. Hacker said Goldie, the 24-year-old American Standardbred, was down for less than a full day before death.

A Jessamine man accused of forcing his pit bull to maul a kitten to death was convicted last week on felony animal cruelty charges. On Wednesday, a Jessamine County Circuit Court jury recommended five years in prison for Roger Alan Fairchild, 24, as well as a $1,000 fine. Fairchild was also convicted on three other charges, all misdemeanors, including menacing, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. The charges stem from an incident on Sept. 1 when he allegedly ordered his pit bull dog to maul a kitten to death.

Sixteen pitbulls which were confiscated from a Nicholasville home Dec. 8 have been put to sleep, officials say. Jessamine County Animal Control Officer Mike Cassity said that there was no other alternative than to euthanize the dogs, which he said were malnourished and scarred from being forced to fight each other. The animals were euthanized last Tuesday as part of a plea agreement. Jessamine County Animal Control dropped animal abuse charges against two Nicholasville men, Randall Willis, 42, and Shane Snow, 20, in exchange for the animals to be surrendered for destruction, Cassity said.

PLEASANT HILL — Under protection of a court order and with law enforcement present, several horses were removed Friday from a Mercer County farm where the animals had allegedly been abused. Among those hauling off the horses was Travis Banks, son of Richard M. Banks, who was charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty on March 3.  Richard Banks, who also raises horses on a farm in Lincoln County, has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 11 in Mercer District Court.

HARRODSBURG - A Mercer County man facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly mistreating 14 horses pleaded not guilty on Monday in Mercer County District Court. The horses on James "Les" Pease's Curry Pike property were seized by Mercer County Animal Control during the first week in June. A criminal complaint filed June 15 in district court by animal control officer David Quinn alleges that the horses had to be removed because they were not being fed. Pease, 72, was charged with second-degree animal cruelty, which is a misdemeanor.

Trick or treat, scheduled for Oct. 31 in Clark County, is designed to give young children a safe activity and "treats" on Halloween night. However, it is the "trick" part of trick or treat that can make Halloween a dangerous time of year. Halloween is traditionally the worst single day of the year for vandalism and animal cruelty. These crimes are committed most often by teenagers and young adults. Vandalism and animal cruelty are not pranks. They are crimes that are punishable by law. It is the duty of the County Attorney's Office to prosecute these misdemeanors in district court.

Animal-cruelty charges were filed Monday morning against a Nicholasville man in the case of a chihuahua-mix dog found in a garbage bin last week. The dog, whose name is Sable, was found in a Dumpster at the Helmsdale Apartment complex Sept. 25 with a wound consistent with an attack by a larger animal. Sable is in the care of a local veterinarian and is expected to recover. Franklin May of Nicholasville called the animal shelter on Wednesday, Sept. 26, and came to the shelter Thursday, Sept.

LANCASTER - No charges will be filed against the owners after 32 dogs and 70 exotic birds were “rescued” Sunday morning from a Garrard County property. “State police received a call Saturday night, and we started removing the animals Sunday morning,” Garrard County Animal Control Officer Earlene Harris said. Trooper Paul Blanton, spokesman for the Kentucky State Police post in Richmond, said a man walked into KSP offices Saturday night at 8:25 to make an animal cruelty complaint.

The U.S. Supreme Court has given us two terms of remarkable support for free expression — in cases remarkable for speech that many, if not most, of us really, really dislike. And its ruling June 27 that the states cannot forbid the sale or rental of video games to children punctuated its recent free-expression record with an exclamation point. In Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, the court’s 7-2 decision voided a never-enforced California law that banned the sale or rental to children age 17 and younger of video games involving violence, gore and assault.

PLEASANT HILL — Under protection of a court order and with law enforcement present, several horses were removed Friday from a Mercer County farm where the animals had allegedly been abused. Among those hauling off the horses was Travis Banks, son of Richard M. Banks, who was charged with 30 counts of animal cruelty on March 3.  Richard Banks, who also raises horses on a farm in Lincoln County, has pleaded not guilty. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 11 in Mercer District Court.

HARRODSBURG— The leader of a Mercer County horse rescue operation was arrested Thursday on felony animal cruelty charges involving 30 horses. Richard M. Banks, identified as head of Central Kentucky Equine Rescue, was charged with 30 counts of first-degree animal cruelty after Mercer County Animal Control Officer David Quinn III alerted the sheriff’s office that horses on Banks’ property off of Shakertown Road were poorly cared for. According to a sheriff’s department press release, the horses were “being malnourished and neglected” and some were living in “dangerous conditions.

Kentucky recently received a dubious honor. In December, the Animal Legal Defense Fund based in San Francisco announced that Kentucky has the weakest laws against animal abuse in the nation. The fund said Illinois, with its strong animal abuse laws, was at the top of its list and Kentucky at the bottom for the fourth consecutive year. States with weak laws do not forbid animal fighting and do not bar people convicted of animal abuse from owning them in the future. Far more disturbing were media reports in December 2009 that Kentucky was leading the nation with the highest rate of child abuse and neglect deaths.

The man accused of mistreating horses in his care at a northern Boyle County farm will be arraigned Sept. 22 in Boyle District Court. James Lancaster, of 3316 Gentry Lane, has been charged with 10 counts of second-degree cruelty to animals. He was lodged in the Boyle County Detention Center for one day and is now out on a $2,000 cash bond. Ten horses removed from Lancaster's farm on Aug. 10 were described by Boyle County Animal Control Director Dan Turcea as emaciated and encrusted with their own feces.

The charges were dismissed, but the allegations from an April dog shooting will continue with a new defendant. Animal cruelty charges were dropped against Natasha Meadows Monday afternoon after prosecutors received information that someone else shot the dog in question. The shooting occurred April 14 on Cherokee Court, where 29-year-old Natasha Meadows admitted to shooting the dog in the back with a pellet gun. Since then, others have come forward with a different story and said someone else killed the dog, Clark County Attorney Brian Thomas said.

HARRODSBURG - A Mercer County man facing animal cruelty charges for allegedly mistreating 14 horses pleaded not guilty on Monday in Mercer County District Court. The horses on James "Les" Pease's Curry Pike property were seized by Mercer County Animal Control during the first week in June. A criminal complaint filed June 15 in district court by animal control officer David Quinn alleges that the horses had to be removed because they were not being fed. Pease, 72, was charged with second-degree animal cruelty, which is a misdemeanor.