St. Marys takes steps toward passing stricter dog control law

ST. MARYS - Officials are one step closer to strengthening the city's dog ordinance to allow police officers to enforce pit bull regulations.

The city's streets and sidewalks committee on Monday reviewed Lima's vicious dog ordinance that, like St. Marys', places restrictions on pit bulls. The committee will consider a new ordinance that mirrors Lima's law to better protect residents.

"Public safety is our concern and the law should support our responsibility to keep the public safe," safety service director Greg Foxhoven said. "We will get flak, there's no doubt about that, from people that love pit bulls, but our responsibility is for public safety and that's something we need to keep in mind when this legislation is drafted."

Foxhoven cited Auglaize County Dog Warden Russ Bailey, who has said while many pit bulls are very friendly, they still pose a potential threat.

"I think Russ made it very clear that he has a great concern with these pit bulls," he said. "They're concerned with the behavior of these dogs, the way they're bred. They talked about the prey drive that all animals have. All dogs have that potential to bite, but pit bulls are just bred differently."

Committee member Ken Koverman noted in most pit bull incidents, a family member is usually the person attacked. He said many cases involved families who raised the dog from a pup and believed it to be harmless.

Mayor Pat McGowan agreed, saying pit bulls are more dangerous because they are bred that way.

"There's a lot of dogs that'll bite, but if a pit bull turns on you, the consequences are not going to be good for whomever it turns on," he said. "They'll either be injured badly or killed."

Committee member Robin Willoughby said she understands not all pit bulls are bad but stressed something must be done to prevent an incident. She has said constituents have voiced concerns about pit bulls being allowed to run loose.

"I'm telling you right now, if we don't take hold of this or try to change something, something really bad's going to happen in this community," she said. "I'm really concerned for the safety of the community, of the people. I really am."

St. Marys' current ordinance is very similar to Lima's and specifically names pit bulls as dangerous dogs. It requires the breed to be contained in a roofed enclosure while in the yard and leashed and muzzled while on a walk. The law states the person walking the pit bull must be at least 18 years old. Also, a person owning the breed must have liability insurance for at least $100,000.

However, officials have not enforced the law since December, when the Third District Court of Appeals ruled against Lima's policy and upheld Ohio's law. The state's ordinance was amended in 2012 to no longer identify pit bulls as a vicious breed.

Lima officials have since amended their ordinance to use dog bite statistics to justify the tight regulations on pit bulls. Law director Kraig Noble said St. Marys would need similar evidence for the city's ordinance to be upheld if challenged.

"Their (Lima's) law director thought this would pass muster with the court of appeals," Noble said. "I feel certain that somebody will probably challenge it at some point in time, and we'll see whether they'll take it up again. I don't think this issue is going away for either side. But that remains to be seen."

Lima's ordinance stated 29 percent - about 28 bites - of the 97 dog bites in 2013 were from pit bulls, and in 2012, 39 percent of the bites were from the breed. Noble said St. Marys has not recorded enough recent pit bull bites to back up the ordinance.

According to a report compiled from the police department, 22 dog bites have been reported in the last 2 1/2 years in St. Marys. Of those, only three were from pit bulls. Five were from German shepherds and others were from various breeds including other terriers, miniature schnauzers and Labrador retrievers.

Noble noted, however, that he could cite numbers from similar cities or even state or national numbers in the ordinance.

Police Sgt. Tim Eberle asked Noble to include a requirement for a full-faced muzzle instead just a mouth muzzle. He said a mouth-only muzzle may not be enough to contain a pit bull's jaw strength.

Committee member Greg Freewalt also said the part of the ordinance that names all mixed-breed pit bulls as dangerous should focus more on dogs having the breed's characteristics rather than simply having a small percent of pit bull blood.

Noble will draft a new ordinance worded similarly to Lima's and present it to the streets and sidewalks for review in the next few weeks.