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Please continue to write to the Aberdeen, SD officials to voice your POLITE, RESPECTFUL and INFORMATIVE opposition to breed specific legislation.
Contact information for city officials:
Mayor Mike J. Levsen
[email protected]
Phone: (605) 626-7025
City Manager Lynn Lander
[email protected]
Ph: (605) 626-7025
Fx: (605) 626-7039
Jim Kraft, NE District Council Member, [email protected]
Jeff Mitchell, NE District Council Member, [email protected]
Todd Campbell, NW District Council Member, [email protected]
Jennifer Slaight-Hansen, NW District Council, [email protected]
Clint Rux, SE District Council Member, [email protected]
Laure Swanson, SE District Council Member, [email protected]
Tom Agnitsch, SW District Council Member, [email protected]
David Bunsness, SW District Council Member, [email protected]
Aberdeen Police Request Pit Bull Ban
By Erich Schaffhauser
Published: January 24, 2011, 10:19 PM
ABERDEEN, SD - It's not every day you'll see standing room only in Aberdeen's city council chamber. But a requested pit bull ban drew in a large crowd Monday.
Police are asking the city council to pass a law banning the breed but allowing those already in the city to stay. It held a meeting Monday to discuss the possibility of such a law.
Aberdeen's animal control officer John Weaver says pit bull attacks in the city went up from two in 2009 to eight in 2010. Police are asking for a ban to prevent that number from getting any higher.
"How many bites by a pit bull can the city tolerate when they do such damage and have such potential for injury," Weaver said.
Weaver says seven of those eight attacks were unprovoked and something needs to be done.
But councilman Clint Rux questioned if banning the breed is right, citing a study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It does not identify specific breeds most likely to bite or kill and thus is not appropriate for policy making decisions," councilman Clint Rux read.
But Weaver argues, in Aberdeen, pit bulls are the breed that have been causing problems. He told the council all the dog attacks that caused serious injury in Aberdeen last year were caused by pit bulls.
Councilman David Bunsness supports a ban.
"I'm going to side with protection of the child and our citizens of Aberdeen," Bunsness said.
But other council members are sighting other stats that don't support a breed-specific ban as a solution. Dog bites in general rose in Aberdeen and bites from small, mix-breed dogs increased by almost the same number as pit bull bites.
Jason Collins is a pit bull owner and is against a ban but wants to see owners held more responsible when they aren't watching and caring for dogs like they should.
"Somewhere between doing nothing and a black and white ban there's an infinite number of possibilities," Collins said.
Now it's up to the city council to decide which of those possibilities, if any, they'll take. Aberdeen's attorney hasn't said for sure where he'll go from here. He may ask the council to vote in a future meeting whether they even want him to draft an ordinance.
Other cities in the state have ban pit bulls and other breeds. But none of those are as big as Aberdeen. But police argue bigger cities in neighboring states do ban pit bulls, so Aberdeen wouldn't be standing alone.
KELOLAND.com | Sioux Falls News & Weather, South Dakota News & Weather, Minnesota and Iowa News
Contact information for city officials:
Mayor Mike J. Levsen
[email protected]
Phone: (605) 626-7025
City Manager Lynn Lander
[email protected]
Ph: (605) 626-7025
Fx: (605) 626-7039
Jim Kraft, NE District Council Member, [email protected]
Jeff Mitchell, NE District Council Member, [email protected]
Todd Campbell, NW District Council Member, [email protected]
Jennifer Slaight-Hansen, NW District Council, [email protected]
Clint Rux, SE District Council Member, [email protected]
Laure Swanson, SE District Council Member, [email protected]
Tom Agnitsch, SW District Council Member, [email protected]
David Bunsness, SW District Council Member, [email protected]
Aberdeen Police Request Pit Bull Ban
By Erich Schaffhauser
Published: January 24, 2011, 10:19 PM
ABERDEEN, SD - It's not every day you'll see standing room only in Aberdeen's city council chamber. But a requested pit bull ban drew in a large crowd Monday.
Police are asking the city council to pass a law banning the breed but allowing those already in the city to stay. It held a meeting Monday to discuss the possibility of such a law.
Aberdeen's animal control officer John Weaver says pit bull attacks in the city went up from two in 2009 to eight in 2010. Police are asking for a ban to prevent that number from getting any higher.
"How many bites by a pit bull can the city tolerate when they do such damage and have such potential for injury," Weaver said.
Weaver says seven of those eight attacks were unprovoked and something needs to be done.
But councilman Clint Rux questioned if banning the breed is right, citing a study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It does not identify specific breeds most likely to bite or kill and thus is not appropriate for policy making decisions," councilman Clint Rux read.
But Weaver argues, in Aberdeen, pit bulls are the breed that have been causing problems. He told the council all the dog attacks that caused serious injury in Aberdeen last year were caused by pit bulls.
Councilman David Bunsness supports a ban.
"I'm going to side with protection of the child and our citizens of Aberdeen," Bunsness said.
But other council members are sighting other stats that don't support a breed-specific ban as a solution. Dog bites in general rose in Aberdeen and bites from small, mix-breed dogs increased by almost the same number as pit bull bites.
Jason Collins is a pit bull owner and is against a ban but wants to see owners held more responsible when they aren't watching and caring for dogs like they should.
"Somewhere between doing nothing and a black and white ban there's an infinite number of possibilities," Collins said.
Now it's up to the city council to decide which of those possibilities, if any, they'll take. Aberdeen's attorney hasn't said for sure where he'll go from here. He may ask the council to vote in a future meeting whether they even want him to draft an ordinance.
Other cities in the state have ban pit bulls and other breeds. But none of those are as big as Aberdeen. But police argue bigger cities in neighboring states do ban pit bulls, so Aberdeen wouldn't be standing alone.
KELOLAND.com | Sioux Falls News & Weather, South Dakota News & Weather, Minnesota and Iowa News
