I began this journey back in September of 2023 when I first noticed a German Sheppard mix puppy (I would later learn was named Spike) chained out in the middle of a field in the town of Mooers New York. I drove by him daily for months. As temperatures began to drop and snow began to fall, I became more and more concerned as he appeared to never leave his chain. Spike was chained to a 3-foot stake, had no shade, a small igloo dog house and he was sitting in standing water and mud. As the weather became colder and colder Spike was moved beside an old wooden trailer.

When I called animal control, I was told at least 30 people had called in complaints in the past 6-months, but that nothing could be done as he had food, shelter, and water which is all that is required under New York State law.

I contacted the town supervisor Jeff Menard, and he did not help. Jeff Menard had no concern whatsoever for Spike. I sent the owner a Christmas card asking if I could give Spike a new home and a warm bed for Christmas, but unfortunately I received no response back.

Finally, feeling like I had nothing to lose, I pulled into the owner’s driveway and asked to buy Spike. The owner pulled in behind me in an old truck and he and his wife came over to my car. I was prepared to give the owners $700 to just let me take Spike. But instead they said no way and assured me he was fine, and that they also had an 11.5 year old Husky (I would later learn named Daisy) chained out in that same field, and she had never been inside their house. The owner said she “just loved” living in the middle of that field.

I was so upset, that I began calling my local politicians looking for a way to help Daisy and Spike. I’ve had dogs myself for 25-years and seeing these two living this way, made me so upset. Overnight as storms would blow through, I became even more upset. To this day I am still not over how it made me feel. Temperatures dropped into the negative degrees.

I was in touch with PETA at this time, and on a night when temperatures were below zero, PETA representatives said to call in a cold weather complaint to the Sheriff’s Department. So I did. Mind you, it was zero degrees that night with massive wind gusts. The Clinton County Sheriff’s deputy scolded me for calling and accused me of harassing the owner. He had no concern for either dog’s well-being whatsoever. The sheriff’s deputy even gave the owner my name, (mind you, the owner could be dangerous) and still the deputy showed zero compassion for the dogs.

Now I was in touch with politicians trying to help these dogs daily. I spoke with my local county legislator, Calvin Castine. He explained that nothing could be done under New York State law. I instantly replied with “unless we change the law.” Calvin Castine said find a precedent and start from there.

I quickly discovered that one county below us Essex County New York had a dog tethering law already in place. Their law had been in place since 2016.

I called Calvin Castine who I’m sure never expected me to find a precedent, and he suggested that I get the towns’ support next. He also put me in touch with Legislator Wendell Hughes and Wendell and I discussed next steps to try and implement a local law. Wendell was extremely helpful and it sounded promising. Wendell himself had tried to create a county Animal Abuse Registry the year before, and it had been voted down and really not even considered by the Clinton County Legislature. He was disappointed of course, but was willing to help with my cause.

I began going to town meetings in the area, starting with Champlain, the Village of Champlain, Altona, Beekmantown, Chazy, and Ellenberg bringing the issue to their attention and asking for their help. Along the way I was posting on social media and trying everything to still help Daisy and Spike. I discovered people who were just as upset as I was and they offered to help.

It turned out that good samaritans were the only ones keeping these dogs alive. Good samaritans took both dogs off a chain and put them on a longer tether that couldn’t tangle. They were providing the dogs with hay for insulation, and fresh water. They even bought the dogs the doghouses they were living in, as the ones provided by the owner weren’t acceptable.

One of the neighbors reached out to me. He was equally as upset as I was, maybe even more upset. He said there were days in the winter where there would be no footprints in the snow. Days when nobody could have checked on the dog or even given it food or water. Now the Husky wouldn’t even come out of its doghouse. He said the Husky was so depressed it never came out. This broke my heart. I couldn’t imagine the life this dog had endured.

On February 28, 2024 I attended my first Clinton County Legislature meeting. It happened to fall on the same week we had a major animal cruelty case in Clinton County when Hillary Davis was arrested for 49 counts of animal cruelty as well 3 charges for forging veterinary records. Hillary Davis ran an “animal rescue” out of her home and the conditions were horrible. She was not providing the dogs with proper care. Many of the dogs were sick, underweight, and it was just a bad situation all together. While it was horrible, the community stepped up and the timing seemed to help my cause.

