Don Call, the mayor of McCune, has been arrested on three charges related to the shooting of two dogs.
A warrant was issued for Call on Wednesday for two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of criminal discharge of a firearm.
At about 11 a.m. Wednesday, Call turned himself in to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and posted a $3,000 bond.
County attorney Michael Gayoso said that the two counts of cruelty to animals, which can be prosecuted as either a felony or a misdemeanor, will be prosecuted as felonies in this case.
If convicted, each count of felony animal cruelty comes with a mandatory 30 days to a maximum of one year in jail, a mandatory $500 to a maximum of $5,000 fine, and mandatory court-ordered psychological evaluation which includes, but is not limited to anger management counseling.
The issue turns on an incident Sunday in McCune.
According to Call, he had received a phone call from a McCune family that a pair of dogs had chased two of the family’s children. Call then drove to the residence, 612 Oak St., the home of Duane Wahl, and shot both dogs.
He then came back to the site with a trailer and loaded both dogs’ bodies and took them to his home to dispose of them.
Just before noon, a deputy went to investigate the shooting after a caller reported the incident. The deputy went to the site and to Call’s residence and confirmed the dogs had been shot.
There is a McCune city ordinance that dogs at large are subject to impoundment and that no dogs shall be “disposed of until after a minimum of three full business days of custody.” The City Superintendent is responsible for handling dog cases.
Call told The Morning Sun on Monday that the City Superintendent could not be reached at the time.
This is not the first incident with Wahl’s dogs.
Since July 2008, there have been four calls regarding Wahl’s three German shepherd’s in the town being aggressive. Wahl had been advised to keep the dogs pinned up.
On Sept. 15, the McCune city council went into executive session for 10 minutes to discuss the issue of Wahl’s dogs. On Jan. 12, Wahl said he would get rid of the dogs.
Wahl told the deputy that the shot German shepherd was not his dog, but confirmed the other dog was his.
Call has been the mayor of McCune since September 15, 2008.
The city does have a tranquilizer gun. City Clerk Dianne Nutt said the gun was purchased new on May 22, 2008. It is stored at the water plant, Nutt said, and the city superintendent has a key to it.
Nutt also confirmed that Call did not file to run for McCune mayor in the April election. He can still be elected as a write-in candidate, but the only person who filed to run for McCune mayor is council member Debbie Rennie.
MCCUNE —
