Fairness and Equality across Barbour County WV
The Issue
Petition for fair treatment, equal enforcement, and accountability for the city of Philippi, Barbour county, west Virginia.
He shot OUR dog.
When a biased town proves how truly corrupt they can be.
Let's rewind...
August of last year, my family and I moved here from Central Ny for a better life in the mountain state. Our family includes Myself , my partner in life, our daughters from previous relationships, and our 6 dogs. Mom is River, dad is lightning and 4 of their pups, each belonging to a member of our household. These dogs aren't just "pets" to us, they are members of our family, which we are fighting to keep together. We face having to split them up and rehoming 3 of them due to a written complaint placed at the city's police dept. for having too many. Philippi's ordinance states we can only have 3 at our residence. We did not know this, i mean who looks at ordinances before they move 3 states away. Then there's the next-door neighbor who feeds stray/feral cats from the neighborhood that NO ONE is remotely trying to contain. The feeding of the cats has become a problem causing two of our dogs to hop our fence and eat the fresh cat food and play chase with the cats, even though we have them back at home fairly quickly, that always resulted in the neighbor lady calling the cops. We have received several citations because of this. We have had to cut down bushes and spray due to cat urine around the outside of my house; it's becoming an awful nuisance damaging my grass. We have tried many different means to keep our dogs in our side of the fence, including using leads that have been broken multiple times now, electrical collars that resulted in a horrible accident, with them defying these restraints it makes it very difficult and rebuilding our current fence into a higher wooden privacy fence is totally out of our budget for any time in the near future.
We understand the importance of keeping our dogs safely contained on our property at all times and are willing to work towards a reasonable solution for everyone. What we do not believe is fair is that we are being threatened with losing part of our family when we feel our circumstances have not been fully considered. For instance, unequal enforcement of city ordinances. One of our biggest concerns is that our family feels singled out and treated differently, simply because we aren't from here. There is a city ordinance that limits only 3 dogs are allowed per residence. Yet we have a neighbor that has been reported to have 7 dogs. Despite this, our family seems to be the only ones facing removal of our dogs and receiving citations. When the same or similar written complaint is given to the city, nothing seems to get done after that. This raises lots of concerns in regards to if ordinances and laws are being enforced on everyone equally in the city of Philippi. We are not asking to exempt from the law but why does it seem like our family is facing consequences with situations while residents appear to go unaddressed. If an ordinance is written in our city laws, it needs to be followed by every resident in the city limits, regardless of someone's place or last name in the city. We also feel that our concerns about the cats in the neighborhood that contribute to our dogs jumping the fence have not been properly assessed by city officials. We struggle with trying to get anyone within our city officials to understand what led to the circumstances of these incidents. We attempted to be heard but "no" across the board. Dismissed and disregarded.
Within all this chaos over the last year or so now, a deeply upsetting situation in all of this was April 10, 2026. I was at work and my partner was home with our dogs, he had turned the electric collar on our pup and the beeping frightened her so bad she took off, jumping the front gate and bolting down the road, my partner immediately ran out the gate after her, shutting the gate behind him but the rest of the dogs had other plans, popping the latch with a paw, they all ran out, last out the front gate was our Dad dog, lightning, whom darted towards the officer who was oddly standing behind my partners truck, he retrieved a few steps back and pulled out his lethal weapon and shot, piercing lightning behind the ear, through and through shot. Fully equipped with pepper spray and taser, this trained, veteran of a cop, chose lethal force. My partner being mere feet behind our dog, in a residential area. Very upsetting situation, lightning was rushed to the vet and fixed up very quickly but not before being given a citation for "dogs at large". A little bit of time passed and we went to the Barbour county sheriffs officer and reported the incident to the sheriff in charge, nothing came of it. This put our family in deep distress and raises concern on if our voices will ever be heard and if this situation is being handled correctly or not. We feel the circumstances surrounding the shooting weren't investigated thoroughly enough or at all. We deserve a fair, transparent review. We deserve answers and accountability regarding what happened. Jump ahead about 3 months, no letters in the m ail, no phone calls, no drop ins, nope just the Officer who shot our dog shows up at my place of employment (completely