Lee's Summit considering Pit Bull Ban
 

I can't believe this hasn't been talked about here... did I just miss it?

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/14824615.htm

Lee's Summit considers ban on pit bulls
The Kansas City Star

Lee's Summit is joining the list of cities talking about pit bulls.

Councilman Ed Cockrell on Wednesday proposed in a committee meeting that the breed be banned before the city has an incident.

Two other councilmen had mixed reactions. Councilman Ron Williams said people who already own pit bulls that behave should be allowed to keep those dogs, but he'd accept a ban on more pit bulls coming into the city. Randy Rhoads said a ban might create a false sense of security because other breeds are capable of seriously injuring people.

City Administrator Steve Lewis said Lee's Summit has ordinances to handle individually vicious dogs.

"There's a lot of debate about what's the best way to go," he said.

In my heart i still think bans are the best thing for the breed, but i also feel that the goverment should have no say in the confiscation of private property w/out real and solid probable cause.

As a citizen of the lovely suburban bedroom city of Lee's Summit I have a dog in this fight.

On one hand the city is a very politically correct city but it has traditionally has had a political base being Republican and very conservative.

Seat Belts, Helmuts and proventive bans are all the same kind of thing. Trying to regulate the behaviour of its citizens. If we go down that path why is cigarettes and liquor sales never a part of the discussion?

Maybe they should grandfather in people who already have the dogs and are registered in the city.

How do they determine what is a Pit Bull anyways? Are they going to test the dog's DNA and see what %? Does the dog have to be 50% pit bull? Is 20% enough for the dog to be illegal?

Well then, for God's sake, let's just ban all dogs. :rolleyes:

We should just ban reeruns like that from speaking.

It's hitting all over Kansas and Missouri now. They had a meeting last night in Overland Park and there is another in Independence on the 19th. THey are selling fear at unpresidented levels right now.

Correct me if I am wrong Pit Bull owners. The dogs are only mean if they are trained to be, otherwise they make great pets.

I suppose the major fear of this bread is their heads are so big and their jaws are like that of a snapping turtle and when they latch on they dont let go.

IMHO, any Dog can be dangerous

These are the breeds they are going to go after once they get some legislation passed. If you have any of these breeds you should be seriously concerned and fight against all BSL.

*American Pit Bull Terrier
*American Staffordshire Terrier
*Staffordshire Bull Terrier
*Rottweiler
*Bull Mastiff
*Doberman Pinscher
*St. Bernard
*Dogo Argentino
*German Shephard
*Akita
*Chow Chow
*Boxer
*Rhodesian Ridgeback
*Dogue de Bordeaux
*Husky
*Wolf Hybrid
*Great Pyrenees

Here is some info on the Independence meeting. You should fight it in all areas because once they start is spreads like wild fire.

The next public city council meeting is June 19
There is "already a lady signed up to speak to the dog issue-it may or may not be on the agenda", according to the Clerk today. (I have a feeling this is Ms. Castillo with the BanPitBulls site.)
In order to speak you have to be signed up before Friday at 816-325-7010.

Form letters can be found at www.defendingdog.com or http://www.rott-n-chatter.com.

There are only a few Councilmembers with email...so any correspondance sent be sure to include the Council Aide ssaxton@indepmo.org and ask that the info be forwarded to ALL Councilmembers.

Office of the City Council
Sheila Saxton Council Aide
Phone: (816)325-7022
Fax: (816)325-7012
E-mail: ssaxton@indepmo.org

Mayor Don Reimal
Phone:(816)325-7022
Home Phone:(816) 461-6044
Fax:(816)325-7012
Councilmember Will Swoffer
Phone:(816)325-7022
Home Phone:(816) 257-1888
Fax:(816)325-7012
Councilmember Renee Paluka
Phone:(816)325-7022
Home Phone:(816) 478-8641
Fax:(816)325-7012
reneepaluka@comcast.net
Councilmember Jim Page
Phone:(816)325-7022
Home Phone:(816) 252-1198
Fax:(816)325-7012
Councilmember Jim Schultz
Council Phone:(816)325-7022
Fax:(816)325-7012
E-mail: onelaw3@swbell.net
**Also, please go to Ms. Castillos website (the woman who started the petition) so that you can counter some of the false information she is putting out there to get people to sign her petition. http://stoppitbullattacks.com/**
http://www.examiner.net/stories/0612...61206002.shtml

Hmmm, so much for living in a free country?

Those are some sad phone numbers.

What a frickin' joke. I'm not familiar with most of those breeds, but I have first hand knowledge of boxers (I just lost my 12 year old female this spring).

