Jackson, MS: Jackson rules committee nixes pit bull ban

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http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100308/NEWS/100308025/Jackson+rules+committee+nixes+pit+bull+ban

Jackson rules committee nixes pit bull ban

By Chris Joyner • chris.joyner@jackson.gannett.com • March 8, 2010

A proposed citywide ban on pit bulls died in the Jackson City Council rules committee following a tense debate between lovers and haters of the breed.

Council President Frank Bluntson said the proposed ban was discriminatory and unenforceable.

“You can’t even pick up the dead dogs, how can you enforce it with the live ones?” he asked of Gerald Jones, who supervises a seven-member animal control staff for the city.

The ban was supported by Ward 1 Councilman Jeff Weill.

Darrell Scott, a south Jackson pit bull owner, called the effort “stupid.”

“I can’t believe a sane person would even introduce something so stupid,” he said.

Willis Washington, who lives in north Jackson, said a pit bull next door is making his life miserable.

“It’s going to get loose again and it may be my granddaughter” menaced by the dog, he said.

Ward 7 Councilwoman Margaret Barrett Simon said she is concerned about dangerous dogs but wants a non-breed-specific solution.