Council Addresses Animal Complaint

Connie Letourneau took the Goodman City Council to task on Tuesday night, asking council members to either fully enforce the current animal control ordinance or throw it out.

The Goodman neighbor also asked for City Clerk Karla McNorton’s resignation. Letourneau said she called the city to ask it to pick

up a stray cat and that McNorton purportedly told her that city officials would pick up the cat, then release it elsewhere.

Letourneau, whose anger was explosive at times, said that was against the law and called for McNorton’s resignation.

She also told city council members that she didn’t appreciate a council member’s wife coming to visit her at her house and intruding in her business. Letourneau said the visitor told her the city council had been trying to help her with a situation involving an individual with a restraining order.

Letourneau said Charlott Johnson asked her what she would do if the individual steps foot in her house.

“I’ll tell you what I told her, ‘I’ll kill him,’” Letourneau told those present at the meeting.

City Alderman Ron Johnson said he was concerned about the restraining order being enforced. He said he had conducted some research, spoken with Prosecuting Attorney Bill Dobbs and discussed the situation with his wife. He said they were simply trying to help.

Charlott Johnson said she was motivated to go to Letourneau’s house because she was in a similar situation 10 years ago and thought her visit would be portrayed as caring and helpful.

Letourneau said police officers have been to her house 33 times in the past month and that she feels the officers are doing their job. She said others who are poking in her business are only getting a small picture of the situation and said she is “really close to having it resolved.”

Other business followed but before the discussion concluded, Letourneau asked again what action the city council was taking regarding the animal control ordinance. Letourneau has spoken about dogs and cats running loose in Goodman at least two other times in recent months.

Mayor Greg Richmond said he and the council would look into the animal control issue. He also expressed concern about Letourneau’s behavior and obvious anger at the city council, saying that it wasn’t appropriate behavior to yell at members.

He also mentioned that animals running loose didn’t seem to be that big of a problem until Letourneau moved into town. Letourneau left the meeting before it concluded.

In other business, the city council:

Agreed to quick deed some land to the Neosho R-5 School District. School officials said they had pulled railroad records to discover the owner of the land on which the former Goodman Elementary School was located, and the location of the new school being built. The building contractor could not determine the owner of the land, though it’s been occupied for many years by the school district. When it can’t be determined and no one claims the land, the parcel defaults to the city. The council voted to have city attorney Duane Cooper draw up paperwork, once school officials provide a legal description of the land. Richmond then will sign the paperwork to quick deed the land.

Approved a wage increase of 50 cents per hour for officer Joe David, retroactive to Aug. 16.

Voted on its second reading to set the 2018 tax levy at 0.6861 per $100 valuation on real estate and personal property.