That night I had put together a well thought out presentation and presented it to the legislators. I was told to get with the Public Safety Committee and we would discuss the issue more.

The March 2024 Public Safety Committee Meeting

My first Public Safety Meeting was an experience! The Public Safety Committee consisted of Calvin Castine the Legislature Chairman for the committee (Republican), Francis Peryea (Republican), Wendell Hughes (Democrat) and Bobby Hall (Democrat). Mark Henry the Clinton County Legislature Chairman also attended the meeting. My first impression of Mark Henry, was not a good one but told me everything I would need to know for the future. He pounded his fist on the desk and got in my face, that first meeting trying to intimidate me and make me go away. It didn’t work. Wendell was upset and not happy with how we were treated. Wendell has always been good at standing up for us.

I went to two more regular session legislature meetings after that March Public Safety meeting, just trying to educate the legislators on why we needed a Dog Tethering Law in Clinton County.

Meanwhile we were gaining momentum and NBC5 did a story on our fight.

At one point I had a discussion with Jeff Menard urging him to please help the two dogs in Mooers. I had heard that if the dogs weren’t licensed or vaccinated they could be removed from those conditions. Jeff Menard hung up on me saying “it’s just a dog.” I quickly learned what kind of person Jeff Menard is.

I called the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department’s Animal Cruelty devision and filed a complaint. When they went to the property they determined even though the local dog control officer said everything was fine, the doghouses were too small, the dogs weren’t vaccinated, or licensed, and were sitting in standing water. The owner was cited. So animal control had been called 30-times in 6-months and none of these violations had been identified even once. This is why we need a Dog Tethering Law in Clinton County. The current Ag & Markets law leaves the care of chained dogs left too much up to interpretation by undertrained animal control officers.

On March 13, 2024 a group of us attended the Mooers town meeting asking that the town supervisor in an open forum to help the Husky and German Sheppard mix. NBC5 was there and did a story on the town meeting.

Who else was there? The owner of the Husky and the German Sheppard mix puppy had them on a leash and was parading them around in front of the Mooers Town Hall. Everyone said the dogs were in perfect health, yet they mentioned the violations identified by the Sheriff’s Department.

(Jeff Menard as of June 2025 has still not created a dog tethering law, despite the many requests from town residents.)

The April 2024 Public Safety Committee Meeting

Wendell Hughes invited the Lewis NY town supervisor James Monty to come speak on the Dog Tethering Law and how it works in Essex County New York. I believe all the Clinton County legislators were in attendance for that meeting. Mr. Monty explained that the law works well and that it is more of an educational program than it is about prosecuting offenders.

Everyone asked questions. Calvin Castine just sat there and argued with Mr. Monty. Disputing everything he said, not taking his word for anything.

It was that same meeting where Calvin Castine asked that each legislator follow up with their town supervisors to determine if they are for or against a Dog Tethering Law in Clinton County NY. He asked that each town choose one of three options. Option #1 No law needed, option #2 keep a law at the town level, or option #3 which was to have one countywide law for all to follow. I spoke up in the meeting and asked that they provide proof in the form of a letter, and asked that the towns please be given a deadline. Calvin Castine asked that the results of the survey be available for the next Public Safety Committee meeting in May.

The May 2024 Public Safety Committee Meeting

We went into the May Public Safety meeting expecting to see the town survey results. When we arrived we were told “no towns want it.” I knew this wasn’t true so I insisted on seeing the results of the survey. Calvin Castine kept repeating “no towns want the law.” Again, I insisted on seeing the results of the survey. I wanted proof. Calvin Castine said, “I don’t have to provide proof.” That was it, we were supposed to just accept his answer and believe him. At one point in this meeting Calvin Castine said there would be a vote at one of the upcoming May meetings and they could decide then and there where this was going.

We attended two more legislature meetings each time gathering a crowd for support. We were there for that May meeting with a vote. The legislators went around the room and there was a huge discussion. Things were said and wouldn’t you know it, the video we were told “never recorded.” There was an hour long discussion and wouldn’t you know it, some very stupid things were said, and there is no evidence because “the video never recorded.” When the meeting minutes were released, the discription didn’t match what happened in the meeting at all.

