Copyright (c) 2010
Winters Express
312 Railroad Avenue, Winters, CA 95694
(530) 795-4551
news@wintersexpress.com
Web site by
shawnpatrickcollins
@yahoo.com

Will it take another 65 years for the city
to put some teeth into our leash laws?

Oh, the irony.
In the last week’s “Years Ago” feature, I discovered this little gem: “65 years ago, May 21, 1948 — Because of increased complaints about dogs in Winters, the county pound will conduct a campaign on unlicensed dogs Monday, the Winters City Council was told at the meeting Tuesday night.”
Fast forward 65 years, and the city still hasn’t done much to deal with the issue of loose, aggressive dogs. The night before this ran in the Express, Debbie Hemenway had addressed the city council about loose, aggressive dogs, and how her little Corgi was viciously attacked by a pit bull recently while she was walking her on the Putah Creek Nature Park path. The pit bull’s owner not only didn’t have the dog on a leash, but was unable to control it. Debbie’s dog is lucky to be alive. Just ask Karen Benson Neil.
Karen’s little fluffball, Bailey, a Shih Tzu mix, was ripped to pieces in 2006 as she was walking him in an orchard. His spine was snapped in one chomp. The dogs also tore into Karen’s old, gentle golden retriever. Thankfully, that dog survived, but not without expensive veterinary care. Even more thankfully, the dogs didn’t turn on Karen.
Karen had complained about these habitually loose, aggressive dogs for years to Yolo County Animal Control, which essentially did nothing until this incident. They impounded the dog only after it killed Bailey. I wrote a feature story about Karen’s traumatic experience for the Express. What did the city or county do in response? Nothing.
On June 6, 2010, 6-year-old Elipse Cruz had her cheek torn off by a loose pit bull while she rode her bicycle in town. Not long after, a man was attacked while walking down the sidewalk near City Park in the middle of the day. A pit bull got loose from its yard and tore into the man’s leg, and he was taken by ambulance to the hospital.
The attack on Cruz sparked a discussion at the June 15, 2010 city council meeting. The Express story says pit bulls were discussed and, “in response to a question of banning pit bulls, City Attorney John Wallace said regulating ownership of one particular breed of dog is illegal in California.
‘Regulations can only be made to all dogs,” said Wallace, ‘such as an ordinance that animals must be spayed or neutered.’”
Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, then a council member, “suggested the city put an informational message in the Winters Express to owners of potentially dangerous dogs.”
Not only was it a limp response, if it actually even happened, I either didn’t see it or don’t remember it. Do you?
Karen and several others who’d had run-ins with pit bulls attended a city council meeting a couple weeks later to make a plea to the council to do something about pit bulls in particular and unrestrained dogs in general. The council listened patiently, and finally responded that maybe, possibly, someday, they might beef up the local dog licensing enforcement.
Did they? Has anyone come to your house to see if your dogs are licensed? Stopped you when your dog isn’t on a leash? Better yet, fined you for it?
After Debbie addressed the council last week, she offered suggestions, and aside from a polite “thank you” from now Mayor Aguiar-Curry, only Mayor Pro Tem Woody Fridae had anything substantive to say — that he’d like the item come back for discussion as an agenda item, and ultimately an action item.
With all due respect to the city council, on the issue of loose dogs, there’s been a lot more talk than action. I copied/pasted that “Years Ago” item and emailed it to our current city council and City Manager John Donlevy, along with the following message: “65 YEARS AGO!!!!! And here we are, 2013, and the problem is STILL there, and no city council has tackled it. I hope this current council will finally address this issue once and for all.
“I also hope that if Animal Services won’t get out here and impound loose dogs, issue fines to owners who allow their dogs to run loose, and be more of a presence, that you drop their contract. Why pay for services we aren’t receiving? I haven’t seen an animal control vehicle in Winters in months.
“It’s time to issue a city ordinance that all dogs be licensed (double for unneutered dogs), for the leash law to be enforced, and for a $500 fine for any dog off leash on public ground. For starters.”
All that, and more.
So, it’s illegal to make breed-specific laws. Fine. Everyone must suffer equally then, for the irresponsibility of a few. Winters needs a leash law with stiff penalties, and it must actually be enforced. And no wah-wah from the police department that they don’t have time to enforce it. If they have time to pull people over for not using their blinkers or not dimming their headlights, they have time to issue citations for loose dogs.
Sixty-five years of this nonsense — people and pets being torn to pieces right here on our streets and in our parks and neighborhoods. Enough is enough. A little less talk, a lot more action, city council. Make a leash law with teeth as crushing as the animals it’s meant to control. Better yet, not just a leash law — a muzzle law for all dog weighing more than 20 pounds, regardless of breed. Everyone must suffer together for the greater good — and safey — of all. In addition, stiff fines for those whose dogs habitually run loose.
And Animal Control? Cancel their contract and hire a good old-fashioned dogcatcher. When it comes to controlling loose dogs, Animal Control is useless, and not worth a penny they’re paid. And they have the gall to request more money from the city for their so-called services!
Let’s stop the pit bull carnage once and for all, lest Debbie Hemenway’s plea last week to the city council doesn’t end up in the “65 Years Ago – May 19, 2013” column in 2078.