Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412160061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DANVILLE LENGTH: Short
William H. Fuller III, commonwealth's attorney for Danville, said Thursday the city will drop a charge against Smokey's owner of harboring a vicious animal.
Fuller said he will ask Danville General District Court Judge T. Ryland Dodson Jr. to drop the charge today because city laws do not adequately define``vicious.''
The situation sparked international sympathy for the sad-eyed 5-year-old dog who had been locked away awaiting his execution by lethal injection. Even former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said on television Smokey should be spared.
Dodson on Dec. 6 ordered Smokey euthanized after postal workers testified that the dog had menaced them but never bitten them. The Postal Service had threatened to stop mail delivery to the street where Smokey lived unless he was restrained.
``I'm just as happy as can be,'' Smokey's owner, Craig Jackson, said after hearing his pet would be spared. ``I felt like justice would prevail.''
He said he and Smokey would move out of Danville.
by CNB