I don't know how anyone with a shred of intelligence could consider boxers as a dangerous breed. It is common knowledge in the dog world that boxers are one of the most gentle breeds to have around children.

They want to outlaw Boxers?

Half the people in Kansas City would have to move out.

there are a ton of boxers around the op area

ROFL I just cut and paste and it came out that way. I try to fight BSL nationally. Dog owners need to unite on this subject. I am convinced that attempting BSL out here cost Jackie in the last election. We are a powerful group united but they will take our dogs if we divide or don't make it an important issue. It doesn't take a lot of time to e-mail and fax all your local politicians and let them know they will never get your vote if they support BSL.

All it will take is one boxer biting someone. BSL is about all real dogs. If having one is of any importance to you get involved. It's not as time consuming as you may think.

If you follow BSL at all you know the pit bull is just the one being demonized. The goal is to go after many dogs. The one's I posted are the most popular to go after but there are even more outlawed in different areas of the country right now including the English Bully which is beyond ridiculous.

My neighbors had a Chow when I was little that I was terrified of, but it was genuinely a psycho dog. But another in that neighborhood had an English Bulldog, and I think I could have walked and outrun that thing. I don't see how it could be dangerous. It was all the thing could do to breathe, let alone chase down and attack someone.

BD, i wonder if any of the AR groups are behind this fearmongering including the ASPCA and HSUS?

any evidence?

ROFL

It's been my experience that they back the legislators of proposed BSL when they try to pass it. Jacky Speier used them and their backing to try to try and get it through here. Every area may be different though. Our strength comes in numbers. Over half the households in the US have dogs to the tone of 61 million and will vote over party lines to keep them. That is VERY powerfull. It's just getting all dog owners on the same page and getting them to understand what is really going on.

My only experience with a boxer is with my brother-in-law's boxer. That dog is great with all the kids, my 3 and my SIL's 3. If anything, he's a little overwhelming with the playfulness, but not mean at all. He's a great dog. I may get a boxer when my dog dies.

I've always wondered what that would be like.....

I just wish they'd outlaw cats. Then I'd have a good excuse to get rid of the two my wife has.

Outlawing dogs is as ridiculous as some of the other assinign things that get outlawed.

I highly recommend it. I'd get another, but i've already got two rescued dogs and there's no way I'm getting another.

Big Daddy posts about it on a weekly basis

I hear a lot about how many there are in op. They already have ridiculous permit laws on the books now. The only reason they would go for an outright ban is to eventually go after many breeds. See how that works. They make you get the permit then pass an outright ban and since you are a good law abiding citizen they now know where your dog is so they can come and kill it. Isn't that nice? This is what is on the books now in op:

http://www.opkansas.org/_Res/Pets/dangeranimals.cfm

Why don't they just outlaw sex, that kills more people than Dog bites!

That's a massive exaggeration look at the background of my posts if you think so. Then again Laz is cat man so you can see why his opinion may be a little bit skewed.

"Helmuts " what kind of dog breed is this? similar to the "hounds of hell"??

What is wrong with the Rhodesian Ridgeback?

"Helmut" is the Chiefsplanet spelling for "helmet". Its not in the official lexicon, but it should be.

Why don't you ask some of your liberal friends. There the ones behind almost all BSL.

Here is an update on what went down in Overland Park last night. Want to make a difference. Send a quick e-mail to the counsil members.


The meeting went o.k. this evening. Councilwoman Gilliland is pushing for a pit bull ban. City Attorney Mike Santos and the Police Chief presented extremely edited information about bites and incidents with misleading labels and categories that were completely deleted. Santos also made the comment that "all pit bulls in Overland Park are registered." Currently that is 20 dogs in a fairly affluent city of 170,000 (which still has A LOT of pit bulls going to shelters, but mostly privately because of the ordinance). By the way, they have had 1 pit bull bite this year. Also Santos has been at the root of all of the pit bull ordinances in the region; he has provided advice and documentation lobbying for bans and restrictions in Leawood, Shawnee, Olathe, Independence, and Kansas City, MO (among other cities) over the past decades.

We need help to repeal their current legislation, which requires owners to purchase liability insurance, pay a higher license fees, and muzzle their dogs at all times outside of the home. Overland Park spends more than $50,000 just in direct cost on the current ordinance. Based on other cities' experiences the annual estimated direct cost (just personnel) would more than double in order to enforce a ban.

Overland Park needs a progressive ordinance. We would like to suggest the Ryan Armstrong Law from Illinois or Olathe's ordinance. It also needs to spend its money on other animal and community projects instead of hunting down "pit bulls."

