Spartanburg County Council is in the doghouse with some animal activists.

A group led by an animal advocate from Pennsylvania is planning to demonstrate from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday outside the County Administrative Office Building.

Dogs Deserve Better, a national nonprofit that denounces the chaining of animals, had sought to be on the agenda for County Council's Monday meeting, but it was told that its request was too late to be added.

Tammy S. Grimes, founder of Dogs Deserve Better, also plans to announce Monday the formation of Mothers Against Dog Chaining, an initiative that will be under her group's umbrella.

"This is just the beginning of it," Grimes said Friday via telephone.

Grimes said she expects Crystal Sinclair, the mother of fatal dog attack victim Makayla Sinclair, to attend the demonstration and lend her support to the effort.

Efforts to reach Sinclair for comment on Friday proved unsuccessful.

Two Great Danes are believed to have killed 2-year-old Makayla outside her Roebuck home in October 2003. The dogs had been chained to a tree in their owner's yard.

The toddler's death was the first of three fatal dog attacks that would occur in Spartanburg County during the next two years.

The last fatality occurred last month when 4-year-old Asia Turner wandered too close to her family's Rottweilers -- one of which was chained.

In the weeks that followed, some County Council members expressed interest in passing an ordinance that would restrict the amount of time a dog could spend on a chain.

But at a meeting earlier this month, the issue did not get the support of a majority of council members and failed to make Monday's meeting agenda.

County Administrator Glenn Breed said his office received a request earlier this week from the group asking to be added to Monday's meeting agenda. The general meeting begins at 5:30 p.m.

Breed said agendas are completed and sent to council members a week in advance, so the item came in too late to be added.

County leaders are not trying to create a "stumbling block" for the group, he said.
"We have to have time to prepare the information," Breed said.

In some "time-sensitive" cases, agenda items are added at the last minute, but those typically involve deadline-related county business, Breed said.

Luke Connell can be reached at 562-7219 or luke.connell@shj.com