Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995                   TAG: 9509260081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SWINE IN CITY? IN A PIG'S EYE!

Their noses wrinkling at odors described by some Wasena residents, City Council members on Monday refused entreaties by a Roanoke couple whose pot-bellied pigs have been banished to Bedford by a local judge.

William and Susan Thompson want their two pet pigs, Dinner and Jessabelle, back in their Wasena home.

A judge two weeks ago ordered the porkers out of the city, citing an ordinance that bars swine and cows - but not goats or sheep - as pets within Roanoke limits.

The Thompsons on Monday asked council to change the law, recognizing miniature Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs as pets. The couple have lived in the city for three years. No one ever complained about the pigs until two months ago, when they moved to Wasena, they said.

"There's a real need for local authorities to review the codes pertaining to exotic pets," Susan Thompson told council.

Thompson listed many advantages the little pigs have over other household pets. Their hair is short, so they don't get fleas, she noted.

And they aren't hyper like many dogs. "They don't bark," Thompson explained.

Finally, because the pigs eat rabbit food, their excrement "is less offensive to the nostrils than dogs or other pets," she said.

Don't try to tell that to their neighbors.

Three people who live beside and across Wasena Avenue from the couple told council their property values are falling - because of the horrendous smell from the Thompsons' back yard.

"It's a strong, foul odor," said Wasena Avenue resident Scott Johnson. "So strong that I've been forced to keep all the doors and windows on the east side of my house - the side that faces the Thompsons - closed all summer."

On a motion from Councilman William White, council opted to "receive and file their request," a polite way of telling the Thompsons the law won't be changed.

What does that mean to the Thompsons?

"It means that ourselves as well as some other pig owners are going to be moving from Roanoke, that's what it means," William Thompson said.

"They're part of our family. They're our pets," Susan Thompson said outside council chambers.

In the meantime, Dinner and Jessabelle are living in Bedford County with a friend of the Thompsons.

In other action, council:

Approved, 6-0, a change sought by Commissioner of Revenue Marsha Compton Fielder that could save thousands of car owners late filing penalties on their personal property tax returns. Under current law, returns have to be sent back to the city annually even if the cars are the same as the previous year. Under the new system, the information will be required only for people who've changed cars since their last filing. Others will get only a bill.

More than 6,500 car owners paid almost $100,000 in late penalties to the city this year.

Approved, 6-0, a $1 million contract with Lanford Bros. construction company for repairs to the Wasena bridge over Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad tracks and the Roanoke River. At least two lanes of the structure will be kept open while repairs are made, City Manager Bob Herbert said.