Terrell County, GA reminder: Board will consider breed ban, Feb 1

Posted on January 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Residents and locals are encouraged to attend the next Terrell County Board of Commissioners meeting on February 1 at 8:30 AM to voice their opposition to a possible breed ban.

The city of Dawson, GA—the county seat where Terrell County commissioners meet—passed “pit bull” restrictions earlier this month, with very little public opposition or discussion. We feel that the ease with which Dawson passed BSL will encourage Terrell County commissioners to do the same.

Contact info for Terrell County officials
Terrell County Courthouse, 235 E Lee Street, Dawson, GA 39842
P.O. Box 525, Dawson, GA 39842-0525
Phone: (229) 995-4476
Fax:(229) 995-4320
Thanks to Kat for digging up this e-mail address. She was told it is the email for the Commissioners: Beth001@windstream.net

Terrell Commissioners consider ban on Pit Bulls

Posted: Jan 04, 2012 10:35 AM CST
By Ryan Houston

Terrell County, GA – The Terrell County Commissioners is considering a countywide ban on Pit Bulls.[...]

The board will vote on a final ordinance at the next County Commission meeting. The next meeting will take place Wednesday February, 1 at 8:30am.

Full article retrieved 1/4/12 from http://www.walb.com/story/16444612/terrell-county-commissoners-consider-ban-on-pit-bulls

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Posted in BSL Proposed, Georgia

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Ventura County, CA: Breed-specific MSN proposal approved by commission

Posted on January 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The Ventura County Animal Regulation Commission has unanimously voted in support of mandatory spay/neuter for all ”pit bulls.”

[...] The commission, made up of elected officials from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and city councils, unanimously voted to support a mandatory spay-neuter policy for pit bulls, which means each city and the county will consider such an ordinance.

If the ordinances are adopted as proposed, owners of any of the three terrier breeds commonly referred to as pit bulls would get what amounts to a “fix-it ticket” if they are discovered with an unaltered adult dog. [...]

Full article retrieved 1/28/12 from http://www.vcstar.com/news/2012/jan/26/activists-push-for-no-kill-animal-shelter/

Remember, breed-specific mandatory spay/neuter (BS-MSN) is based on appearance alone, and is as flawed, unequal, and subjective as any other law that is based on what a dog “looks like.” It is entirely up to an animal control official, based on his or her subjective visual assessment of your dog’s physical appearance, to determine whether you and your dog fall under this ordinance.

The ordinance presumably now goes to the county board, and all of the city councils within the county, for consideration. Because there are now so many areas to watch with respect to this issue, and because we do not know whether or when the cities will consider the ordinance, we would definitely appreciate assistance from locals who are able to monitor the agendas in these areas and alert us if the issue comes up for discussion.
Ventura County Board of Supervisors
Cities: Ojai, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Moorpark, Ventura, Camarillo, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, Port Hueneme

All alerts for Ventura County: http://stopbsl.com/?s=ventura+county

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Posted in California, BSL Proposed

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Florida HB 997 / SB 1322 on committee agenda, Jan 31

Posted on January 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Florida House Bill 997 will be heard by the Agriculture & Natural Resources Subcommittee on January 31 at 3:30 PM in Reed Hall (Room 102 House Office Building), Florida Capitol Complex, Tallahassee.

Read the hearing notice and/or make a request to appear at the meeting here: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/meetingnotice.aspx?MeetingId=8958

HB 997 and its companion Senate Bill 1322 are very simple bills that will force Miami-Dade to repeal its longstanding breed ban and comply with Florida state law (which prohibits municipalities from having BSL).

Please contact the committee members and urge them to pass HB 997. (Email block for cut-and-paste.)
Steve.Crisafulli@myfloridahouse.gov; Rachel.Burgin@myfloridahouse.gov; Michelle.Rehwinkel@myfloridahouse.gov; jim.boyd@myfloridahouse.gov; jason.brodeur@myfloridahouse.gov; dwight.bullard@myfloridahouse.gov; matt.caldwell@myfloridahouse.gov; luis.garcia@myfloridahouse.gov; richard.glorioso@myfloridahouse.gov; tom.goodson@myfloridahouse.gov; steve.perman@myfloridahouse.gov; ray.pilon@myfloridahouse.gov; elizabeth.porter@myfloridahouse.gov; franklin.sands@myfloridahouse.gov; jimmie.smith@myfloridahouse.gov

You can also contact your Florida legislators and ask them to support this bill.

