Hooker City Superintendant Arrested In Dog Shooting Incident

Hooker City Superintendent Forest “Frosty” Osborne was arrested on two counts of Outraging Public Decency, a misdemeanor, for the incident in which he allegedly shot two dogs in Hooker.
The incident occurred at the boundary of the Blackmer Municipal Golf Course near the intersection of Dewey Street and Jefferson Street, close proximity to Hooker Public Schools, on Dec. 10, 2012.
Court papers state “this misdemeanor includes willfully and wrongfully committing an act that was injurious to public morals and grossly disturbed the public place and openly outraged public decency by shooting the dogs.”
The dogs reportedly were attempted to be caught on different occasions and tranquilized as well, to no avail.
According to the court papers, Osborn advised he felt there was no other way to deal with the situation and that the dogs had been running at large for several months, causing several people to try to catch the them.
He advised he had no intentions of being cruel to the dogs by shooting them and declined to answer as to whether he was authorized to shoot the dogs by the mayor or police department in Hooker.
He stated he believes he was acting in good faith under Hooker City Ordinance Section 90.56 (A) which reads, “The pound officer, a police officer, or such other officer or employee of the city as the Mayor of the city may authorize, shall take into custody and impound any animal running at large in violation of any provision of the ordinances of the city, may enter upon the premises of the owner or other private premises to take such animal into custody, and, if with reasonable effort a dog or cat illegally at large cannot be caught, may kill it, either on or off private premises.”
Texas County Deputy Matt Boley stated in the Affidavit for Warrant of Arrest that he went to the scene and had the incident explained to him in detail using reference points on the golf course.
He stated only open land lies beyond where the dogs were shot and that he does not believe there is any evidence to support the accusation that Osborn shot toward the Hooker Public School in a reckless manner.
Boley made a statement in the Affidavit saying, “Throughout this investigation there has been a common opinion voiced from most of the individuals I have interviewed and that is ‘It could have been handled differently.’ There is no doubt Osborn’s actions have disrupted the community, causing outrage for those that were caring for the dogs and sadness for others in the way the situation was handled.”
Osborne was arrested Friday, March 8 and he posted cash bond of $2,500.