Updated Thursday March 8, 2012 at 10:33 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Centralia City Council Member Bill Bates has been charged with a gross misdemeanor for fatally shooting his neighbor’s cat with a pellet rifle last week.
Bates, who is also pastor of a downtown church, said it was an accident, he was only trying to run it out of his yard.
"Susie"
It happened a week ago Monday in the 900 block of Ham Hill Road in Centralia.
The cat’s owners – the Pannette family – and Bates both said police described to them it’s not criminal to shoot a nuisance animal on your own property.
However, Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg said there is a specific city ordinance about shooting an animal with an air gun.
It’s unlawful to point or shoot an air gun at property of another, Berg said. The cat is the “other’s” property, he said.
The frustration over the untimely death of their 10-year-old cat prompted Dusty Pannette to flyer her neighborhood, so others would be aware of the dangers posed to their roaming animals.
Today, Pannette said she’s satisfied, but not even interested in going to court when he appears before a judge.
“I’m just glad they’re charging him so I don’t have to stand on my soapbox anymore,” she said.
Bates said he has no comment.
He has said he was tired of the animal walking on his clean cars and messing in his beauty bark.
A police officer delivered the citation to Bates on Saturday. His arraignment in Centralia Municipal Court is set for March 27.
Chief Berg said the case was referred to the city attorneys’ office for possible charges and her decision was made on Friday. He disputes the officer told the parties it wasn’t against the law.
The police chief bristled somewhat at the question of whether his department or the city prosecutor should investigate an alleged crime committed by one of the “bosses” of their boss, the city manager.
Some people give city council members too much credit for the actual reach of their authority, he suggested.
“What I can tell you is the way this case was handled was exactly the way any case would be handled,” Berg said.
Bates, 60, was charged by criminal citation with unlawful use of an air gun – which includes pellet or BB guns.
He was also charged under state law with willfully or recklessly killing or injuring a pet. Both are gross misdemeanors, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a fine.
Pannette says she’s been amazed by the number of letters and sympathy cards from friends and strangers as well as the outpouring of intense opinions about how right or the wrong the minister’s actions were.
“I was really surprised,” she said. “You have your gun people, your animal people, your religious people and your average Joe Schmoe.”
Chief Berg agreed it’s an interesting conversation, with strong feelings on both sides. The rules and attitudes about weapons, property and pets vary.
While the city has the ordinance about using pellet guns on animals, residents in unincorporated Lewis County don’t have a similar prohibition.
It’s unlawful to discharge a real firearm inside the city limits as well, but that’s not the case out in the county.
And while unincorporated Lewis County has an ordinance in which owners are specifically not permitted to allow their animals to trespass or damage someone else’s plants, animals or property, the city of Centralia has no such “leash law” for cats; only for dogs and livestock.
“There is no city ordinance about cats running at large,” Berg said.
And then there are animal cruelty laws to consider.
Chief Berg says its allowable for those in the city to take reasonable precautions to protect their property, but you can’t use deadly force to protect your property, he said.
“I think the answer here is the manner he chose to get the animal,” Berg said.
Pannette, who owns a clothing store in the Fairway Center in Centralia, said the lawyer she and her husband Jay Pannette hired when they thought the pastor was going to walk away from what happened, told her he couldn’t take any credit for something getting done.
Bates was charged before their attorney got a meeting with the police chief, she said.
“We’re just glad they’re doing something, I’m hoping they take his gun away,” she said.
The family also came to he conclusion over the weekend they finally had an answer to mysterious injuries “Susie” the tom cat had turned up with since before the holidays, she said.
“When you go back to, when you think, someone’s been shooting at him, that would explain the bruise between his tendons on his foot and the hole in his neck,” she said.
Bates is serving his fourth year on the city council and is minister at Destiny Christian Center, an Assemblies of God church on North Tower Avenue in Centralia.
He has apologized publicly, and told the Pannettes he usually shot at the cat’s feet, according to Dusty Pannette.
Bates spoke at length last week about what occurred, but declined on Tuesday to say thing more.
“You know, right now, I have no comment on it,” Bates said.
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For background read “Minister, city council member shoots neighbor cat dead with pellet gun” from Thursday March 1, 2012, here
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