Please thank the sponsors for filing this important bill.
HB 997 filed by Rep Carlos Trujillo, carlos.trujillo@myfloridahouse.gov
SB 1322 filed by Senator Jim Norman, norman.jim.web@flsenate.gov

Status page for HB 997: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=48233

Read the text of the proposed bill: http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h0997__.docx&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0997&Session=2012

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Posted in Florida, Proposal to Repeal

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Wentzville, MO update: Proposed ordinance would repeal BSL

Posted on January 26, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Wentzville, MO, has finally made public a draft of the proposed dog ordinance. You can read the draft here. It is breed-neutral and, if passed, would repeal the city’s current “pit bull” restrictions.

The police department is revising some sections (should remain breed-neutral) and the proposal will be officially introduced on Feb 8.

Although this proposal is a positive step forward for Wentzville, public reaction to repeal of BSL has been mixed. Some residents are opposed to BSL repeal, and the local news media has been covering the story inaccurately and somewhat negatively.

Please keep up the positive and respectful correspondence with councilmembers and encourage them to repeal their breed-discriminatory ordinance.
Wentzville City Hall, 310 West Pearce Boulevard, Wentzville, MO 63385
636-327-5101
636-639-2017 fax
Online contact forms for aldermen: http://www.wentzvillemo.org/mayor-and-alderman.aspx

Join a Facebook group that is working on this issue: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Change-Breed-Specific-Laws-in-Wentzville-Missouri/227898083944306

Alderman, Residents Talk About Pit Bull Ordinance

Police chief to make changes before presenting the board with the legislation Feb. 8.

By Brian Feldt

[...] More than 60 concerned residents waited nearly three hours until the Wentzville Board of Alderman began discussing its new animal control ordinance, which will likely seek to put the onus of harsh or vicious dogs on the owners rather the pets.

The city has long had certain restrictions on pit bulls. Now, officials and concerned residents are pushing to repeal those restrictions and replace them with a new policy that would enact harsher penalties on owners of any dog that displays vicious characteristics. [...]

Full article retrieved 1/26/12 from http://wentzville.patch.com/articles/alderman-residents-talk-about-pit-bull-ordinance

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Posted in Missouri, Proposal to Repeal

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Fond du Lac, WI update: Breed ban proposal dropped

Posted on January 26, 2012 by | 2 Comments

The public stood up and said “no” to BSL tonight in Fond du Lac. City councilman Rob Vande Zande dropped his proposed breed ban after overwhelming public opposition to the idea.

Most city council members were also opposed to BSL. Please take a moment to thank the city council for standing up against discrimination.
Contact info for city officials (cut and paste):
rgudex@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; jruedinger@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; mburroughs@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; gmiller@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; rlunde@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; jsabel@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; rvandezande@ci.fond-du-lac.wi.us; lagnew@fdl.wi.gov

If you were one of the many who attending the meeting, wrote the councilmembers, collected petition signatures, and spread the word–then, here’s to you! Congratulations, and thank you, for a job well done.

Great coverage and photos of the meeting from FDL Reporter: http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20120126/FON0101/201260446/Fond-du-Lac-residents-attack-pit-bull-proposal

Additional coverage from FOX: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/local/fox_cities/pit-bull-ban-proposal-in-fond-du-lac

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Posted in BSL Defeated, BSL Proposed, Wisconsin

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Wagmatcook, NS, Canada: Pit bull ban on agenda

Posted on January 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment

According to the news article, the call for a “pit bull” ban was prompted by a bite from a loose dog that had previously bitten another person.

Wagmatcook First Nation is a reserve. This is all the contact information I have.

Council of Wagmatcook Band, P.O. Box 30001, Wagmatcook, NS B0E 3N0
Chief Norman Bernard, Wagmatcook First Nation
Tribal Council: Union of Nova Scotia Indians, P.O. Box 237 Baddeck, NS B0E 1B0
Phone: (902) 295-2598
Fax: (902) 295-3398

Call for pit bull ban after Wagmatcook attack

Girl, 7, bitten by dog while playing

CBC News Posted: Jan 24, 2012 9:20 PM AT

[...] Wagmatcook has a dog bylaw and a control officer visits about three times a week.

The Wagmatcook band council said banning pit bulls is on their agenda.

