The Athens County Commissioners decided Tuesday to allow the county dog warden and assistant dog warden to keep straw on their trucks to give to dogs in need during the cold weather.
The commissioners voted to provide one bale of straw in each truck — costing about $5 each and being paid for from the dog shelter budget, according to Commissioner Lenny Eliason — after Shelley Lieberman, a local business owner, attempted to donate 20 bales of straw to be distributed throughout the county and found she couldn’t.
Lieberman, the owner of Friendly Paws Pet Supplies and Grooming, said she was under the impression that her donation would be accepted by the Athens County Dog Shelter and that the dog warden would be permitted to distribute the straw.
However, because of possible legal issues, the straw was not used.
Eliason said the shelter could be accused of providing straw to some people and not others, which is a problem when deciding to issue tickets for animal cruelty or neglect.
The commissioners will talk to Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn to make sure that there are no legal issues with the county buying and providing straw, Eliason said.
“I want to make sure that we aren’t providing people with straw when we should be writing them a ticket (for animal cruelty),” Eliason said.
Commissioner Chris Chmiel said he doesn’t have a problem with having straw available to hand out.
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