Trial in Anaconda: Dogs' owners detail, defend circumstances

By Vera Haffey of The Montana Standard

Joe Harman, testifies Friday afternoon in Anaconda-Deer Lodge District Court. Photo by Walter Hinick

ANACONDA — Toole County Sheriff Donna Matoon dabbed Mentholatum under her nose before she ventured inside the cramped trailer, where collie dog snouts jabbed through holes they'd gnawed and clawed in kennel doors. The ointment helped her bear the stench, she said.

"A lot of them were starting to make their break," Matoon testified Friday in Anaconda Justice Court during the retrial of an Alaska couple charged with 180 counts each of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Matoon's testimony about the interior the semi-trailer chock-full of animals echoed that of previous prosecution witnesses: the "unbelievable" reek of accumulated feces, "yellow-brown liquid" sloshing out of cages, dozens of dogs in deplorable condition. She said she called for extra help when it became clear that it was not "humanly possible" to to remove the dogs to safety without reinforcements.

Jon Harman and his wife, Athena Lethcoe-Harman of Nikiski, Alaska, were arrested and charged Nov. 1, 2002, in Toole County, one day after they attempted to cross the U.S.-Canada border at the Sweetgrass Port of Entry at 10:30 p.m. on Halloween night. There,

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Customs inspectors say they found 170 collies, five other dogs and 16 cats crowded into kennels in a semi-tractor trailer without proper food, water or ventilation. Prosecutors allege that the pair's irresponsibility and unpreparedness compromised the well-being of the animals, who are being treated by veterinarians and cared for by volunteers at a temporary shelter — called Camp Collie — at Great Falls.

In court Friday, John Harman admitted he argued with is wife about when to clean out the trailer as they journeyed southward. Athena wanted to do it before trying to cross the border. But John was bent on crossing first, then cleaning. John won.

But crossing the border with the dirty trailer landed them both in jail.

Prosecution witnesses throughout the trial told of the rescue of gaunt, dehydrated dogs, eyes sunken into sockets, their thick, wet coats matted and caked with stool. The prosecution alleged the pair acted recklessly when they embarked on the cross-country journey with limited resources, and negligently failed to give adequate food, shelter and care to the animals in their charge.

But the Harmans painted a different picture when called to the witness stand Friday.

The dogs, they said, were maintaining their ideal weights as lean, muscular show dogs. Their eyes were not sunken, but rather obliquely set as the deliberate result of careful breeding. The dogs' coats were wet because of drenching rain that began on the Kenai Peninsula. And a "support vehicle," an old ambulance pulling a horse trailer stocked with food, supplies and equipment, caught fire and burned along the way.

John Harman said the couple lived comfortably on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula on the $70,000 to $80,000 he earned annually and always drove new cars. He held various jobs, including several at a family-owned chemical fertilizer plant. Now, they live in a school bus in Great Falls near Camp Collie, their bank account drained because of the expense involved in defending themselves against the charges.

John Harman said he and his wife planned the trip south for more than two years, working together to find the best way to relocate their collie kennel to a sunnier, drier climate.

They decided a new home in Arizona would counter the ill effects the dark, wet Alaska winters were having on his wife, he told the court. Harman said the climate caused her fragile condition as a "brittle diabetic" to escalate. And when her blood sugar levels went awry, she behaved like "someone who just drank a quart of whiskey," he said. Sometimes she'd be belligerent, sometimes silly, sometimes she'd pass out.

It was during one of those diabetic blackouts that she was rescued by Panache, a favorite collie that now helps monitor Athena Harman's blood sugar levels by nudging and pawing her awake should she loose consciousness.

The Harman's testified that they have special relationships with all of their dogs, know each one by name and know each animal's personality quirks. In fact, for the childless couple, the dogs are substitute children, they both said.

And while the kennels wouldn't pass as a "home for Hollywood Lassie," they were adequate and efficient, they told the court.

As for the trailer, the presence of stool and urine represented only a 10-hour accumulation that built up since their last stop to exercise and water the dogs at 7:30 that morning.

The couple checked on them often, he said, and found them "stinky and dirty, but also active and healthy."

Oils from the dog's coats gave the appearance of dirt on the kennels in the trailer, he said, remaining even though they were routinely cleaned.

"We can't steam clean this thing every time we stop," he said. "We muck it out with sponges and newspapers, all this debris, and dispose of it..."

Harman estimated it took the couple between 45 minutes and one hour to stop, set up pens and let all of the dogs outside for exercise and water, in shifts. "We got pretty good at it," he said. "We could do this fairly rapidly."

After the fouled pens were cleaned, scoops of dog food were chucked inside, and the dogs returned to their dens.

Athena Harman's defense attorney has characterized her as the "alpha bitch" of the pack, easily controlling the dogs with voice inflections and volume.

Testimony will continue Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County courthouse.

If convicted, the Harmans face a maximum penalty of up to $500 and up to six months in jail on each of 180 counts of animal cruelty. They could also lose their collies, and may be asked to pay restitution to Toole County for the cost of their animals' housing and care.

Reporter Vera Haffey may be reached via e-mail at vhaffey@in-tch.com.