Full article retrieved 1/25/12 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/01/24/ns-pitbull-attack.html

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Posted in BSL Proposed, Canada

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Trail, BC, Canada: Advocates want to repeal BSL

Posted on January 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Please respectfully encourage Trail city officials to repeal their long-standing BSL in favor of an effective breed-neutral ordinance.

Trail City Council meets on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers at Trail City Hall, which is located at 1394 Pine Avenue.

Contact info for city officials:
1394 Pine Ave, Trail, BC V1R 4E6
250.364.1262
Fax: 250.364.0830
info@trail.ca
Mayor and Council E-mail
dbogs@trail.ca; rcacchioni@trail.ca; gderosa@trail.ca; egattafoni-robinson@trail.ca; rgeorgetti@trail.ca; kjolly@trail.ca; smackinlay@trail.ca

Trail dog lovers want city to review breed-specific dog bylaw

By Val Rossi – Trail Daily Times
Published: January 19, 2012 4:00 PM

[...] The city’s bylaw introduced in 1999 lumps pitbulls into its vicious dog category, regardless of the animal’s nature, which puts additional requirements on dog owners like ensuring their pet is muzzled off their property.

[...] Davis would like Trail to take a hard look at what cities like Calgary or Delta have in place, where a responsible pet ownership bylaw is taken on. [...]

Full article retrieved 1/25/12 from http://www.traildailytimes.ca/news/137684873.html

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Posted in Canada, Proposal to Repeal

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Lima, OH: Council resolution opposes state-level repeal of BSL

Posted on January 24, 2012 by | 1 Comment

The Lima, OH, city dog ordinance defines “pit bulls” as vicious dogs, using the same language that Ohio state law currently uses. Ohio HB 14, which has a good chance of passing, would repeal this breed-specific language in the state law.

However, even if HB 14 were to pass, Lima is under no obligation to repeal their own BSL in their local ordinances. Therefore, Lima council’s newly-passed resolution to oppose HB 14 is entirely unnecessary. They can continue to discriminate against “pit bull” owners within their own city limits, as long as their ordinance remains in place.

One of the councilmembers, Kurt Neeper, sees HB 14 as support for repeal of Lima’s BSL. After all, if the state feels that its breed-specific “vicious dog” definition is not working, Lima’s BSL is probably not working either. Neeper suggests that if HB 14 passes and the state-level BSL is repealed, he will push for Lima to repeal its own BSL. We suspect the rest of the council felt the need to pass a resolution against HB 14 because HB 14′s passage would force Lima council to reconsider the validity of their own discriminatory law.

Lima City Council dogged by pit bull issue

January 23, 2012 9:12 PM
Bart Mills

LIMA — [...] Council voted 6-1 to pass a resolution opposing an effort in the state Senate to eliminate dogs belonging “to a breed commonly known as a pit bull dog” from the definition of vicious dog contained in the Ohio Revised Code.

[...] Councilman Kurt Neeper was the sole vote opposing the [resolution]. He said he voted in favor of the city’s current law, but has since studied the issue and changed his mind.[...]

Full article retrieved 1/24/12 from http://www.limaohio.com/articles/dog-78221-pit-bull.html

Please be respectful and informative when writing city officials. Tell them why you support Ohio HB 14 and demonstrate how Lima can become safer and more humane by removing the breed-specific language in the local ordinance.
Contact info for city officials:
Sally Clemans, Council Clerk, sally.clemans@cityhall.lima.oh.us
John Nixon, Council President, jmnixon@wcoil.com
Kurt Neeper, kurt.neeper@gmail.com (supports repeal of BSL)
Sam McLean, smclean@allstate.com
Jesse Lowe, jjlowe@drugsbringdeath.us
Tom Tebben, ttebben@woh.rr.com
Teresa Adams, 518adams@bright.net
Derry Glenn, (419) 221-5107 Option 6
Paige Townsend, ptownsend62@hotmail.com
David Adams, dsadams@wcoil.com

Email block for cut-and-paste
sally.clemans@cityhall.lima.oh.us; jmnixon@wcoil.com; kurt.neeper@gmail.com; smclean@allstate.com; jjlowe@drugsbringdeath.us; ttebben@woh.rr.com; 518adams@bright.net; ptownsend62@hotmail.com; dsadams@wcoil.com

Lima’s vicious dog ordinance: http://www.limapolice.com/City%20of%20Lima%20Ordinance%20-%20Vicious%20Dogs.pdf

Lima was in the news last year because their vicious dog ordinance was causing too much of a burden on the local court system. http://stopbsl.com/2011/05/31/lima-oh-pit-bull-law-changes-coming/

Thanks to Amber for the heads up about Lima!