unprofessional if you ask me) informing me that he needs to have a meeting with My partner and I, mind you they have my phone number! Within a few days, I went down to city hall to see what this was about. I get a bomb dropped on me, a neighbor made a "written complaint" on the number of dogs we have. Not barking, destructors, nope, the AMOUNT and we got 48 hours to get rid of 3 of our dogs. I got angry, I begged, cried, pleaded and just got the good ole "my hands are tied" the officer was the Chief of police! With the advice of speaking to the city council in two weeks. The 48 hours was pushed back. We go to the city council meeting to only be met with a No across the board. Must get rid of dogs. Also, make a meeting with the city Judge and see what we can do. I called the next day to set up a meeting. The day arrives and we go to city hall to be met by the officer who shot my dog, with a citation and all of sudden this meeting is a court hearing. Facing the ultimatum of pleading guilty or dogs got to go in 48 hours. What?? So of course we plead guilty with a conditional of raising the fence, making it unescapable, no more citations and still get rid of 3 dogs, if we do so, the fees from the citations will get thrown out. No more problems, right? NO because we still have to split our family. We feel we were not given a fair opportunity to have our circumstances fully considered before facing such a serious consequence. This ultimatum became frightening and overwhelming. We believe residents should have the chance to understand their options, have the right to present their side of the story without prejudice and be treated fairly throughout this legal process. Our concern isn't just about citations, it is about feeling that decisions that affect our entire family and pets have been made without concerns receiving proper consideration. We are dealing with this difficult time while trying to get everything in order, we are getting harassed by the neighbor whose actions started this all, ending a very stressful Friday with her calling the cops on me for trespassing when I was on MY property! No family should have to deal with this, feel they have anywhere to turn when they’ve been treated so unfairly.
This is more than just about our dogs. Hear me out. This petition is about fairness, equal treatment amongst the community and accountability in Barbour county. The laws and ordinances should apply equally to everyone, regardless of who they are, where they came from or where their last name originated! It is our family that is being held accountable for this specific ordinance but know other resident that fall under the same ordinance and the consequences don’t seem to affect them. When a resident submits a complaint to our local police and feel no action is taken, while the complaints result in citations and fees and let's not forget the forcing of us to split up our family. We believe everyone should be able to bring our concerns to city hall and the court and have those concerns genuinely considered. Regardless of financial circumstances or disagreements with the neighbor. When we moved here hoping to make this community our home, my partner being humble and helpful, a jack of all trades you could say. I am witty and hell of a cook. We care about the struggle our community is going through, we care about our youth having things to do other than finding trouble or worse. I have a nurturing side that wants to help the city but after all this, we now feel we should move on, bring our positive vibes to a community that wants to change, wants to thrive and wants a fair just local government. We fully understand the importance of making sure our dogs are contained safely and we are willing to work towards a reasonable solution. However, being forced into a ridiculous ultimatum all because one person made a written complaint on an ordinance that has never been pushed before. Residents shouldn’t feel that their concerns within the city do not matter or that rules only apply when someone complains.
What we are asking for with this petition is for Barbour County officials, including CITY OFFICIALS, to reconsider our situation and give our family a fair opportunity to fix the problem, enforce ordinances equally so that all residents are held to the same standards. We need to be able to keep our dogs together. We have already started, most of the fence has been made higher, including the front gate, we are going to be finishing the fence as we obtain more funds to help. Setting up runners and as soon as we can afford it, kennels will be installed as well. We aren't negligent dog owners, we work our ass off to care for them, spaying and neutering is being taken care of, they all have their shots, they are good dogs and so loyal, very friendly. Even though, certain neighbors are spreading around they are vicious, total opposite, they're skittish and protective being Australian cattle dog/husky mixes. Listen to the concerns from the community about the out of control cat problem, which it's in the ordinances that all felines are treated as the same as dogs. The amount of feral cats that have acclimated around my home due to being fed and treated as a domesticated cats is out of control and contribute to the two that jump, resulting in police being involved.
