He is David Parton’s namesake. Recently, the 76-year-old compassionate man spent nine days in Cooke County Correctional Center for refusing to pay $900 as fine for feeding the stray cats. In Gainesville, Texas, it is legal to let the cats starve but illegal to feed the poor creature.
Parton, who has been feeding stray cats for over ten years, was fined for breaking a city ordinance against feeding stray animals. He refused to pay the fines because he felt they are ridiculous and unjust. “If I had a million dollars I wouldn’t have paid it Hell, no. No! And I told them I’d sit it out in jail. I did, that’s why I went to jail. I wouldn’t pay the fine. That law is not right,” he told CBS 11 News adding, “God told me to keep feeding them and leave the consequences to Him”.
“It seems really severe that someone would spend any time in jail at all for doing something that was compassionate. There aren’t any ordinances that actually help the animals. It seems like they’re all out there to punish people for them (animals),” Eric Erlandson of the animal advocacy group Alley Cat Allies said.
Alley Cat Allies is fighting against the legislation that put Parton in jail. They have offered him help with his legal battle as well. “This is a truly disheartening miscarriage of justice. Compassion should not be criminalized, but that is exactly what this man was arrested for—simply providing food for cats. We are proud to offer any assistance to this gentleman who provides a service to the cats and Gainesville,” Becky Robinson, president and founder of Alley Cat Allies said.
“What Gainesville needs is a Trap-Neuter-Return program that will provide neutering and vaccination for the city’s community cats. Locking up innocent people for being compassionate to cats doesn’t help anyone. It’s counterproductive and does nothing to help decrease the community cat population. Only Trap-Neuter-Return can do that,” he added.
The laws against feeding strays are necessary to keep the number of stray cats down, believes Mayor Jim Goldsworthy. “Because when we feed these animals in stray-type situations, not only are we promoting those populations of cats and dogs but we’re attracting skunks and raccoons and possums and all the other critters that come with that. We’ve got a relatively large wild cat or feral cat population; the feeding of the cats from someone who comes into town and feeds cats at random locations is breeding into an explosion in population,” Goldsworthy argues.
Source:
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/76-year-old-man-thrown-jail-feeding-cats/
The brain deads running that town need to be ousted! How about we put their sorry asses out on the street with no one to feed them. God, there are some stupid mofo’s out there that need to just go the fuck away!
And there are places where it is illegal to feed the homeless.
How exactly is feeding cats “attracting skunks and raccoons and possums”? Cats actually protect their territory and do NOT let other animals take their food (especially pests like rats, which are way more harmful), WTF?….
Ya gotta love Tex-ass. I’m surprised that this isn’t a capitol offense there.
fucking ridiculous a man gets 9 days but a judge gets none for dwi
The officials in this town show their TOTAL ignorance when they spew about skunks, possums and rabies. They have no science to back them and will be shown to the world how stupid they are!!! This old guy is a jewel, he should be the mayor!
Try taking your hat off before you stick your heads up your collective Texas asses! I helped run a very successful catch neuter and return program in southern Oregon with help from the Humane Society. Typically it’s the politicians that appear to be overfed!
Why did it go to court in the first place? Is it such a henious criminal offence? It may contravene bye-laws (civil laws?), but to get locked up for this simply shows what America has come to. I wouldn’t go to America if I had a free return first class ticket with a five star hotel suite paid by R&R plc (that’s Rothschild & Rockefeller). WHY DO SOME PEOPLE STILL BOTHER TO VOTE??
It’s things like this that make me lose all hope in the government. It’s just great to know that Anonymous are there to help.