Dog dispute lands man in court

ATHOL – A more than two-year feud involving an Athol man who has 19 dogs and his neighbors on Hackney Airfield seems to be near its boiling point.

The dog owner, Frank Wall, is scheduled to appear in Kootenai County District Court Monday for trial conferences on two misdemeanors. The cases could go to jury trial the following day, said Kootenai County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ken Stone.

Wall is charged with running an illegal kennel and disturbing the peace because his dogs’ barking creates excessive noise, Stone said.

Meanwhile, Karen Williams, an investigator for the Kootenai County sheriff’s animal control division, said: “It’s been a nightmare for us.” The department has compiled a three-ring binder filled with documents related to Wall and his dogs.

Williams said law enforcement officials have been called to the rural airfield development at all hours of the day and night more than 50 times since spring 2005.

Deputies are required to check out about a half-dozen neighbors’ formal complaints about Walls’ noisy dogs. And they’ve also had to respond when Wall calls to blame these same neighbors for provoking him and his dogs.

During the course of the conflict, Wall received several citations for keeping more than five dogs, the maximum allowed to those who don’t operate kennels. He’s also been cited by county officials on several occasions for disturbing the peace.

He’s paid a few of the $25 fines levied against him. But he’s refused to whittle down his canine population.

As a result, Kootenai County’s Board of Commissioners is in the process of toughening its animal control laws, said Patrick Braden, an attorney for the board.

Once amended, the county’s ordinance could give sheriff’s deputies the authority to impound dogs kept unlawfully. And it will recommend much stiffer fines for people who disobey animal control regulations or repeatedly fail to pay penalties for noncompliance, a draft of the revised ordinance shows.

Wall, who said he’s a retired aerospace engineer, doesn’t own or fly airplanes in the area like many of his neighbors. Consequently, he said he feels like an outsider who is being “railroaded” for not fitting the mold.

He also is an engineering specialist for Libby Creek Ventures, a mining engineering consortium.

In spring 2005, Wall, who’s single, moved back into a log cabin he owns on the airfield and got a county license to operate Eco Star Energy Systems Kennel. It houses what he calls “service dogs in-training.”

He said he’s training the dogs to detect air leaks that make houses energy hogs.

But about a month or so after it opened, the kennel began to irritate those living near it, police reports show.

“Everybody is just frazzled,” said Gary Lintner, who said his house is about a football field away from the Wall property, where 16 dogs are kept in two separate outdoor pens and three inside the house.

“They don’t bark every night, but not by very much,” said Lintner. “I’d like to see him gone.”

That’s typical of the attitudes folks have about him, Wall told visitors recently. “I’ve got good dogs and bad neighbors,” he said. “These are 19 Lassies,” he said of his pets.

Kootenai County revoked Wall’s kennel license in October, 2006. After some wrangling, Wall was ordered to get rid of all but five dogs by the end of that year.

He has yet to do so. Signs dot the perimeter of his property, warning people to: “Beware of dogs – all 19. Absolutely no trespassing.”

Animal Control’s Williams said: “It’s almost like he’s flaunting it.”

Wall said he’s taking measures to minimize disruptions from the dogs. He’s installed a pair of devices that purport to control dog’s barking by emitting unpleasant ultrasonic tones people can’t hear. And he’s quick to reprimand and quiet the dogs if they begin to sound off, he said.

His right to keep the animals, Wall said, is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

“They’re my property from a legal standpoint. But they’re also my family,” he said, reeling off the names of some of the shepherd/Lab mixes called Griz, Striker, Hawk, Buddy, Bear, Dude, Flash and Fluffy.

He spends about 20 hours a day around the dogs, working with them, cleaning kennels and providing food and water, he said.

“I will prevail. I will win,” Wall said of his upcoming court appearance. “I’ll fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Wall compares himself to the outlaw Josey Wales, played by Clint Eastwood in a movie by the same name.

In the film, Wales is a wounded soldier who lost everything in the Civil War. He “… has nothing left to live for, except to fight, and he cannot give that up,” according to a review on IMBd, a movie Web site.

Wall, too, is girding for battle.

His dogs are integral to his livelihood, he said. And they’re his sole companions, like family.

“They’re not gonna take my dogs,” Wall said. “I’m not arrogant. I’m just angry.”

Wall’s neighbor Lintner, who has repeatedly complained about the dogs, said: “I almost feel sorry for the guy.”