We are also seeking the transparency and accountability with all incidents that may occur within city limits, like our dog being shot. Making sure complaints or calls are attended to all around, not picking and choosing who's complaints matter more, providing fairness in legal proceedings so that residents have the opportunity to understand their options and present their side of the story. We want a reasonable solution that considers our financial limitations, the circumstances surrounding incidents and the importance of treating everyone equally, it shouldn’t matter who you know, what your name is, where you came from or whatever. We are a struggling, dying out community and that doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot to our local government. We want to work towards keeping our dogs safely contained without feeling singled out or that our voice doesn’t matter in decisions that deeply affect our family. It has been said to us many times that there's no getting away from the corruption and unfairness and to just move out of city limits. That’s not so easy for us and shouldn’t be the answer, finding solutions and fixing problems is what should be the step in the right direction.
Help us stand up for fairness not favoritism, for accountability, not silence! We are asking to be heard and not force us to break up our family.
By signing this petition, you are supporting a family's right to be heard in effort of not losing their furry loved ones, calling for fair treatment, equal enforcement and accountability in Barbour County. This is also an opportunity to stand up for any resident that feels as if their voices aren't heard when they seek help or guidance from their local government. Today our family is facing this insane situation. Tomorrow, it could be a different family who's even worse off, less mosey, resources or ability to fight back. All resident deserves to be taken seriously and to be treated fairly under the same rules. We ask our community to stand with us, tom call on local officials to not only reconsider our situation at hand, but any situation that can be presented, a fair review of what happened, equally applying the law. Every complaint deserves consideration, every family deserves to be heard, all rules enforcing equally and to be treated fairly with dignity and respect. Please sign and share this petition to support a hardworking, struggling family, trying to keep their family together and to make Philippi, Barbour county a happier place to be. We appreciate everyone who took the time to read our story and thanks in advance to all who choose to stand with us and support us.
69
The Issue
Petition for fair treatment, equal enforcement, and accountability for the city of Philippi, Barbour county, west Virginia.
He shot OUR dog.
When a biased town proves how truly corrupt they can be.
Let's rewind...
August of last year, my family and I moved here from Central Ny for a better life in the mountain state. Our family includes Myself , my partner in life, our daughters from previous relationships, and our 6 dogs. Mom is River, dad is lightning and 4 of their pups, each belonging to a member of our household. These dogs aren't just "pets" to us, they are members of our family, which we are fighting to keep together. We face having to split them up and rehoming 3 of them due to a written complaint placed at the city's police dept. for having too many. Philippi's ordinance states we can only have 3 at our residence. We did not know this, i mean who looks at ordinances before they move 3 states away. Then there's the next-door neighbor who feeds stray/feral cats from the neighborhood that NO ONE is remotely trying to contain. The feeding of the cats has become a problem causing two of our dogs to hop our fence and eat the fresh cat food and play chase with the cats, even though we have them back at home fairly quickly, that always resulted in the neighbor lady calling the cops. We have received several citations because of this. We have had to cut down bushes and spray due to cat urine around the outside of my house; it's becoming an awful nuisance damaging my grass. We have tried many different means to keep our dogs in our side of the fence, including using leads that have been broken multiple times now, electrical collars that resulted in a horrible accident, with them defying these restraints it makes it very difficult and rebuilding our current fence into a higher wooden privacy fence is totally out of our budget for any time in the near future.
