Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 18, 1995 TAG: 9508180063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Vinton's traffic court turned into animal court Thursday, and needed Noah Webster to define what is and isn't livestock.
A Roanoke County judge ruled in favor of Gerald and Emma Saunders, allowing them to keep all three of their Vietnamese potbellied pigs.
General District Judge George Harris ruled that Vinton's town code needs a clearer definition of "livestock," which is prohibited within town limits.
"I'm going to go home, grab my pigs and hug them," an elated Emma Saunders said after the decision. Saunders, who has fought for more than two months to keep her pigs, nearly jumped from her seat when Harris dismissed both charges against her and her husband.
The Saunderses were charged with keeping livestock - their three potbellied pigs, Wilbur, Arnold and Charlotte - and violating the town limit of two pets per household.
Roanoke attorney Pat Ferrance, who represented the Saunderses, argued that Vinton's town code is not clear enough to convict the pig owners of the charges.
While prohibiting more than two pets per household, it specifies only cats and dogs, he argued, and says nothing about other animals.
"Pigs aren't dogs and cats," Ferrance said.
Vinton's definition of livestock also is too vague, he said.
But Vinton Town Attorney Buck Heartwell said the town relies on the state's definition of livestock, which includes "porcine animals."
"A pig is a porcine animal and all porcine animals are considered livestock" according to Virginia's animal code, Heartwell said.
So what do the dictionaries say?
Ferrance quoted a legal dictionary's definition of livestock: animals kept and raised on a farm.
Heartwell then offered to use a dictionary to define porcine animals, which he said included potbellied pigs.
Harris then joked that even he didn't know what porcine animals are.
But Heartwell said the real issue was being overlooked.
"We can dance on the head of a pin and we can talk about definitions," Heartwell said. "But what we're talking about is pigs.
"The issue is whether the town has the right to enforce this ordinance."
Ferrance said the definitions were important in interpreting the law.
"Everybody laughs about this case because it's the pigs," he said, but principles of law still apply.
Harris agreed that the town code is not clear and that it is outdated on this particular issue.
"The Town of Vinton needs to get its town attorney to update the code," he said.
Heartwell said he wasn't sure what action the town will take now.
Gerald and Emma Saunders, who sat through numerous traffic cases before their case was heard, waited nervously.
"I've been real uptight," Emma Saunders said afterwards of her two-month fight to keep her pigs.
After complaints from residents near the Saunderses' West Cleveland Avenue home that the pigs were wandering the neighborhood, a Vinton animal control officer forced her to give up the pigs.
She gave the pigs to a cousin in Roanoke for nearly three weeks before the Town Council voted down an amendment to the code that would have allowed the pigs.
She brought the pigs back to her home, and she and her husband were summoned to court.
by CNB