COLUMBIANA CO. 2 groups to go back to court

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- A legal dispute between two similarly named animal welfare agencies is heading back to Columbiana County Common Pleas court after one of the groups successfully appealed a December 2001 decision in the matter.
The 7th District Court of Appeals recently issued a ruling instructing Judge C. Ashley Pike to reconsider the case between the Salem Humane Society Inc. and the Salem Area Humane Society Inc.
The appeals court determined that Judge Pike had erred in his legal analysis of the dispute between the two groups and that it may be necessary for a new hearing on the matter to be conducted.
Each group sought control of a trust fund established in the late 1950s to benefit animal welfare.
Nearly two years ago, Judge Pike determined that the newer group, the Salem Humane Society Inc., was better suited to oversee animal welfare issues in the area.
Decision by judge
The judge's decision awarded the newer agency the right to receive funding from the trust fund, valued then at about $1 million.
Judge Pike determined that the older animal welfare agency, the Salem Area Humane Society Inc., appeared to lack stability.
The older agency had for years received the trust money and operated an animal shelter with it also U.S. Route 62 in Perry Township.
But the trust money was suspended by Judge Pike in October 1999 after allegations arose that the older group was mismanaging the money and that animals at the shelter were receiving substandard care.
The new group was formed after those allegations arose.
As part of his December 2001 order awarding the trust fund to the new group, Judge Pike also instructed that the shelter on Route 62, which had been the subject of noise complaints from neighbors, be closed and the property sold with the proceeds going to the trust.
The new group is raising money to build a shelter on state Route 45, south of Salem.
leigh@vindy.com