The June and July 2024 Public Safety Committee Meetings

Two months went by and we continued to attend regular session legislature meetings as well as Public Safety Committee meetings. Nothing eventful happened but we still kept asking for the results of the town survey, because we knew it couldn’t be true that “the towns don’t want it.” We knew better. We attended parades in the area and we were creating awareness. A few legislators continued to say “the towns don’t want it” and that we needed to provide proof that residents want the law.

It was in June of 2024 that the Village of Champlain created and approved their own Dog Tether Law.

It was also in June of 2024 that I noticed the forecast predicted a week of very hot and humid weather. I reached out to the Mooers animal control officer and asked that she please check in on Spike and Daisy. The good samaritans had painted a very bad picture and I was concerned. The Mooers animal control officer gave me a very hard time. Temperatures reached 80 degrees plus that week. It was the first hot weather of the season.

A week later I received a phone call that upset me so much. That past week during the heatwave, the 11.5 year old Husky named Daisy I had been fighting so hard to help, had died on her chain. I sat in my car and cried. I was so upset. I notified the Sheriff’s Department and later put in a FOIL request. The Major at the Sheriff’s Department was less than kind and mocked my cause. The FOIL request came back 3-days late and it indicated the owner had buried Daisy up behind his house and he wasn’t sure what day she had even died. This was so upsetting to hear. It was even more obvious now that they didn’t care about her at all.

We tried so hard to help Daisy the 11.5 year old Husky, and the legislators played so many games. We couldn’t do anything to help her, and she died. Daisy will forever motivate me to pass this dog tethering law throughout the county, even if I do have to go town-to-town. Knowing the legislators could have done something and they didn’t, just makes me so much angrier and upset.

The August 2024 Public Safety Committee Meeting

Sick of hearing that “the towns don’t want it” I decided to do my own research and find out the truth. I called all the towns, watched town meetings and read meeting minutes.

With the real results of the survey in my hands, I attended the August 2024 Public Safety Committee meeting. As you can see from the chart below, six towns voted and felt no law was needed. Two towns voted to keep it at the town level, and six towns, the City of Plattsburgh and 3-villages believed it would be better to have one countywide law for all to follow. It became very obvious that Calvin Castine never expected these results, and they didn’t help his agenda. This also meant that he wasted months of our time misleading us when we could have been moving forward.

When a legislator does this, you start wondering why they are going to such lengths to stop us from passing this law. It was in the August Public Safety meeting where Calvin Castine indicated there would be a vote at the next legislature meeting. I asked will there be any tricks? Calvin Castine said “no tricks.” This was right after we researched the survey results on our own and discovered we had been lied to, and the results covered up.

We gathered up a crowd expecting a vote at the next legislature meeting. Everyone was there and we were ready again. Remember, Calvin Castine said “no tricks.” The meeting started and they turned the conversation over to the attorney who then explained that there would not be a vote and that there must be a law drafted and approved by the county attorney, a resolution must be voted upon and approved, and a public hearing scheduled. WE WERE UPSET! “No tricks they said!” It’s so hard to get people to attend legislature meetings. Over time people get frustrated and sick of showing up and there not being a vote.

August 2024

At this point Wendell Hughes had announced his intention to run for Mayor of Plattsburgh. He was wrapped up in his campaign, so I took over the task of drafting a Dog Tethering Law. I have experience in writing regulations from my time in the U.S. Air Force.

I solicited the help of Champlain Town Supervisor Tom Trombley as well as Rick Hunter a Champlain town council member. Together we met in the Champlain town conference room and went through other county laws putting what we felt was necessary into our Clinton County law. We went line by line, discussing the law and everything was going well. We submitted the draft to the county attorney and after a few back and forth revisions the draft law was finally approved.

October 2024

We were proud, the attorney had approved the Dog Tethering Law as written. I went into the October 23, 2024 regular session legislature meeting happy, with no worries. We made our speech as we always did during the public speaking session, and we got up to leave. Wendell Hughes looks at me and says “where are you going?” I responded, “leaving?” He says, “the law is going up for a vote sit down.” Our group had already left the legislature chambers, so I called them back in and they sat down. Wendell said our resolution would be #913 which was later in the meeting. Tonight there would be a vote, and we had no idea.

