ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997              TAG: 9703260035
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY THE ROANOKE TIMES

GOATS AND SHEEP ARE OK, BUT PORKY HAS TO GO CITY WOULD MAKE PET A HAM ON THE LAM

A Roanoke mother had no idea what she was getting into when she gave the pot-bellied pig to her son a year ago.

When Pat Earls promised her 14-year-old son a pet pig if be brought his grades up, she never imagined it would wind up in a court hearing, an appearance before Roanoke City Council and a petition drive to get a city ordinance changed.

But her court date is set for April 1; her address to City Council was March 17. And already she's gathered 200 signatures on a petition that asks the city to give Vietnamese pot-bellied pig lovers the same rights under the law that owners of goats and sheep now enjoy.

The cause of all this controversy is Porky, a 1-year-old, 40-pound Vietnamese pot-bellied pig. Tan, slow-moving and bashful, Porky was a reward for her son, Chuck Whately.

The shy Ruffner Middle School eighth-grader has struggled with attention deficit disorder for years. About a year ago, when Chuck was pining for a pig, Earls told him he could have one if his grades improved. They did, and Chuck got Porky.

For a year, there was no problem. Porky became a member of the family, which also includes three dogs and a cat.

"He's like a dog," Earls said. "He sits [on command], he rolls a barrel in the yard. Actually, he's better than a dog. He doesn't bark ... and pigs aren't going to bite you. They're not going to run down the street and rip some little girl's face off. I know dogs have done that, big dogs."

But on March 10 an animal control officer knocked on Earls' door on Mississippi Avenue Northeast. City law, he told her, allows a homeowner to keep a goat or a sheep as a pet. But cows and pigs are prohibited.

"He said there was an ordinance against swine in the city. He said they don't go out looking for pigs, but they got a complaint," Earls says. The officer couldn't tell her who had tipped them off to Porky - only that they'd have to get rid of him.

Earls refused. On March 15, the officer returned and wrote her the court summons. On March 17, she appeared before City Council and asked it to change the law.

"We're willing to do anything to keep our pig," she told members. Council referred the matter to City Manager Bob Herbert.

But if the recent past is any indication, council may be unwilling to budge.

"We've been down this road before, " Vice Mayor Linda Wyatt said at the March 17 meeting.

Faced with a similar plea from a Wasena couple in 1995, council refused to change the law. And Wyatt, Earls says, told her recently: "What about the people who were forced to get rid of the pigs in the past? [If the law is changed now] they're going to get mad."

Earls isn't giving up. She's collected 200 signatures on a petition from her community. And she's not alone. During the petition drive, she found three other pet pigs in her neighborhood. She wants council to amend the law to allow homeowners to keep one miniature pig as a pet.

Earls is getting moral support from Emma Saunders, a woman in Vinton who was forced to give up her own pet pig in 1994. Her husband, Gerald Saunders, was recently cited by the town once again because he was allowing a Bedford couple's pig in his yard while he trained it.

"It's not right," Emma Saunders said. "These are quiet animals. They're litter-trained. They're housebroken. I'd rather have them than dogs."

Earls' court date is April 1, although her lawyer has told her he'll try to get the case continued. She plans to appear before council again on April 7. Delores Daniels, Herbert's assistant for community relations, says pet pigs will be one of several topics considered by a work group looking at the city's animal control laws.

In the meantime, Chuck is pretty distraught over the possibility of losing his pet, Earls says.

"He asks, 'What's the use of working hard for something, if they're just going to take it away?'''

LENGTH: Medium:   81 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  DON PETERSEN THE ROANOKE TIMES. Chuck Whately, 14, will 
          have to give up Porky, his Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, unless the 
          Roanoke ordinance banning swine is changed. The family says the 
          miniature pigs are better pets than dogs.