YOU CAN LEAD COUNCIL TO WATER…. By: Lesa Best March 16, 2014 Many times weak council members ask for opinions to avoid any type of position of their own because the last thing they want to do is take responsibility for a decision. A huge problem with this is that opinion should be a factor not the answer. Case in point is police chief Sarver’s assertion on the prospective leash law. Like the whole software upgrade money, Sarver is not the expert to ask, but the experts weren’t present. The chief is put forward because council never questions the needs and desires of the police force and questions are considered disrespectful. Sarver admits he has no expertise when it comes to software and yet council seems quite content with his vague replies. Only citizens have the intelligence and motivation to wonder about the future and urgency promoted. The leash law? Where was Toby Wills the dog warden? Sarver cited the state law of “reasonable control”. He spoke of his family dogs and brought up several issues; a leash law, he contends, would conflict with a number of different scenarios. What about police dogs? Taking your dog onto a friend or neighbor’s property? Training your dog in a park? This I like to call the “what if inertia” with which Newark council bogs itself down. Jeff Rath (3rd ward) is famous for this; he constantly asks the “experts” (usually from the administration) about potential episodes that either weaken legislation or justify non action. In the case of the leash law, Sarver took the lead, but what it did is show his blatant unfamiliarity how the law works. Most towns have a regulation on controlling your dog by leash. Police dogs are exempt when on the job, a leash is required only on public property and whenever training an animal on public property, but honestly, why would you be so irresponsible to train a dog on public property off leash? He also claimed that if the dog is right beside you, or even a foot in front that an owner still has control because the collar is reachable. In other words an owner must be acutely aware of what his dog sees seconds ahead of the animal in order to reach out and take hold of the collar to stop it. In the majority of cases this is not feasible both physically and mentally. A leash law has two purposes, to protect the general public and protect the animal. It isn’t about the owner. An owner never believes his dog is dangerous or is in danger. We cannot depend upon that judgment, point of fact most dog attacks occur on private property on children. Now let’s talk about the real world. My dog, who was always on leash was attacked on at least four separate occasions. Once where the dog was running free and the owner was nowhere in sight, twice where the owners were on a porch with no restraint and I was on a public sidewalk where these animals physically attacked my dog and once where the 60 pound dog was on an extendable leash and the owner lost control of his dog. There have also been countless incidents where I have personally witnessed dogs wandering loose, interfering with traffic and chasing pedestrians at least once a month.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 16:02:51 +0000
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