ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
THE TOWN'S YEARLONG attempt to ban the potbellied pets has been upheld in Roanoke County Circuit Court.
Suzie Saunders squinted around the back screen door of her Vinton home as her parents fed rippled potato chips to Arnold, Charlotte and Wilbur, the family's three potbellied pigs.
The door snapped shut as she ducked back inside to stifle a sob. Minutes later, the 16-year-old - her freckles faded into her red, puffy face - burst back outside and threw her arms around Wilbur. The pig wheezed, then flopped over to let Suzie scratch his belly with her toes.
Suzie's parents, Emma and Gerald Saunders, spent two hours in Roanoke County Circuit Court on Monday trying to block an injunction from town officials ordering them to get rid of their pigs. Afterward, the couple returned to the five-bedroom home - which they share with six of their 10 children, four grandchildren, two dogs, five birds and the three pigs - to break the bad news.
"She said we lost them and we had to kill them," 10-year-old Shelby repeated.
"They can't take him," said Suzie of Wilbur, her favorite, as she buried her face against her mother's shoulder. "He's mine."
The Saunderses have 30 days to appeal the decision. Emma Saunders said she would discuss her options with her attorney, but said she most likely would have all three euthanized.
"I don't think it's any use going on with it, because the longer we put it off, the harder it's going to hurt. They'll know something's wrong. They know, don't you, bud?'' she said to Wilbur as he snuffled in the dust at her feet.
Last fall, the Saunderses sent Arnold and Wilbur to stay with Emma's uncle and kept Charlotte at their 421 W. Cleveland Ave. home. All three pigs stopped eating. After that experience, Emma Saunders said, she gave up on the idea of giving the pigs away.
"Ain't nobody else going to take care of them like we do," she said.
She said the family rejected the idea of giving the pigs to a zoo. They also have been considering a move to Roanoke County, which permits potbellied pigs in residential areas, but so far they've had no luck finding a home.
Although Judge G.O. Clemens ruled Monday that the Saunderses will not be required to pay the town's legal costs, the couple estimated their own legal bills at $2,000. They said their finances will affect their decision on whether to appeal.
"I gave it my best shot," Emma said. "Can't nobody say I didn't do that."
Vinton officials first tried to ban the pigs a year ago under animal control laws that prohibit keeping livestock in a residential area. However, Judge George W. Harris Jr. ruled in Roanoke County General District Court that the ordinance's definition of livestock was too vague. Town Council amended its ordinance to specifically outlaw Vietnamese potbellied pigs. The town then filed an injunction to have the pigs removed.
Pat Ferrance, the Saunderses' attorney, argued that Harris' ruling validated the Saunderses' right to have the pigs. Since the pigs were already present in the town when the ordinance was amended, Ferrance continued, they were grandfathered in and not affected by the change in law.
Clemens rejected that argument and expressed surprise that the two attorneys didn't hinge their cases on whether potbellied pigs are livestock. (Potbellied pigs are generally treated as pets rather than raised for consumption.)
Ferrance said after the hearing that he was equally surprised at the judge's comments. Since the new ordinance lists swine and potbellied pigs separately, he said, the case would still come down to whether the Saunderses' pets were grandfathered in and thus protected.
Town Attorney Buck Heartwell, noting that Vinton is the most densely populated jurisdiction in the Roanoke Valley, said council acted to protect the town's residents.
"Their entire motivation was to respond to the concerns of the greatest number of people," he said.
At the Saunderses' home, Emma Saunders was drying eyes and sending children off to do their chores. Arnold and Wilbur lay in a plastic wading pool as the children cupped their hands and poured water over their bristly sides. Emma and Gerald, still in their courtroom clothes, grabbed a water hose and brush and began scrubbing down a squirmy, muddy Charlotte.
Suzie wandered to the front porch and sat by herself.
"You know what they'll probably do after these pigs are gone?'' Emma said of the children. "Just sit around."
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL Staff 1. After the verdict, Arnold getsby CNBsome extra loving from emotional family members (clockwise, from
lower left) Shelby, Judy and Suzie Saunders, their mother, Emma
Saunders, granddaughter April Flowers and Jeannie Saunders.|
2. Suzie Saunders cries on Wilbur's neck. All three potbellied
pigs may have to be euthanized. color.
CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER note: above