Commissioners wrangle over allowing judge to bring his dog to work

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Waco-Tribune Herald

By Tommy Witherspoon

To Buff or not to Buff? That was the question debated Tuesday by the McLennan County commissioners court.

More precisely, the question is: Can Buff the cocker spaniel continue coming to work with 19th State District Judge Ralph Strother?

It hadn’t been a question until Tuesday, when Precinct 2 Commissioner Lester Gibson asked his fellow commissioners whether the county should have a policy to preclude animals from being brought into the courthouse.

And like other thorny issues in recent months, commissioners were unable to reach a definitive conclusion. Instead, they asked the county attorney, Mike Dixon, to recommend a policy regarding animals in county facilities.

“There has to be some public policy in regards to regulating this,” Gibson said. “You can’t just let one person, regardless if that person is in high authority or whatever, it shouldn’t be open for all. If one dog comes into the courthouse, all dogs should be able to come into the courthouse.”

Strother, who agreed to care for the 13-year-old dog when his mother died in 1997, continued to wonder Tuesday why anyone has a problem with Buff, who has been coming to the courthouse two to four days a week for the past five years.

“I am not trying to turn the courthouse into a petting zoo. Up until now this has not been an issue. He has been here for years,” the judge said. “There has not been a proliferation of people bringing dogs up here. I can see that becoming an issue now, however, because Commissioner Gibson has created an issue. Here we are now having to pay a lawyer to research an issue that didn’t exist until today.”

In a show of solidarity, Waco attorney LaNelle McNamara brought Maria, her 7-year-old Afghan hound, to the courthouse Tuesday. McNamara, who brings Maria to her office every day, said she spoke to a retired military man on her way out of the courthouse Tuesday morning with Maria. He told her that he spent 20 years in Germany, where people take their dogs everywhere with them, including on public transportation, in restaurants and to work.

“He said that dogs go everywhere with them, and everybody was a lot calmer and a lot happier to have sweet dogs to pet on during the day,” McNamara said. “You can have an environment where you can have animals, and Buff doesn’t cause any problems. He doesn’t even bark. That is (the judge’s) office. He was elected to that office and if he wants to take his elderly dog up there, that should be his right.”

The judge has said that Buff, who spends most of the day curled up in a chair in Strother’s office, has a calming effect on distraught children who are in his court during divorce or child-custody disputes.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Ray Meadows said he was prepared to vote against Buff and other animals until he talked to Strother.

Dog’s therapeutic effect

“I have seen for myself the therapeutic effect that dogs can have at nursing homes,” Meadows said. “I’m sure that dog can help a lot of times up there in those divorce courts where issues with kids come up. I have had no complaints about the dog, and I think we can work this all out.”

Precinct 3 Commissioner Joe Mashek said he thinks the county needs to limit animals in public facilities.

“In all due respect to Judge Strother, where are you going to draw the line? Is somebody going to bring a parrot up here that is going to be squawking and asking for a cracker, or are they going to bring their cats or all kinds of other animals up here? That is what concerns me. This building belongs to the taxpayers, but when it comes to personal items, such as pets, we just need to draw the line somewhere,” Mashek said.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Wendall Crunk said elected officials should be able to regulate their own departments.

“I don’t think we have a widespread problem here,” Crunk said. “The more rules and orders you make, the more enforcement problems you have.”

County Judge Jim Lewis said he has fielded no complaints about animals in the courthouse.

Lewis has no problem with Buff if “he helps with cases and is therapeutic.”

“If he is bringing him up here to baby-sit him, that is something else. I am not for that,” Lewis said.