We waited. Resolution #913 came up. Wouldn’t you know it, two legislators were not in attendance that night. Legislator Dave Bezio was absent, and so was legislator Joshua Kretser. Legislator Patty Waldron made a motion to hold off and postpone the vote until all the legislators could be in attendance. Mark Henry was opposed to that. The legislators voted and Wendell Hughes, Patty Waldron, Bobby Hall, Calvin Castine and Kevin Randall voted to postpone the vote until all were in attendance. Legislators Francis Peryea, Mark Henry and Rob Timmons voted against postponing the vote. The vote failed. We needed 6 votes.

Now the legislators took a vote on whether to allow us a public hearing. Keep in mind the public had never been denied a public hearing in Clinton County history.

We did not receive enough votes for a public hearing. Legislators Patty Waldron, Bobby Hall, Wendell Hughes and Calvin Castine voted for a public hearing. Legislators Rob Timmons, Mark Henry, Francis Peryea and Kevin Randall voted against allowing us a public hearing. It was a split four to four.

Needless to say, we were very upset.

November 2024 through December 2024 I stepped away and took a much needed break.

When I returned in January 2025 I felt angry, refreshed, and ready to fight again. I’m sure Mark Henry thought he had gotten rid of us. Instead I had taken a vacation down South and having noticed Dog Tethering Laws in every state along the way, I was more fired up than ever!

The first meeting back at the legislature, Mark Henry walked out of this chambers and literally walked into the wall and knocked the flag over! It was a reaction I’ll never forget!

I began attending meetings again and now was more fired up than ever! I was contacted by “JJ” Jessie Murnane of the “Show Up” group. They are a local group of activists who help causes in the area when people are having a hard time. I told her my entire story, we did an interview and she began helping me spread the word and increase attendance at our meetings. She like most people couldn’t understand why we were having such a hard time passing this common sense law.

February 26, 2025

On February 26, 2025 we packed the legislature chambers. The room was full. We finally felt like we were getting somewhere.

March 2025 Public Safety Committee Meeting

March 3, 2025 approximately 25 of us attended the Public Safety Committee meeting. Just five minutes before we were supposed to go into the meeting, Mark Henry took me aside along with my team member Lisa, and he informed me that “nobody in Clinton County would be allowed to address the legislature on the Dog Tethering Law, in any regular session legislature meeting anymore.” We had a heated discussion going back and forth. We were very upset. Just as we started gaining support, Mark Henry banned the entire county from speaking on our cause. This, after hearing for a year that we needed to show we have community support.

On March 13, 2025 we packed the legislature chambers again. This time, Mark Henry would not allow anyone in the room to speak on the Dog Tethering Law. The other legislators could have made a motion to allow us to speak, but none of them spoke up.

I asked to speak on an unrelated topic, and was very quickly shut down by Mark Henry.

I returned on March 26, 2025 again hoping to speak on an unrelated topic. Mark Henry had already violated one of the state’s Open Meeting Laws once. Let’s see if he’ll do it again.

Once again, I was not allowed to speak on an “unrelated topic.”

April 2025

On April 8, 2025 the Town of Champlain approved their town Dog Tethering Law. We celebrated as this was a major step in the right direction! Champlain used pretty much the same law we had proposed in October to the county legislature, with a few minor variations. The Champlain Town law was a huge collaboration created by a Town Supervisor, Town Board member, a DCO, a judge, a few attorneys, a group of citizens, myself, and some sheriff’s deputies weighed in. Thank you to the Town of Champlain for leading the way and creating your own Dog Tethering law!

On April 9th 2025 I arrived at yet another regular session legislature meeting and I wanted to speak on the state’s Open Meeting law which explains that if the legislature opens the floor to the public they cannot discriminate, they must treat everyone equally. Once again, Mark Henry for the 3rd time did not allow me to speak on that “unrelated topic.”

