ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A former Pulaski County social worker charged with cruelty to animals at the now-defunct Solid Rock Kennel has given herself up after being on the run since June.
A trial for Annette Jenkins has been scheduled for Sept. 16 on 31 animal cruelty charges involving the former kennel in Draper. She was freed on $2,500 bond Wednesday after walking into the county jail building the previous day and identifying herself to officials.
"Told us who she was and said she wanted to turn herself in," Capt. Mike Alderman of the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday.
The kennel was actually run by Terry Weaver, who described himself as a minister and said the kennel was an outgrowth of the Evangelical Independent Non-denominational Christian Church which he founded. As such, he argued, it should be exempt from county zoning regulations on kennels.
Jenkins told authorities that she does not know where Weaver is.
After working as a social services worker for 81/2 years, Jenkins left her job to assist Weaver with his ministry and became his fiancee. Weaver set up his church at her home in Draper, and his kennel on her property around the home.
In a certificate of ordination that Weaver produced to show a reporter, which named him as "being ordained as a minister-pastor-chaplain-street ministry-reverand[sic]-evangelism-pastorial [sic] counseling," Jenkins was listed as president and founder of the ministry. Jenkins had also notarized the certificate as a notary public.
Because she was the property-owner, it was Jenkins who received notification from county officials that the kennel might be in violation of county ordinances. During the same period, several visitors to the kennel expressed concern about the conditions under which the animals were being kept.
The complaints brought state officials to the kennel when county officials seemed slow to act on the complaints. It was discovered that nearly half of the more than 100 animals were infected with a usually fatal parvo virus, which leads to dehydration and death. Weaver headed off any move to force his kennel to close by shutting it down voluntarily until the disease was cleared up.
He continually threatened to file suits against the county, animal control officers and others who investigated his kennel, claiming they were interfering with his freedom of religion. He tried several times to get attorneys to represent him, but no suits were ever filed.
The number of animals at the kennel had dropped to 31 when the Sheriff's Department obtained a warrant to search the premises, and found Weaver and Jenkins gone.
The 31 charges of cruelty to animals were filed against both of them, and they have been sought ever since. Local veterinarians volunteered to care for the animals and try to place them in homes.
In an appearance before the county Board of Supervisors last March, Jenkins defended Weaver and insisted that none of the animals were being mistreated. "I worked for Social Services for 8 1/2 years. I wouldn't hurt anything," she said at the time.
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