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Posted in Ohio, Results of BSL

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Ventura County, CA: Breed-specific MSN proposal to be discussed, Jan 26

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Back in August 2011, Ventura County Animal Services director Monica Nolan said she would introduce an ordinance to mandate spay/neuter for all “pit bulls” in the county. A draft proposal will be brought forward for discussion and direction at the next meeting of the Animal Regulation Commission.

The Animal Regulation Commission will meet on January 26 at 9:00 AM at the Camarillo Animal Shelter, 600 Aviation Drive, Camarillo, CA. Click here for the current agenda: http://portal.countyofventura.org/portal/page/portal/animalreg/AnimalRegulationCommission/
The mandatory “pit bull” spay/neuter proposal is item 4.
Item 5, a discussion about how to reduce shelter killing, increase adoptions, and achieve no-kill status, is another important topic that may affect the commission’s decisions about the BS-MSN proposal.

If you are local to Ventura County, please attend this meeting and show your opposition to breed-specific laws. Remember, breed-specific mandatory spay/neuter (BS-MSN) is breed-specific, and is as flawed, unequal, costly, and subjective as any other law that is based on what a dog “looks like.”

These were the members of the Animal Regulation Commission as of May 2011. Many of the members are councilmembers of the cities within Ventura County. We do not know where they stand on BS-MSN, so please be respectful when you correspond with them.
Kevin Kildee, council@ci.camarillo.ca.us
Brian Sipes, loansbyBrian@msn.com
Janice Parvin, JParvin@ci.moorpark.ca.us
Carlon Strobel, Strobel@ci.ojai.ca.us
Dr. Irene G. Pinkard, Irene.pinkard@ci.oxnard.ca.us
Jonathan Sharkey, Jon@sharkey.com
Rick Cook, calwestrickcook@verizon.net
Barbra Williamson, Simivalleygal@gmail.com
James Monahan, jmonahan@ci.ventura.ca.us

Email block for cut-and-paste
council@ci.camarillo.ca.us; loansbyBrian@msn.com; JParvin@ci.moorpark.ca.us; Strobel@ci.ojai.ca.us; Irene.pinkard@ci.oxnard.ca.us; Jon@sharkey.com; calwestrickcook@verizon.net; Simivalleygal@gmail.com; jmonahan@ci.ventura.ca.us

The BS-MSN proposal has not been publicized in the news media for six months, the animal commission hasn’t met for seven months, and the online meeting agenda is difficult to find if you don’t know where to look (or have no reason to look). Due to the lack of official action on this issue since last summer, StopBSL had removed Ventura County from the BSL watchlist.

We sincerely appreciate the contribution of an anonymous site visitor who alerted us to this new meeting information! Ventura County is another case where we are extremely grateful for locals who are able to get us necessary details that we would not get elsewhere.

All alerts for Ventura County: http://stopbsl.com/?s=ventura+county

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Posted in California, BSL Proposed

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Wentzville, MO reminder: BSL repeal to be discussed, Jan 25

Posted on January 22, 2012 by | 1 Comment

Update 1/24/12: The introduction of the proposal has been delayed while the city lawyer fine-tunes the language. While council will not officially take up the issue on Wednesday, the meeting has a public comment time during which residents may speak on any issue.

Residents and locals of Wentzville, MO, have been asking city aldermen to repeal BSL. However, some residents oppose the repeal, and city aldermen are divided on the issue. A draft of a new ordinance is to be presented during the Jan 25 board of aldermen meeting. Supporters and opponents of BSL repeal plan to be in attendance.

Locals and residents, please attend the Board of Aldermen meeting, Jan 25 at 6:30 PM, at City Hall, 310 W. Pearce Blvd., Wentzville, MO 63385 to show your support for repeal of BSL. Sign up to speak at the meeting via the link at the top of the agenda page: http://wentzvillemo.iqm2.com/citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=1404#

Contact city officials: http://www.wentzvillemo.org/mayor-and-alderman.aspx

All alerts for Wentzville: http://stopbsl.com/?s=wentzville

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Posted in Missouri, Proposal to Repeal

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