Mayor shoots dog with shotgun, allegedly tells witness, "I can do whatever I want. I'm the mayor."

MISSOURI -- A mayor in the Ozarks is under attack after he shot and killed a dog in his own town. Witnesses said the dog did nothing to deserve it, and now a petition is circulating online to force the mayor to resign.

Mayor Jim Cole of Walnut Grove is the focus of that petition, after he shot and killed a Border Collie in October. It was a stray dog that the city attorney described as "vicious." Witnesses, however, paint a different picture of what happened.

Willard "JR" Mahurin owns and operates JR's Garage.

 

 

 

 "Well I was standing on the front porch of my house and saw him out there with a shotgun. First thing I know, I heard a shot. [Cole] shot that dog...with a shotgun," Mahurin explains.

He said the dog was then thrown in the back of a truck.

"Well I didn't like it because they shot her. The dog wasn't mine but it had a right to live same as anything else, you know...[Cole] said he could do what he wanted to because he was the mayor. I don't think he's any better than anybody else. I think he should do what the people who are going to vote him in want, or get somebody that will," Mahurin said.

City Attorney Ken Reynolds confirmed the shooting, but said the dog was vicious and "about to attack children." But witnesses said that was not the case.

"She had those eight pups," Mahurin said.

The puppies were said to be six-weeks old.

Willard "JR" Mahurin saw what the mayor did

"I'd probably be growling at somebody that was messing with my pups too...to keep them away from them," Mahurin said.

Another person who lives in Walnut Grove did not want to be identified for this report.

"She was trying to protect her babies. That's the only way to look at that...God didn't put those animals here to be tortured. It's had me all upset ever since it happened," the person said.

"I would not like for it to happen again," Mahurin said.

Lynn O'Toole of Walnut Grove started an online petition.

"I knew the dog. I had been feeding it. It was a stray," O'Toole explained.

She said the petition has one goal.

"For the mayor to resign. I don't feel that it's appropriate to have a mayor who would handle a situation in such a needlessly brutal manner," O'Toole said.

And as for the eight puppies, O'Toole said Mayor Cole tried to give them away at a convenience store.

"He did take some of the puppies in there and said, 'Would someone like these or should I kill them?'" O'Toole stated.

She said there were many offers to take the adult Border Collie that had been around town for a year.
"There were offers from rescues to take it, and I had offered to take it...I can't imagine why he would have shot it," O'Toole said.

Although they're using this photo, I'm pretty sure it's a file photo.

O'Toole is hoping the petition, which already has 888 signatures, will gain more attention.

Attorney Reynolds told KSPR that a petition with signatures from out of state would not be valid, legally, to remove the mayor. But as O'Toole stated, the goal is to "show the city government that his actions were inhumane, and that he should resign."

"I have watched this dog look both ways before crossing a highway. There aren't too many dogs that do this. She was exceptionally bright. I thought she was very special," O'Toole said.

KSPR learned that an investigation into this story is underway at this time. We stopped by Walnut Grove City Hall on Thursday and were told Mayor Jim Cole is out of town. KSPR asked if there is way to get in touch with him for his side of the story. We were told "no."
(KSPR - Nov 22, 2014)