We understand the importance of keeping our dogs safely contained on our property at all times and are willing to work towards a reasonable solution for everyone. What we do not believe is fair is that we are being threatened with losing part of our family when we feel our circumstances have not been fully considered. For instance, unequal enforcement of city ordinances. One of our biggest concerns is that our family feels singled out and treated differently, simply because we aren't from here. There is a city ordinance that limits only 3 dogs are allowed per residence. Yet we have a neighbor that has been reported to have 7 dogs. Despite this, our family seems to be the only ones facing removal of our dogs and receiving citations. When the same or similar written complaint is given to the city, nothing seems to get done after that. This raises lots of concerns in regards to if ordinances and laws are being enforced on everyone equally in the city of Philippi. We are not asking to exempt from the law but why does it seem like our family is facing consequences with situations while residents appear to go unaddressed. If an ordinance is written in our city laws, it needs to be followed by every resident in the city limits, regardless of someone's place or last name in the city. We also feel that our concerns about the cats in the neighborhood that contribute to our dogs jumping the fence have not been properly assessed by city officials. We struggle with trying to get anyone within our city officials to understand what led to the circumstances of these incidents. We attempted to be heard but "no" across the board. Dismissed and disregarded.
Within all this chaos over the last year or so now, a deeply upsetting situation in all of this was April 10, 2026. I was at work and my partner was home with our dogs, he had turned the electric collar on our pup and the beeping frightened her so bad she took off, jumping the front gate and bolting down the road, my partner immediately ran out the gate after her, shutting the gate behind him but the rest of the dogs had other plans, popping the latch with a paw, they all ran out, last out the front gate was our Dad dog, lightning, whom darted towards the officer who was oddly standing behind my partners truck, he retrieved a few steps back and pulled out his lethal weapon and shot, piercing lightning behind the ear, through and through shot. Fully equipped with pepper spray and taser, this trained, veteran of a cop, chose lethal force. My partner being mere feet behind our dog, in a residential area. Very upsetting situation, lightning was rushed to the vet and fixed up very quickly but not before being given a citation for "dogs at large". A little bit of time passed and we went to the Barbour county sheriffs officer and reported the incident to the sheriff in charge, nothing came of it. This put our family in deep distress and raises concern on if our voices will ever be heard and if this situation is being handled correctly or not. We feel the circumstances surrounding the shooting weren't investigated thoroughly enough or at all. We deserve a fair, transparent review. We deserve answers and accountability regarding what happened. Jump ahead about 3 months, no letters in the m ail, no phone calls, no drop ins, nope just the Officer who shot our dog shows up at my place of employment (completely unprofessional if you ask me) informing me that he needs to have a meeting with My partner and I, mind you they have my phone number! Within a few days, I went down to city hall to see what this was about. I get a bomb dropped on me, a neighbor made a "written complaint" on the number of dogs we have. Not barking, destructors, nope, the AMOUNT and we got 48 hours to get rid of 3 of our dogs. I got angry, I begged, cried, pleaded and just got the good ole "my hands are tied" the officer was the Chief of police! With the advice of speaking to the city council in two weeks. The 48 hours was pushed back. We go to the city council meeting to only be met with a No across the board. Must get rid of dogs. Also, make a meeting with the city Judge and see what we can do. I called the next day to set up a meeting. The day arrives and we go to city hall to be met by the officer who shot my dog, with a citation and all of sudden this meeting is a court hearing. Facing the ultimatum of pleading guilty or dogs got to go in 48 hours. What?? So of course we plead guilty with a conditional of raising the fence, making it unescapable, no more citations and still get rid of 3 dogs, if we do so, the fees from the citations will get thrown out. No more problems, right? NO because we still have to split our family. We feel we were not given a fair opportunity to have our circumstances fully considered before facing such a serious consequence. This ultimatum became frightening and overwhelming. We believe residents should have the chance to understand their options, have the right to present their side of the story without prejudice and be treated fairly throughout this legal process. Our concern isn't just about citations, it is about feeling that decisions that affect our entire family and pets have been made without concerns receiving proper consideration. We are dealing with this difficult time while trying to get everything in order, we are getting harassed by the neighbor whose actions started this all, ending a very stressful Friday with her calling the cops on me for trespassing when I was on MY property! No family should have to deal with this, feel they have anywhere to turn when they’ve been treated so unfairly.
