By Debbie Hall and Amanda Collins

A majority of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors nixed a change to the Exotic Animal Ordinance that would allow the county to issue licenses to potential owners.

The ordinance prohibited residents from owning exotic animals, according to the discussion at a recent meeting.

Lock Boyce, of the Blue Ridge District, encouraged the board to approve the change so the county would know where the animals are kept, ensure they were in the correct enclosure and would be alerted if a potentially dangerous animal escaped captivity.

Boyce said owners would be less likely to report it if their animal was not confined for fear of possible repercussions.

Angie Osborne, a resident who owns a monkey and was grandfathered in because she owned her monkey before the county ordinance prohibiting ownership was approved, encouraged the board to approve the change and also to allow ownership of more than one exotic animal. She noted the type of monkey she owns does better in pairs or more.

Dale Owens, game warden, said a change allowing exotic animals would mean additional training for the county’s animal control officer. The training would require investments of time and money.

While he did not have a professional opinion, County Attorney Alan Black said that personally, he did not support the proposed change.

Boyce and Jane Scales Fulk, of the Dan River District, supported the change.

Karl Weiss, of the Blue Ridge District, Crystal Harris, of the Smith River District, and Rickie Fulcher, of the Peters Creek District, voted against the measure.

In other matters, Alex McNabb shared his concerns with the board, many of which pertained to Boyce and comments Boyce made that were recorded on a hot mic.

McNabb recalled that Boyce said ‘I’ve killed better men with my bare hands,’ and that’s in reference to a local citizen. My question is, how many men has he killed with his bare hands? And does he think that’s an appropriate thing to say to a private citizen in a meeting? “

Noting that Boyce also accused another speaker of committing fraud, McNabb said it appears “we have a pattern of behavior here” where individual speakers are attacked rather than having their concerns addressed.

He also expressed concerns about the conference call regarding the hospital in which Boyce and County Administrator Tom Rose participated.

“Since that time, attempts to restart that facility, get funding for it, have completely stalled. What happened in that conference call, and is he willing to tell us,” McNabb said.

“It’s my understanding the county has operated with a tremendous budget deficit for about five years. There have been certain proposals, I think one of them is maybe raising property tax, I don’t know if that’s appropriate or not, but I think it’s very concerning that you have this board member who seems quite opposed to this and he also coincidently owns about 3,000 acres, which makes him the second largest land owner in this county,” McNabb said.

“That seems like what we call that a conflict of interest and I think it’s potentially jeopardizing your efforts to come up with a county budget that stays above water,” he said.

Elected officials are required to file a statement of economic interests annually.

The reports are due to be filed in February, according to Geri Hazelwood, assistant county administrator.