{"id":3952,"date":"2019-08-20T16:36:08","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T20:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/?p=3952"},"modified":"2019-08-20T16:36:08","modified_gmt":"2019-08-20T20:36:08","slug":"cleveland-county-manager-lies-about-problems-at-animal-control-polkville-man-allegedly-arrested-for-animal-cruelty-horses-pigs-other-animals-and-25-dogs-no-time-for-rest-at-animal-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/2019\/08\/20\/cleveland-county-manager-lies-about-problems-at-animal-control-polkville-man-allegedly-arrested-for-animal-cruelty-horses-pigs-other-animals-and-25-dogs-no-time-for-rest-at-animal-control\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland County Manager Lies about Problems at Animal Control ?? Polkville Man Allegedly Arrested for Animal Cruelty-Horses, pigs, other animals and 25 dogs-No time for rest at Animal Control !! Gossip, evaluation, and arguendo by Robert A. Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some might ask, \u201chow can you tell when Cleveland County Manager Brian Epley is lying?\u201d The answer being, \u201cwhen his mouth is moving!\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, I say NO to that. The correct answer is when you see one of those phony \u201cPress Release\u201d articles in the Shelby Star. Like the one in the Shelby Star Sunday issue August 11, 2019 titled \u201cCounty manager talks about photos from Animal Control\u201d Under the signature of Diane Turbyfill Shelby Star Staff. A former Star Reporter once slipped up and told me their Star \u201cPress Releases\u201d are under the headings of \u201cShelby Star Staff.\u201d Press Releases being text provided by the county agency (Brian Epley in this case) that is written up as if it is a real live reporter written news article. They do it all the time.<\/p>\n

This is the Star article: (Fair use: for discussion)<\/p>\n

County manager talks about photos from Animal Control<\/p>\n

By Diane Turbyfill
\nShelby Star staff
\nPosted Aug11, 2019 at 10:21AM Updated Aug 11:2019 at 3:25PM
\nOutrage online over conditions at the local animal shelter spilled over into a recent Cleveland County Board of Commissioners meeting.
\nA handful of people spoke during public comment to express concerns about pictures that showed discarded and broken syringes on the floor and open cabinets of medications. The photos circulated on Facebook by several people including Commissioner Deb Hardin.
\nCleveland County Manager Brian Epley said he was unaware of the photos that had been posted on Facebook before Tuesday\u2019s meeting. Once he was made aware, he checked into it.
\nEpley said he talked to employees and feels conditions at the shelter aren\u2019t what they appear in the photos posted online.
\n\u201cThose photos are a simple second in time,\u201d he said. \u201cYou must frame it in the right context.\u201d
\nEpley said that when photos are taken out of context or without proper explanation, untruths can surface.
\nFor instance, one of the photos showed a broken and bent syringe on the floor. Online comments suggested an animal had chewed on it. Epley said no animals were in the room at the time an employee stepped on and broke the syringe.
\nEpley said that while the photos did come from someone inside the shelter, he doesn\u2019t know when they were taken. People should understand that some days are more hectic than others, and things can get messy when caring for more than 100 animals, he said.
\nCleveland County Animal Control takes in owner-surrendered animals. Not all shelters do. When a high number of dogs and cats are surrendered, or an influx comes from a hoarding situation, it\u2019s not surprising that materials may pile up until there\u2019s time to clean, Epley said.
\nAnd as for the medicines shown in an open cabinet, they were in a locked room where only certain people are permitted, according to Epley.
\nEpley lauded the work that employees, volunteers and rescue groups do to help the discarded animals in Cleveland County.
\nEfforts by all these groups have helped the shelter greatly lower the number of animals euthanized, decreasing that number from more than 4,000 to less than 500 annual over the past decade. Epley said that 84 percent of animals at the shelter find a home.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a very promising number compared to other counties similar to Cleveland County,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are focused on getting better. We\u2019re not going to stop. We\u2019re going to come in every day and do the best we can.\u201d
\nDiane Turbyfill can be reached at 704-669-3334 and Twitter.com\/ShelbystarDiane.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, folks, did you notice that I didn\u2019t add one thing to this text? I say, I didn\u2019t have to. It\u2019s clear as a bell that the whole article is hokum.<\/p>\n

OK, Williams, how do you know that?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy. In the second paragraph, it said that Commissioner Deb Hardin had shared the photos. Deb Hardin is the Animal Control guru and knows what is going on at Animal Control. So, why didn\u2019t the Shelby Star contact Deb Hardin? All the talking, all the mouth moving is from Brian Epley and all the knowledgeable stuff would have come from Commissioner Deb Hardin.<\/p>\n

Just a simple Sherlock Holmes common sense thought process. Brian Epley is lying to cover-up something bad at Animal Control and the Star is helping. I would bet Commissioners Susan Allen, Ronnie Whetstine and Johnny Hutchins are in on this cover-up too. Since they are up for re-election and don\u2019t want people that care about animals knowing the truth of this matter.<\/p>\n

Now, trusted sources report (no gossip here) that Ricky Lee Pruitt of the New House\/Polkville area of Cleveland County was very recently arrested for many counts of animal cruelty regarding the starvation of a number of horses, pigs, other animals and 25 penned-up dogs. A slew of Cleveland County Animal Control vehicles, equipment and personnel were seen by eye witnesses removing the animals from the premises. Mr. Pruit was allegedly arrested. Where the animals were transported to is presently unknown.<\/p>\n

A check of the Sheriff\u2019s Department on-line jail log and mugshots show no records of such an arrest. The Shelby Star has not written any articles about this and Brian Epley has not made any comments. Perhaps another cover-up??? About 99.99% I would say.<\/p>\n

As for me, I am going to ask Commissioner Deb Hardin about this. And get the truth of the matter.<\/p>\n

And then make my updated report to the people of Cleveland County who care about hearing the truth and not so many lies.<\/p>\n

PS: My own involvement with Animal Control has been very good. Tyler Moore of Animal Control came out to my house, trapped 19 stray and breeding cats that had taken over the neighborhood, had them spayed and neutered and returned them as the program called for. (No cat shootings.) This brought the cat population explosion around my part of Fallston to ZERO! I was even invited to tour the Animal Control facilities, which I accepted. The tour was led by Holly Wall. We went everywhere and looked at everything, as I usually like to do. I found Animal Control to be so clean you could eat off the floors. No messes anywhere. All the animals had names and were well treated. I even wrote an article or two suggesting that the County Government should look to Animal Control to see a well-run organization and copy their actions. Now, I have to believe that any problems at Animal Control that have developed since then were caused by \u201cjealousy\u201d from the County Manager\u2019s Office because Animal Control got a complement for a job well done and they did not. (Mostly because they have not done such a good job to be complemented for-too many lies!) Stranger things have happened within Cleveland County\u2019s so-called leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some might ask, \u201chow can you tell when Cleveland County Manager Brian Epley is lying?\u201d The answer being, \u201cwhen his mouth is moving!\u201d Well, I say NO to that. The correct answer is when you see one of those phony \u201cPress Release\u201d articles in the Shelby Star. Like the one in the Shelby Star Sunday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cgg-investigations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citizensforgoodgovernment.org\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}