This is more than just about our dogs. Hear me out. This petition is about fairness, equal treatment amongst the community and accountability in Barbour county. The laws and ordinances should apply equally to everyone, regardless of who they are, where they came from or where their last name originated! It is our family that is being held accountable for this specific ordinance but know other resident that fall under the same ordinance and the consequences don’t seem to affect them. When a resident submits a complaint to our local police and feel no action is taken, while the complaints result in citations and fees and let's not forget the forcing of us to split up our family. We believe everyone should be able to bring our concerns to city hall and the court and have those concerns genuinely considered. Regardless of financial circumstances or disagreements with the neighbor. When we moved here hoping to make this community our home, my partner being humble and helpful, a jack of all trades you could say. I am witty and hell of a cook. We care about the struggle our community is going through, we care about our youth having things to do other than finding trouble or worse. I have a nurturing side that wants to help the city but after all this, we now feel we should move on, bring our positive vibes to a community that wants to change, wants to thrive and wants a fair just local government. We fully understand the importance of making sure our dogs are contained safely and we are willing to work towards a reasonable solution. However, being forced into a ridiculous ultimatum all because one person made a written complaint on an ordinance that has never been pushed before. Residents shouldn’t feel that their concerns within the city do not matter or that rules only apply when someone complains.
What we are asking for with this petition is for Barbour County officials, including CITY OFFICIALS, to reconsider our situation and give our family a fair opportunity to fix the problem, enforce ordinances equally so that all residents are held to the same standards. We need to be able to keep our dogs together. We have already started, most of the fence has been made higher, including the front gate, we are going to be finishing the fence as we obtain more funds to help. Setting up runners and as soon as we can afford it, kennels will be installed as well. We aren't negligent dog owners, we work our ass off to care for them, spaying and neutering is being taken care of, they all have their shots, they are good dogs and so loyal, very friendly. Even though, certain neighbors are spreading around they are vicious, total opposite, they're skittish and protective being Australian cattle dog/husky mixes. Listen to the concerns from the community about the out of control cat problem, which it's in the ordinances that all felines are treated as the same as dogs. The amount of feral cats that have acclimated around my home due to being fed and treated as a domesticated cats is out of control and contribute to the two that jump, resulting in police being involved.
We are also seeking the transparency and accountability with all incidents that may occur within city limits, like our dog being shot. Making sure complaints or calls are attended to all around, not picking and choosing who's complaints matter more, providing fairness in legal proceedings so that residents have the opportunity to understand their options and present their side of the story. We want a reasonable solution that considers our financial limitations, the circumstances surrounding incidents and the importance of treating everyone equally, it shouldn’t matter who you know, what your name is, where you came from or whatever. We are a struggling, dying out community and that doesn’t seem to matter a whole lot to our local government. We want to work towards keeping our dogs safely contained without feeling singled out or that our voice doesn’t matter in decisions that deeply affect our family. It has been said to us many times that there's no getting away from the corruption and unfairness and to just move out of city limits. That’s not so easy for us and shouldn’t be the answer, finding solutions and fixing problems is what should be the step in the right direction.
Help us stand up for fairness not favoritism, for accountability, not silence! We are asking to be heard and not force us to break up our family.
By signing this petition, you are supporting a family's right to be heard in effort of not losing their furry loved ones, calling for fair treatment, equal enforcement and accountability in Barbour County. This is also an opportunity to stand up for any resident that feels as if their voices aren't heard when they seek help or guidance from their local government. Today our family is facing this insane situation. Tomorrow, it could be a different family who's even worse off, less mosey, resources or ability to fight back. All resident deserves to be taken seriously and to be treated fairly under the same rules. We ask our community to stand with us, tom call on local officials to not only reconsider our situation at hand, but any situation that can be presented, a fair review of what happened, equally applying the law. Every complaint deserves consideration, every family deserves to be heard, all rules enforcing equally and to be treated fairly with dignity and respect. Please sign and share this petition to support a hardworking, struggling family, trying to keep their family together and to make Philippi, Barbour county a happier place to be. We appreciate everyone who took the time to read our story and thanks in advance to all who choose to stand with us and support us.
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Petition created on October 13, 2026