DECATUR -- An incident involving the theft of a puppy resulted in the arrest of an official with the Decatur Housing Authority.
According to Jeannie Yates, arresting officer from the Decatur Police Department, the incident took place at 800 E. Second Street in Decatur on Aug. 7 when Deborah Weston, executive director of the DHA, drove by the apartment of Lindsey Wilcox and noticed a chiweenie puppy loose outside the residence. Weston grabbed the dog and put it into her pickup truck.
Weston then texted Wilcox stating she had her dog and Wilcox would never get it back, according to police. Wilcox realized the puppy was gone and that her 3-year old daughter had let the dog outside by mistake.
Wilcox approached the Weston vehicle to plead for the return of the animal, but Weston left the scene with the Wilcox puppy in the truck.
Weston drove to Decatur City Hall to turn the confiscated puppy over to animal control. Decatur Police were notified by city hall employees that Weston and the puppy were on site. She was asked to wait for Decatur police at the office with the dog.
When the police arrived, Weston was arrested and charged with misdemeanor theft -- theft of items valued at $1,000 or less. A court date had not yet been set as of Monday.
According to the Decatur Housing Authority, tenants are allowed to have dogs and cats as long as they pay an animal deposit as required in the lease agreement. There was no mention of leashes in the agreement.
The proper course of action, according to police, was to call animal control to remove the puppy after sufficient notice was given to the tenant.
The day after Weston's arrest, Yate's son, Josh, a resident of the Decatur Housing Authority, came home and found an eviction notice taped to his door. The notice came without warning and caught the younger Yates totally by surprise.
"The complaint stated that I was being evicted for use of profanity and threatening behavior," Josh Yates said. "That isn't true. All I want is to live here in peace."
Weston was contacted by email and phone but declined to respond to the Eagle Observer.
The Decatur Housing Authority operates 36 units on Second and Main Streets in Decatur.
The Decatur Housing Authority held a meeting Aug. 21 at its office, located at 587 N. Main Street in Decatur. When Mike Eckels, a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer, arrived at the meeting, he was met by board chairman Carl Florer, board member Stacy Brooks, Deborah Weston and a lawyer for the housing authority who did not identify himself.
Eckels was told the meeting was an eviction/grievance meeting and that there was no need for media to be present.
Eckels asked if the meeting was an open meeting and was told by the unidentified attorney, "Clients can call for an open meeting if they so desire."
When the meeting convened at 10 a.m., the attorney approached Eckels and said, "I'm sorry to waste your time. We resolved this issue and Debbie went home (to Gentry) to pick up a flash drive with the necessary forms on it."
Weston had left prior to the meeting, confirming that she was driving to Gentry to retrieve DHA documents.
Eckels was called out of the building by Brooks.
"You really don't need to be here. We resolved this issue, off the record," Brooks said.
The Decatur Housing Authority is part the federally funded Housing and Urban Development program.
Housing Authority board members are appointed by the president of the board. The appointment is sent to the Decatur City Council for final approval.
All DHA board meetings are open to the public, according to Patrica Campbell, public affairs officer in the Fort Worth (Texas) Regional Office, Region 6.
"The rules that apply to city councils and school boards apply to the housing authority as well," Campbell said.
The next Decatur Housing Authority board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. in the community room behind the DHA office at 578 N. Main Steet in Decatur.
General News on 08/27/2014