By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

IMLAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Charges of animal abuse against Oakland County 4-H queen Kate Mills were dropped last week after she proved to a judge she was attending college at Michigan State University (MSU) at the time of the alleged abuse.

Kate, a 20-year old with a longtime interest in animal care, wants to become a veterinarian, but is worried that this incident may hurt her chances.

“It very possibly could hurt my career,” Kate said in a telephone interview from Madison, Wis., where she is at school on a summer scholarship. “I had plans to be a leader. No one’s ever going to trust me again.”

Kate’s mother, Ellen Mills, said that the whole family, especially Kate, have taken a lot of abuse over nothing.

“Three weeks ago someone drove by, threw stones at my daughter and called her an animal killer,” Ellen said.

There is also a “pet abuse” website that has a map to the Mills’ home in Imlay Township, Mich.

“I was completely shocked,” said Lapeer County prosecutor Byron Konschuh, of the dismissal of  all charges against Kate. “The judge should have taken all of the testimony. Was she coming home on weekends? I think it was a premature decision. I think the judge was in error.”

Ellen, her husband Mark Mills and son Andrew Mills were all charged along with Kate, and those charges are still pending. The most serious charge stems from an allegation that they starved a horse. If found guilty, they could face up to four years in prison on the horse charge alone.

“(The horse) was markedly thin, and had no body fat,” testified MSU veterinarian Dalen Agnew at a preliminary hearing held late last month.

Under questioning from the Mills’ attorney, David Richardson, Agnew said that a horse can choke to death for reasons other than starvation.

Kate said in the interview that the horse was a “cribber,” which means that it likes to bite on things such as fencing, and has a tendency to suck in air while biting. She said that the horse was underweight, but that this was caused by the horse’s underlying condition.

Ellen said that the horse in question was under a veterinarian’s care, and that she has records to prove it.

“If they had done an investigation there never would have been any charges,” Ellen said. “I spent a lot of money trying to save that horse.”

The Mills’ were also charged with improperly burying the horse.
Ellen stated that the horse died while the ground was still frozen, and that they couldn’t bury it immediately after it died.

The family was arrested in March after animal control officers removed seven dead lambs, the dead horse and three dogs that were said to be undernourished.

Kate said that the lambs were stillborn, and that she was saving them at the request of the USDA. She said  animal control took the dead lambs out of the barn where she was keeping them, and that it wasn’t a problem since it was still cold out.

The USDA wanted to test the lambs for rabies, Kate said, since the lambs came from ewes she’d bought from a farm where there were scrapie positive sheep.

Lapeer County Animal Control Chief Walt Rodabaugh testified at the May hearing that Mark Mills was less than cooperative when Rodabaugh and  approximately 15 police officers showed up at the Mills’ home to serve the warrant.

“Mr. Mills was irate and agitated and screaming at Lapeer County Sheriff’s deputies,” Rodabaugh said at the hearing.
During an interview Konschuh stated that Mark has a reputation for being “rather obstreperous.”

Both Ellen and Kate Mills said that the large police presence was the reason for Mark’s anger.

“If someone showed up with eight cop cars, you’d be upset too,” Kate said.

Ellen said that the police pulled their cars up on the Mills’ front lawn.

She stated that she believed all of this was happening because her husband Mark is an outspoken person, shows up at county board meetings, criticizes officials and has been openly critical of the prosecutor.

Konschuh denied that there is any retaliation going on, and asked why he would want to have additional contact with Mark Mills.

“We stay away from them as much as possible,” Konschuh said.

A preliminary examination for the remaining defendants is scheduled for June 28.