NEWS-JOURNAL (Longview, Texas) 04 September 04 Snake doctor now free to treat patients (Wes Ferguson)

The Gilmer snake doctor is now licensed to kill, after his attorney advised him to just pay the $23 so he could shoot water moccasins legally.

A game warden cited 45-year-old Ricky Huey of Gilmer last week for killing water moccasins on the side of the road without a hunting license. Upshur County Justice of the Peace Arnold Grimes gave Huey 30 days deferred adjudication, and Huey picked up his hunting license Thursday.

"That was the best resolution to the matter, and he can't mess up the deferred because he's got the license now. So as a practical matter, it's over with," said Gilmer attorney Todd Tefteller, who is representing Huey for free.

Tefteller filed an appeal on Huey's behalf earlier this week, but he notified the county court on Friday that they wouldn't be pursuing the appeal after all.

"The law probably is whatever (game warden) Jeff Cox says it is because he knows that code," Tefteller said. "That's what I told Ricky to start with, and I don't like cottonmouth snakes either."

All sides are happy with the resolution, Tefteller and Huey said, but the tale has a bittersweet ending.

"Dadgum it man, last night my BB gun messed up on me. So now I got my license and I can't doctor me no snakes," he said.
Snake doctor now free to treat patients

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