Moundville says woman harbors too many dogs

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

"We're proud of Moundville, and we'd like it to stay a place to be proud of," Moundville Mayor Lyman Bott said. "Well, except for one or two, and that's the problem."

The Village of Moundville has several ordinances on the books regarding property maintenance and recently had to take one recalcitrant homeowner to court because of the slovenly condition of her property.

Bott said he hoped that others who have so far failed to clean up their property would realize the village was serious about the crackdown and comply with the ordinances without further court action.

"Most people cooperate, but she refused to do anything," Bott said. "I hope any others realize we mean business."

Margaret Johnson found out that Moundville citizens are serious about the ordinances on their books. She was found guilty of all charges. One of the counts she was found guilty of involved the condition of her property. The court agreed that she failed to clean up the property after receiving written notice that her property was cluttered with junk.

According to the court "Johnson maintained various items of junk in the form of trash, refuse, old auto tires and other material," on her property.

The other counts involved dogs. The Moundville has ordinances restricting the number of dogs a person can have to two. Bott said Johnson herself said she had many more than that.

"By her own admission she said she had 15 to 20 dogs and someone went by and counted 21," Bott said.

The first count involving dogs said that Johnson "allowed one or more (breeding female) dogs to run free and allowed one or more dogs to breed in public or on private property."

Count two was for excessive barking, count three said she maintained a kennel by maintaining more than two dogs and count four said she kept one or more dogs within the Village of Moundville that were not vaccinated.

Johnson was fined $1,000, suspended pending two years of probation and assessed costs of $34.50 on the property nuisance complaint.

On the four counts involving dogs she was found guilty on all four and fined $500 for each count, suspended pending successful completion of two years probation and assessed $34.50 costs.