Published: November 21, 2008 10:51 pm         

11-22 OKC Watch

EDMOND — Man arrested in mother’s death

NORMAN (AP) — Authorities arrested a man Friday afternoon in connection with the stabbing death of his mother last year.

Norman police helped OSBI agents take Lee Purser, 26, into custody about 5 p.m. at an east-side apartment complex.

Purser is suspected in the fatal stabbing of Pamela Purser, who was found dead inside her Lone Grove home on June 17, 2007.

“Mrs. Purser was murdered in front of her 2-year-old grandchild, who thankfully wasn’t injured,” Brown said. Pamela Purser had custody of the toddler, Brown said.

Brown said the agency recently got back evidence from a laboratory that directly pointed to Lee Purser as the assailant, but she declined to specify what the evidence is.



State lacks oversight of puppy mill industry

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — With no state oversight, animal welfare groups say Oklahoma has become a haven for unscrupulous puppy breeding operations, where dogs are packed into cramped, unsanitary cages, sometimes for their entire lives, with no socialization or exercise.

Oklahoma ranks second in the nation with 625 breeders licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to the Humane Society of the United States. That trails only Missouri, which has more than 1,600 federally licensed breeders.

But that number only includes breeders who sell animals directly to retailers or brokers. There is no federal or state oversight of breeders who sell directly to the public, and with the explosion of people purchasing animals over the Internet, those unregulated breeders are becoming problems, said Stephanie Shain, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Humane Society of the United States.

“Puppy millers are moving to Oklahoma ... because of the lax laws as far as enforcement on the big breeding operations,” Shain said.

     

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