Here are the city council members (please recommend an effective breed neutral policy and that they repeal the current law, also be very polite/professional):

carl.gerlach@opkansas.org
terry.happerscheier@opkansas.org
george.kandt@opkansas.org
marcia.gilliland@opkansas.org
fred.spears@opkansas.org
donna.owens@opkansas.org
john.thompson@opkansas.org
dave.janson@opkansas.org
curt.skoog@opkansas.org
david.white@opkansas.org
terry.goodman@opkansas.org
jim.hix@opkansas.org
george.kandt@opkansas.org

I bet the wild hogs where I'm from would love to see the Pits and Dogos go away.

Can you elaborate on this, BD?

http://www.geminiz.com/ArmstrongAct/ArmstrongAct.htm

Sounds reasonable to me.

I am all for holding people accountible and putting down any dog that bites an innocent person.

Chit if n00b is in then helmut should be too. :cuss:

Here is the information you need if you want to make a difference on the Lee's summit purposed legislation. I hope some of you are going to use this it only takes a few minutes.

Please write the council members in Lees Summit and ask that the consider strengthening their current breed neutral law, similar to Olathe or that they consider a very tough law like the Ryan Armstrong Law in Illinois.

Here are the addresses:
Mayor-Karen.Messerli@lees-summit.mo.us
Council
jhallam@mid-west.net
hofmann.kathy@gmail.com
rrhoads@mid-west.net (opposes)
rwilliam@mid-west.net (doesn't want ban, but might be o.k. with BSL)
jspallo@sbcglobal.net
cockrelled@yahoo.com (he has proposed the legislation)
jffreeman@att.net
Swearngin@gmail.com

Administrator
Steve.Lewis@lees-summit.mo.us

Abby York
Kansas City Dog Advocates

Here is the article

Lee's Summit considers ban on pit bulls
The Kansas City Star
Lee's Summit is joining the list of cities talking about pit bulls.
Councilman Ed Cockrell on Wednesday proposed in a committee meeting that the breed be banned before the city has an incident.
Two other councilmen had mixed reactions. Councilman Ron Williams said people who already own pit bulls that behave should be allowed to keep those dogs, but he'd accept a ban on more pit bulls coming into the city. Randy Rhoads said a ban might create a false sense of security because other breeds are capable of seriously injuring people.
City Administrator Steve Lewis said Lee's Summit has ordinances to handle individually vicious dogs.
"There's a lot of debate about what's the best way to go," he said.
| Russ Pulley, rpulley@kcstar.com.

Because govt tried that already and it didnt work.

I bet DMX would be pissed.

If people dont like it they can get another dog. I dont really see what the benefit of having a Pit Bull in a neighborhood where theres children etc. Sure you can have them in junk yards etc. In Columbia theres a college girl that lives behind me and walked out to her car one morning and two pit bulls that got out from their fenced area attacked her while getting into her car. She didnt do anything to harm the dogs, they literally chased after her (both of them) and bit her 13 times, once in the neck and she had numerous amount of stiches. These dogs are highly highly aggressive, their bread like that, they've always have been, they have more of a chemical upmake in their systems that make them more aggressive than any other bread of dog. What is the benefit of having these animals? It's not about the owner, as of some will say on this board that makes them mean, its genetics, they've done studies on this. IIRC there was an article on the study that was posted here on the planet, and no Im not gonna dig through the archives to find it. Theres just no positive reasoning for having these dogs in a community.

First of all you don't know jack shit about the subject. Almost everything they call a pit bull is not even a pit bull. They call many breeds that now so they can get up the bite total because real pits rarely ever bite people unless they were abused. Secondly this isn't a pit bull thing it's a dog thing. Why don't you try reading through some of the thread or learning a little bit more about the subject before you enlighten us with your media fueled/zero experience opinion. As long as we are just going to start randomly slaughtering stuff why don't we start with you for being a complete dumbass.

Facts:

1.There are 61 million dogs in this country.

2.Since the 70's the bite totals in America have varied but always averaged out the same at 16 deaths per year. This meens that one in .0000002 dogs will kill someone. This includes the bad guys.

3. They estimate 300k people in this country get bit annually. Keeping in mind these are not reported bites just estimates. Actual reported bites are way lower. THat means that less than one half of one percent of all dogs actually bite someone. This icludes the bad guys.

This is not a crisis it's a joke perpetrated by fear mongers and PETA types. I wonder what the national estimate would be for criminals who stopped what they were doing because of a dog considering there are an estimated 2.5 million successfull defensive gun uses in this country annually. I'll bet the number would be staggering.

