PLATTSBURGH — A woman who began campaigning in 2024 for a countywide dog tether law isn’t ready to give up anytime soon despite being denied a public hearing by the Clinton County Legislature for the second time in eight months.
Five out of 10 legislators voted no at Wednesday’s meeting to ensure the public hearing resolution for the law did not pass. It needed six affirmative votes to pass.
“We have had hundreds turn out and support the Dog Tether Law. Unfortunately, we don’t feel heard, and now we have been banned from speaking in any regular session legislature meeting, as well as we have been denied a public hearing for the second time,” Jennifer Jewett said in a statement Friday.
Jewett, of Champlain started campaigning for the dog legislation in February 2024.
Since then, she has been to dozens of meetings to ask the legislature to pass a county-wide dog tethering law. Jewett was hoping for the county to pass legislation that would mirror Essex County’s existing tether law, which has been in place since 2016.
She made some progress last fall after spending months crafting legislation she thought legislators would feel comfortable with, but they voted down allowing it to go to a public hearing.
The process played out the same at Wednesday’s meeting as it did last fall and a couple dozen supporters of the tether law, led by Jewett, once again saw their efforts for a law be thwarted.
“This just isn’t right. We have no voice, and this is an issue that’s important to a lot of people,” Jewett said. “We were told to show that we have support. As soon as we did, we were then silenced. The public support we have gained was used against us to deny us a public hearing. We have an overwhelming amount of support. That’s undeniable. Instead of the legislators doing something to fix the problem, their main goal is to silence the public, so we’ll go away.
“This Tether Law fight has turned into a fight for our First Amendment rights. Why have public meetings if the public is not allowed to address the legislature? I see this happening again in the future to some other group with an important issue they need resolved. It’s only a matter of time.”
Legislators Francis Peryea, R-Area 2, Altona; Mark Henry, R-Area 3, Chazy; Robbie Timmons, R-Area 7, Peru; Kevin Randall, R-Area 5, Schuyler Falls; and Dave Bezio, D-Area 4, town of Plattsburgh; all voted down the resolution.
Legislators Calvin Castine, R-Area 1, Champlain; Bobby Hall, D-Area 10, city of Plattsburgh; Patty Waldron, D-Area 6, Saranac; Paul Lamoy, D-Area 8, city, town of Plattsburgh; and Josh Kretser, D-Area 9, city of Plattsburgh; voted for it.
“I am very shocked and surprised,” Hall said during the vote as the “no” tallies came in.
“To tell people that they can’t come here and speak, that’s wrong, guys. I’m very disappointed,” Hall said.
Those against the law, which would have included banning 24/7 tethering of dogs outside, all shared a similar consensus that they have heard everything they needed about it. A public hearing on it would be redundant, Randall said.
“I believe there should be a public hearing only after we have a consensus that we are moving forward with this as a law,” he said. “We have listened and listened and listened. We know that there are many people that take time out of their day to come here and to preach to have this law in place. Unfortunately, we do have a small portion of the population that doesn’t do the right thing, and that’s why you’re all here — I get it — but when we’re passing a law for 80,000 people in the county, we want to make sure that we get it right.”
Waldron couldn’t understand why half of her colleagues were against it.
“This is truly just allowing the public to be heard. As was said earlier, we have never denied a public hearing in Clinton County’s history, so I’m not sure what the sticking point is, but the public deserves to be heard,” Waldron said. “And then if people want to cast their votes one way or the other, if we have a hearing, then that’s fine, but I see no reason why we should deny the public to be heard.”
Kendra Babbie Durant, who has a service dog named Lola and spoke at the meeting ahead of the vote, shared how Lola was mistreated by her previous owner, including being tethered outside for long periods of time and then getting shot when Lola no longer “had any value.”
“She wears her scars as a testament to what happens when they look away too long,” Durant said. “She shouldn’t have those scars. No dogs should, no dog should live their life how she did. Let me reiterate, Lola had been abused before she was shot. She’d been tethered outside 24/7, on an 8-foot chain, surviving in a circle.
“It doesn’t stop somebody from owning a dog, having a working dog, having a regular dog, having a dog for protection,” she continued.” It doesn’t stop someone from hooking their dog up when necessary. It regulates harmful conditions and bans suffering. It protects dogs from being forgotten hour after hour, chained to the ground, waiting for food, water, shelter or a kind word.”
While Jewett and other supporters have not been successful in convincing the county to pass a law, several townships have, including the town of Plattsburgh last month.
It’s unclear where the fight for a county-wide law goes from here, but Jewett said they’re not giving up.