| Franklin plans to leave state
By David Hedges, Publisher
www.thetimesrecord.net
A Roane woman involved in lengthy legal battles over her dogs says she has no choice but to leave the state.
Helen Franklin, who previously housed more than 80 dogs at her farm near Gandeeville, sold that property in April.
At the same time she purchased property in Calhoun County. But after receiving a chilly reception before she even relocated there, the 72-year-old widow now says she is making plans to leave the state.
"I really didn't want to leave West Virginia," she said. "There are some very good people in Roane County. But now I have no choice."
Franklin was charged with animal cruelty last year after the Roane Sheriff's Dept. and county animal shelter officials seized 57 dogs in June. The seizure came not long after Franklin had surrendered another 29 dogs to the sheriff's department.
Most of the dogs were tied up in the yard or kept in a pole barn or another outbuilding next to the house. The cruelty charges involved six dogs found inside the house, which the charges said was filled with feces and debris.
The seizure was upheld in magistrate court, and again after Franklin appealed the ruling to circuit court.
Franklin pled not guilty to the animal cruelty charges. Before the case was set to go to trial last October, an agreement was entered that allowed 20 of the dogs to be returned to Franklin. The rest were turned over to animal rescue groups in other states. The criminal charges were dismissed.
Franklin continues to maintain her innocence.
"I was never guilty of animal abuse or cruelty," she said this week.
Under the terms of the agreement Franklin could no longer reside in the home at the farm.
The sheriff's department and humane officials were allowed to check on the dogs, but only after giving Franklin advance notice.
Roane Sheriff Todd Cole said he had visited the property since the agreement and found everything to be in order, except that there were no outside runs constructed as the agreement specified.
"There were no runs built but everything inside was by the court's order," Cole said. "It was clean and they had food and water."
Cole said he had also visited the home on Lick Fork where Franklin has been staying with a friend.
"We have been out there a couple of times," he said.
Franklin said she recently purchased 34 acres along Deadening Run, near Grantsville in Calhoun County, and had one of the buildings that housed the dogs moved there.
"It was very peaceful there," she said. "I had the pole barn moved, and then all hell broke loose."
Franklin said other residents of the area blocked her efforts to get electricity and other utilities to the property. She also received reports that some of the neighbors had even threatened to kill her dogs. As a result she never moved to the property and continues to stay with a friend in Roane County.
"I thought I could live there the rest of my life," she said. "Now that property is for sale."
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