Now Mark Henry had violated the State’s Open Meeting laws 3-times. I honestly couldn’t believe the county attorney could sit there and just allow it all to happen over and over again.

I filed numerous complaints with the State’s Attorney General’s Office, and spoke with the State’s Committee on Open Government. I was only told to hire an attorney.

I contacted the Clinton County Board of Ethics, specifically Judge McGill. I sent him a letter addressing the issue of Mark Henry banning the entire county from speaking on the dog tethering law topic. Since none of the legislators had objected, Mark Henry could ban us from speaking on the Dog Tethering Law and I knew that.

When I addressed the issue of the three Open Meeting Law violations, Judge McGill completely overlooked those issues and did not even address them. I sent Judge McGill a second letter asking him to look into the Open Meeting Law violations explaining that he had not addressed my issue. Judge McGill sent me a second letter telling me he had addressed the issue (which he had not) and he used the letter to tell me to go away. Judge McGill is an appointed judge, appointed by the legislature and he works in the same office as Mark Henry. They are buddies. He did absolutely nothing as the Clinton County Board of Ethics Chairman to correct the Open Meeting Law violations.

I checked the county legislature meeting minutes and it was actually amusing that in the meeting minutes they actually wrote that I was not allowed to speak on an unrelated topic. They openly admitted to the violation, but Mark Henry and the county attorney still kept denying they violated the state’s Open Meeting Laws.

May 8, 2025

The Town of Plattsburgh approves its own Dog Tether law on May 8, 2025! Mike Cashman and his counsel members put a law in place that bans tethering in extreme temperatures. They took the same law Champlain used and made a few adjustments as they felt necessary! Thank you Town of Plattsburgh for setting an example and leading the way!

Meanwhile we had made a few changes to our original proposed Dog Tethering law and included a hunting dog exemption, as well as making it so that residents must be home when they chain their dog outside. The legislators were all called, emailed and asked for feedback before the changes were made, after the changes were made, and none of the legislators asked any questions or had any concerns.

We waited 3-months for our resolution to be brought forward, and the legislators had the law the entire time- and no one had any questions.

PETA put out a call to action with the following article:

https://www.peta.org/action/action-alerts/clinton-county-dog-tethering-law/

June 11, 2025 our resolution goes before the legislature for a vote for a second time.

We waited three months for a new resolution vote. Legislator Patty Waldron worked hard to make sure all the legislators would be in attendance for a full legislature vote. Once again we did our best to fill the legislature chambers.

On June 11, 2025 the Clinton County Legislature took a vote and here were the results:

Area 1 Calvin Castine (Republican)- Voted “yes” to allowing a public hearing.

Area 2 Francis Peryea (Republican)- Voted “no” to allowing a public hearing.

Area 3 Mark Henry (Republican)- Voted “no” to allowing a public hearing.

Area 4 David Bezio (Democrat)- Voted “no” to a public hearing.

Area 5 Kevin Randall (Republican)- Voted “no” to a public hearing indicating he now had questions—- but he had 3-months to ask them.

Area 6 Patty Waldron (Democrat)- Voted “yes” to a public hearing.

Area 7 Rob Timmons (Republican)- Voted “no” to a public hearing.

Area 8 Paul Lamoy (Democrat)- Voted “yes” to a public hearing.

Area 9 Joshua Kretzer (Democrat)- Voted “yes” to a public hearing.

Area 10 Bobby Hall (Democrat)- Voted “yes” to a pubic hearing.

The vote was split. Five legislators voted yes and five voted no, which meant we for the second time we were not allowed a public hearing on our dog tethering law proposal. What makes matters worse, is that the entire county is banned from speaking on the topic. In addition, none of the legislators have provided any feedback on the written law, on the phone, via email, or ever for that matter. It’s very difficult at this time to even try to submit another law, when none of the legislators will help with writing the law.

June 16, 2025

The Village of Rouses Point held its public hearing on June 16, 2025 and very quickly approved their Dog Tethering law. The law is identical to the Town of Champlain’s law in every way.

As of right now we are attending town meetings and there are several towns drafting their own dog tethering law, including the City of Plattsburgh. We are looking forward to those laws hopefully getting approved soon.

We are continuing the fight!