If pit bull breeders sold their dogs to responsible owners this wouldn't be a big problem. Police yourself and you don't have to worry about others doing it for you.

:clap:

This post is 100% correct. MOF, I actually recommended a boxer to the poster looking for a puppy. I think people think boxers must have some kind of pit bull in them and that they look mean and therefore must be vicious. I have not seen one vicious boxer. I've seen more vicious poodles than boxers.

As far as the rest of the list. There are two dogs on the list that I would lose NO sleep over if they were banned and those are pit bulls and Rotts.

You know what the biggest biter is here locally? Labs

What the call Pit Bulls now includes American Pit Bull Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, American Bulldog, American Staffordshire Terrier and anything that remotely resembles any of these dogs. Once again there isn't a problem they just need a demon so they can go after many breeds. If you own any of these you better start trying to make sure BSL doesn't go down in your area.

*American Pit Bull Terrier
*American Staffordshire Terrier
*Staffordshire Bull Terrier
*Rottweiler
*Bull Mastiff
*Doberman Pinscher
*St. Bernard
*Dogo Argentino
*German Shephard
*Akita
*Chow Chow
*Boxer
*Rhodesian Ridgeback
*Dogue de Bordeaux
*Husky
*Wolf Hybrid
*Great Pyrenees

We need to punsih the deed not the breed and hold owners accountible. Breed specific genocide is not the answer. I don't mind being policed but do it the right way.

This would work if you could agree on what 'responsible' means and if you could guarantee the original owner will always have the dog. You can't do either.

There was an attack in Indianapolis a couple weeks ago, just horrible stuff. This mother was with her 4 year old and 2 year old walking down the street, and I guess one of the neighbors left the door open and the pit bull came outside and attacked the 2 year old girl. Completely mauled her, about lost an eye, had to reattached, and try to rebuild her skull. Her recovery could take months or years. It's amazing she even lived.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wrtv/20060601/lo_wrtv/9303286

You are truly a POS on every level. Thanks for proving me right as to where you would weigh in on this. You never cross the party line. I swear you would eat your own young if it was the party line. If you work in a vets office you already know there is nothing wrong with those dogs and you know what is they are trying to accomplish in passing BSL. Every time I think I can't be more disgusted by your existence you take it to another level.

When in doubt find a horror story. What a joke. Notice how they rarely show a picture of the dog. Also notice it's the only dog stories ever reported my the media.

You expect the dog to be taken in for mug shots? Haha... I don't care what kind of dog it is, if it does that to a little girl the owner should be hit in the face with a tire iron about 50 times. Period.

Totally untrue. I saw a dog story on the news the other day that was about a dog that water skis. :)

Yes, holding owner and dogs accountible is the answer. So is promoting the subject fairly instead of promoting fear based on the breed unfairly.

Actually this good timing, I guess another man was attacked by two pit bulls in Indianapolis this morning. And they did take pictures of them. They're discussing inacting some kind of law in Indy because there's been about 4 attacks in recent weeks, especially after that little girl was hurt.

http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=5036015

http://wthr.images.worldnow.com/images/5036015_BG1.jpg
http://wthr.images.worldnow.com/images/5036015_BG2.jpg

Exactly. Where I lived before, we had a completely fenced in yard, with the mailbox on the front gate. The mailman would not drop off the mail on days the dogs were out (my roommate had a boxer too) because he thought they were pit bulls.

That's the problem with banning specific breeds. The morons making these laws wouldn't know a pit bull from a chihuahua. Pretty soon all dogs will be banned.

That is going a bit overboard. There is no movement to ban Collies, or Labs, or Pointers, or Bichons or Dachshunds. The reason there is an interest in banning certain types of dogs is because certain types of dogs are primarily responsible for the most vicious and mortal attacks. Yes, it's true ANY dog can attack under the right circumstances but there are some that are more quick to respond with anger and force and they also will not stop when commanded to do so once they start to get out of hand.

The entire debate is really silly. There is no inherent/second amendment right in the constitution stating a citizen is entitled to own a certain type of dog. I think it's completely within the right of govenrments to control the population of certain types of animals in order to protect the greater good.

I'm sure Labs are the #1 biter since there are so many labs around chances are there would be higher bite #. However, fortunately for labs, they don't do the same amount of destruction that a pit bull does when it latches on.

The answer is responsible breeders and owners. Pit bulls often don't have either and the dogs will suffer because of it.

When you watch an episode of COPS and they respond to some meth head in a double wide, or some row house full of crack sellers/users you never see a weiner dog in the background barking - always a pit bull.

