VIDALIA &8212; Debbie Palmer continued her fight to get her seized horses back, naming the Concordia Parish Police Jury as co-defendants in a court order she said she would file today.

&8220;I don&8217;t want it to go this far I just want to find out if you could bring them back before the morning,&8221; she told the jury near the end of its Monday meeting.

Palmer had 43 horses seized from her last month based on affidavits signed by Seventh District Judge Kathy Johnson. Because she was soon to go to trial in front of Judge Leo Boothe to face six counts of cruelty to animals, the seizure and subsequent bond conditions were transferred to Boothe&8217;s division.

In an April 26 hearing, paperwork filed in the clerk of court&8217;s office the day before, Boothe ordered the horses returned to Palmer for lack of evidence.

Palmer told the jury and President Melvin Ferrington &8212; who was specifically named as a co-defendant &8212; she had recovered all but 15 horses from the parish&8217;s animal control officer Lisa Smith.

Ferrington and the jury said she was free to file whatever writs she chose and the legal process would work itself out.

In other business Monday:

4A silent public hearing preceded the jury&8217;s vote to close the end of Peale Cross Road. In a situation similar to that of the lower end of Brookwater Road, there are no houses on the part to be closed and local residents were upset by some of the recreational uses it was being put to.

4Vidalia Fire Chief Jack Langston asked the jury to consider amending or adopting an ordinance to help his department enforce the town&8217;s burn ban. Burning is not allowed within city limits, he told jurors, but some living near the parish/town line were simply stepping over the line into parish land in order to roast their debris.

The jury voted to advertise for a public hearing at its May 22 meeting to gauge public sentiment for adopting an ordinance that would put a buffer around the town.

4Fred Butcher and members of the Riverland Medical Center Board of Directors told the jury they would like to build a new office complex on hospital grounds.

The hospital currently pays in the neighborhood of $3,600 per month to rent space, roughly the same amount as loan payments on a new building.

&8220;It would allow us to better utilize hospital facilities, upgrade lab equipment,&8221; Butcher said. &8220;And, ultimately, improve our patient care.&8221;

After finding out that the rent would correspond to the note payments, the jury gave its blessing.

&8220;It seems like a win-win for the hospital,&8221; Ferrington said.

4The parish&8217;s new inmate landscaping crew got the green light Monday when jurors voted to buy two chainsaws, two weed-eaters and chaps, hip boots and hard hats to outfit a crew of four workers.

The price tag for the equipment is approximately $2,200.

Concordia Parish Sheriff&8217;s Deputy Aubrey Lipsey will oversee the crew.

4The board voted to advertise for bids for a new moving van.

4Juror Carey Cook asked to have $100 from his monthly paycheck donated to the Concordia Council on Aging.