SEEKING JUSTICE

Justin Clinton's aunts, Robin Bell and Amanda Sims, and cousin Leann Bell (behind the sign) were among the family and friends who News Herald Photo by Brenda Brown gathered at the Rusk County Courthouse to demand changes to the county, state and federal animal control laws. HENDERSON — Justin Clinton should have played with his Kilgore All-Stars team here Wednesday night. Instead, his family and friends were at the courthouse that morning to request that Rusk County commissioners enact countywide leash laws.

Family members said they would prefer pit bulls such as the two that mauled 10- year-old Justin to death on June 15 in Leverett's Chapel be banned altogether, but the likelihood of that, as one family member put it after the meeting, is "slim to none."

Cynthia Kent of Tyler, former Smith County district judge and now attorney for Justin's parents, Serenia and Kevin Clinton, said Justin was filled with joy and love, a boy who should have been playing baseball and having a summer filled with fun.

She gave commissioners national and state statistics involving dog attacks and called for Texas legislators and the U.S. Congress to "enact laws to protect a nation of Justins."

Kent also asked commissioners to pass a resolution to ask for state and national bans on pit bulls. She further requested the court ask state legislators to increase owner liability insurance limits to $1 million for pit bulls and like breeds.

As state law goes, the court can do little more than require $100,000 liability insurance policies for owners of dangerous dogs and enact "leash laws" that require dogs to be restrained at all times, whether by leash or fence, but some changes will require a public vote. Even so, Sandra Hodges, county judge, noted leash laws don't always work because dogs can break their restraints and escape enclosures to attack people.

Kent said more than five million in the U.S. are bitten each year, and the cost to insurance companies is about $1 billion annually. More than 40 percent of Americans considered "severely bitten" are children under the age of 11. She said one-third of all of those injuries were caused by pit bulls, even though the U.S. recognizes more than 150 different breeds of dogs.

Texas is a "one-bite state," meaning dogs, unless they kill or severely injure someone, are given "one free bite" before they are considered dangerous. But in many cases, such as Justin's, Kent said, "One bite is one bite too many."

Michael Jimerson, Rusk County district attorney, prefaced the meeting by interpreting state statutes regarding the powers commissioners do and don't have when it comes to animal control, but he said there is no provision to outlaw any specific breed of dog.

The Texas Health and Safety Code says the county may require registration of dangerous dogs, but the court's power to make the dogs' owners have a minimum of $100,000 worth of liability insurance or show financial resources of the same amount would require the public's approval in an election.

The county could also require registration of all dogs, dangerous or not, under another chapter of the code, but it does not have an insurance requirement and would not require a popular vote.

Bill Hale, commissioner of Precinct 3, brought the lengthy insurance discussion to a close when he said, "We're spending a lot of time talking about insurance, but insurance doesn't bring lives back."

Becky Long of Kilgore, who said Justin was her nephew, told the court she "hopes no other child has to be buried by loved ones" and called on commissioners to require owners of dangerous dogs to have liability insurance, safe enclosures and regulations regarding their breeding.

Should someone be killed or injured, Long said there should be extensive fines levied against the dog owners. She also called for pit bulls to be banned from areas near schools, churches, parks and playgrounds.

"We would like for these laws to be known as 'Justin's Law,'" Long said.

Long noted Justin was skateboarding across the way from the Leverett's Chapel school when he was attacked by a friend's two pit bulls.

Justin's grandmother, Carolyn Sellers of Henderson, said she hoped commissioners would consider voting as if Justin had been one of their children or grandchildren.

"If he was yours, how would you vote?" Sellers asked.

Hale said the court's hands were tied regarding some of the family's requests, but there were things they could do, starting with a resolution to lawmakers requesting pit bulls be banned and public hearings within the county regarding stricter provisions for dangerous dogs.

After the meeting, Justin's aunt Amanda Sims, who lives in East Mountain, said she feared leash laws would be ignored by many, especially pit bull owners.

"People say not all of them are bad, but how do you know?" Sims asked.

IN A SEPARATE but related matter, commissioners approved leash laws for Airport Garden Estates and Airport Garden Ranchettes. The matter has been under consideration since December, when residents of the subdivisions requested restrictions because of dangerous and stray dogs in their neighborhood.

Judy Rothrock presented a petition signed by neighbors that represented 76 of the 116 homes in the subdivisions.

She said a resident was chased by two pit bulls who were trying to attack her dogs on her property. The woman's husband shot one of the dogs and the pit bull's owner threatened the husband and is believed to have killed one of the couple's dogs.

Rothrock said 19 people have been killed by dogs in Texas since January 2006 — 15 by pit bulls and three by Rottweilers.

"I love animals, but our children have to come first," Rothrock said.

Commissioners were able to grant the request because the petition had specific boundaries for the leash law. Commissioner Hale advised the Clinton family to define specific boundaries for Leverett's Chapel and submit them to the court in order to get a leash law passed.