Fear Monger away. If you look long enough you probably find some info on the breed being the dog of the debil. Don't bother with the numbers or the facts or the history of BSL though. Don't bother with temperment testing or the fact that they call many breeds including anything that remotely resembles a pit a pit. I have been posting the real numbers for a long time now on this subject as well as the history of BSL and you haven't responded to any of it. It's quite clear at this point that all you can bring to the table is cut and paste fear monger articles from the media feeding frenzy on the subject.

So what will banning and slaughtering them accomplish? Do you think the meth lab will go with wiener dogs once you have slaughtered all the pits?

I bet if you walked up behind that lady in front of the cage and went "GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" really loud it would scare the shit out of her.

ROFL

Right. Because enforcing personal responsibility upon the dog owners or breeders is never the answer.

BD is right in that once pit bulls have been banned across the country, which breed will be next? God knows there will always be irresponsible owners, so of course we have to ban the "breed du jour".

What about Alaskan Malamutes?

Actually, I am leading a movement to do away with the Dachshund.

Our Manifesto:

The Anti-Dachshund Party hereby states its deep commitment to the utter, complete, and absolute destruction of the wiener dog. The assumption that wiener dogs exist for any purpose whatsoever is completely unacceptable and we consider that the disgusting nature of the wiener dog undermines human dignity.

The ADP intends to raise public awareness of the need to eliminate wiener dogs from the face of the earth and would pass appropriate legislation to inform the electorate and to enact policies aimed at dealing with this overly-lengthy and disgustingly long-eared breed through the use of extreme violence whenever and wherever they are found.

Be advised; If you are part wiener dog, you are wiener dog. If you harbor a wiener dog, you are wiener dog.

FAX

All the dogs I posted earlier are banned in different parts of the country. There were 22 last I checked about a year ago. This has never been a pit bull thing it has been a dog thing and Denise knows that. She just won't ever cross the party line no matter how much she knows they are wrong. At this point I am having a hard time believing she ever worked for a vet based on what she has said. I think it is just another default to I'm an expert on the subject line she has used numerous times over the years. She hits two birds with one stone on this one being that she looks employed as well.

Relax there buddy. I wasn't even trying to argue with you. I never once said I was in favor of even banning these animals. I was just posting that story about that little girl, which I thought was pretty bad. If I was really all up in arms about killing pit bulls I believe I would've posted that article two weeks ago when it actually happened... like you do any time you get a piece of information you want to talk about.

Malamutes should be on there too. Great posts BTW. People who are for BSL don't want to know the facts though.

Oh, I agree with the whole personal responsibility thing and agree that owners need to be held responsible for their dogs. Therefore, if your dog murders someone the owner should be jailed for involuntary manslaughter due to their inability to control their dog.

But trying to hold breeders accountable for the actions of the buyer's dog is similiar to holding gun merchants responsible for their gun being used by an irresponsible owner in a murder. It doesn't make any sense. The gun owner is the one who should be paying the price, not the merchant who sold it. Same goes for dogs.

A breeder can be very selective in their choice of owners but there is no guarantee that the owner's situation won't change thus making it nearly impossible for them to guarantee they've sold to a responsibile owner. You can screen and you can interview and check references but in the end it's still a prayer that all goes well.

I probably get 20 e-mails a day from different organizations fighting BSL. I don't even post 1/1000th of what I receive and could post. I have all the contacts to fight the INDY proposal if somebody posting here lived there as an example. It's been my frusteration that every time this type of legislation is proposed when the anti-BSL people bring all the facts to the table all the other side wants to do is try and incite fear instead of looking for a real answer. I hate that more than anything. If I came across harsh it's because you were starting down that path.

Like I said before... answering the phone at a hospital doesn't make me a doctor.

Breeder responsibility is a little bit of a gray area, IMO. "Real breeders" (ie, professioanls) are probably inherently more responsible (not all of them though), but the trailer trash meth head who breeds his aggressively trained pit and then sells the pups to other irresponsible owners is a problem.

You should have said that to begin with instead of agreeing to the slaughter of millions of families innocent pets. I actually agree with everything you posted there.

Nope, it doesn't. Neither does being a tech or assistant. But it sure does mean you see and hear and learn alot more things than average Joe.

Butm I did stay at a Holiday Express once!

Well trailer trash meth breeders are less a problem than puppy mill ones...

Anyone with two horny dogs can breed without papers. I would venture to guess that most people who own the pit bull variety are not real concerned with the papers. I'm not certain the same can be said about Rots.

Good for you. I've never been a big fan of Holiday Inn...

He's not lying. It was the one at 71 and 58 in Belton. I saw him there once.

I've never been to Belton either. ;)