Lynn Henning said this week she is nowhere near giving up her quest to keep her dogs.

“I'm going to keep on as long as I can,” Henning said after county commissioners last week denied her request for an exception to a county ordinance that sets a three-dog limit unless the owner gets a kennel license.

“I may get beaten down,” she said, “but I won't get totally beaten down without a fight.”

Henning said she is consulting with the law firm Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey in hopes of challenging the ordinance in court. She also has contacted area television stations to publicize her fight, and hopes to attract other dog lovers to the cause, possibly putting together a protest organization.

“I feel like I'm in Hootersville instead of Fayetteville,” she said, expressing her frustration with the law.

“Everybody in the county should obey the law,” said Commissioner Greg Dunn before the group denied Henning's request during the commission meeting last week.

In response to Henning's questions about how she can find a new home for eight of her 11 dogs, Dunn said, “that's your problem to dispose of your animals.”

Commissioners said the law would be useless if they made exceptions, and Henning's request for a variance so she can have a kennel at her home can't be considered either, they added.

Kennels are allowed as “conditional uses” in several zoning categories, including the agricultural-residential zone that Henning's Malone Road property is in. She also operates Covered in Bloom, a wholesale flower business, on the site, and maintains a butterfly house.

But the law requires that kennel runs and shelters be at least 300 feet from residential property next door, a requirement that county officials say Henning's property cannot meet.

And the law is clear: variances are not allowed for conditional uses.

“We are bound by the law to do this right,” said commission Chairman Harold Bost. “We cannot make an exception for an individual.”

Henning also asked the commissioners to consider changing the law so that homeowners could have more pets if they pay a fee for each animal over three.

“I'm personally not willing to throw the ordinance out the door,” said Bost. “It is there to keep down nuisances.”

“We've got too many problems in the county,” agreed Commissioner Herb Frady. “People have big problems with animals.”

Henning said this week that dozens of people throughout the county are in violation of the ordinance, and it should be changed. “It is appalling to me that a county of this type would have an ordinance that is so antiquated and dictates the right to enjoy your pets,” she said.

“It's just incredible to me,” she added.

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