Pit Bull Banning in Hazleton, PA

[daisy18216]

I saw this coming. Only b/c the article that the state police put in the newspaper looking for the owner of a pit bull and lately w/all the pit bulls that were being picked up by the Animal Shelter.

Here is an article in today's paper about how a Hazleton Cop (Greg Rossi who is my husband's cousin) shot a pit bull and now hazleton is considering on banning all pitties.

I don't know what I can do to help change their minds.

Here is the link:

Hazleton cop shoots, kills onrushing pit bull

For those that might not want to click I'll also paste the article here.

Hazleton, PA Top Stories | Local Sports | Your Weather | The New Neighborhood | Changing times
The Standard-Speaker

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Hazleton cop shoots, kills onrushing pit bull
Incident spurs city officials to review other municipalities' laws banning dogBy ALAN GREGORY
The Standard-SpeakerJune 9 - A Hazleton police officer was forced to shoot and kill a pit bull when the animal charged at him Tuesday afternoon.

And the incident prompted city officials to begin reviewing other municipalities' laws banning pit bulls.

Police said the officer was dispatched to the area of Immanuel Christian School on Locust Street to check on a report that a dog was running loose in the area.

"Upon arrival, the officer located two pit bulls at 11th Street and Lafayette Court. As the officer exited his vehicle, the larger brown pit bull charged . . . in an aggressive manner," police said.

The patrolman then fired one bullet, killing the animal.

Police said they and city Health Officer Mark Thompson would be citing the owner of the dogs, Michael McKinney, for several violations.

A phone number for McKinney could not be found in the Hazleton directory.

Police said a Hazleton Animal Shelter worker took the second dog and placed it into the shelter.

"The two pit bulls were roaming; they were running stray on a city street, and the one dog charged officer Greg Rossi," Thompson said.

"So he was defending himself. The dog was charging him."

Thompson said McKinney was asked to come to the scene to retrieve the other dog, but didn't show up.

The second animal, a female, returned to McKinney's home, Thompson said, "and stood barking at the rear door, as no one was home."

Another city patrolman, James Dixon, was then able to snare that animal and it was eventually taken to the animal shelter.

Thompson said the dog taken to the shelter "apparently recently had a litter of pups."

And Thompson said McKinney was also cited on May 28 for the same offense: allowing a dog to roam.

The charge carries a maximum fine of $300, Thompson said.

Police, meanwhile, plan to cite McKinney for causing a public disturbance, Thompson said.

He said McKinney was supposed to retrieve the female dog from the shelter. The dog's status could not be learned Wednesday afternoon.

"We are looking into laws banning pit bulls," Thompson said. "Enough is enough."

Thompson said he investigated an earlier incident involving the dog that was destroyed Tuesday.

Two weeks ago, the animal tried to break into a woman's home in which a female dog in heat was living, he said.

In that instance, the dog was taken to the shelter but got loose and returned to the woman's residence.

"This dog roamed the city for two days," Thompson said.

Dog owners must keep their pets secured," he said.

"The danger yesterday was that school was getting out" and children were nearby, Thompson said. "We don't want an occurrence" in Hazleton where children in other cities have been attacked by free-roaming dogs.


And yet this idiot stupid irresponsible owner got cited once before. I think they need to be harsher on the owner and not so hard on the animals. This guy was cited back in May, they should have known he do it again. There are alot of other breeds running loose and roaming Hazleton and I don't see them putting a ban on those breeds.

Again, the Pit Bull breed has to suffer all b/c of a stupid dumba$s.



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[LavenderRott]

I can not find this article on line. I really can't do to much to fight this if I don't have a link. Please try to post that again. If you go back to the article and click and copy that which is in the address line, then click and copy it into your reply, that should work.

[daisy18216]

Go to this site you'll be able to read it. It's no longer on the Standard Speaker website it's now on this one Hazleton cop shoots, kills onrushing pit bull

I hope this works.

[LavenderRott]

I'll get "my people" right on it. LOL!!!

Any e-mail addresses you can find for city officials that would be involved in passing such an ordinance or law would be greatly appreciated. You are also gonna need a sharpened pencil and a pad of paper. First drafts are rarely the letters that get sent.

[daisy18216]

a friend gave me a site to writing letters about BSL. I'm looking in the paper to see if they are going to have this at a council meeting, but haven't seen anything yet.

what if i wrote to my state rep? and maybe was able to get an online petition going? do you think that would work? I never did anything like this so all and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!

[LavenderRott]

i posted it on my rottweiler site. Trust me, the mayor and his cronies will be up to their eyeballs in irate e-mails by weeks end! From dog owners from across the country. The answer is holding the owner of these dogs responsible, not banning the dogs. Believe you me, by the time we are done, everyone in town involved in this will know.

[Luba]

WTG Girls!! LOL This is terrific LavR you MUST let us know if you hear back from them this is going to be an interesting topic. If you plan any on line petitions let us know you'll get a bunch of names from this site

[daisy18216]

Thanks LavR!!!

So where do I begin, I'm not sure how to approach it and I don't want to make an a@s out of myself.

Should I get statitics together? Who do I go to first?? I still haven't seen anything else in the newspaper about a meeting on this. But yet I know Hazleton doesn't always list their council meetings.

I live outside of Hazleton, but I still want to help. There are lots and lots of pitties in the Hazleton area now, and I don't want the owners to have to find new homes for them. I'm sure the irresponsible owners could care less, and will probably just go and get another breed.

But someone needs to stand up for the pitties in this area and help take care of them for a change.

I want to Thank You again for taking the time to help me w/this. I do really appreciate it.

Thanks for helping me.

[LavenderRott]

Start by getting in touch with the reporter who wrote the article. See if he has any more information. Talk to him about the inability of breed bans to be enforced, and how stricter leash laws and stiffer fines for those who ignore the laws that are already on the books would serve the purpose much more efficiently. Point out to him that responsible owners are not the cause of the problem, irresponsible owners are. Don't preach, don't be emotional. Make this guy your friend.

Don't get into dog bite statistics if you can avoid it. Fact of the matter is, according to the CDC, pit bulls and rottweilers are responsible for a majority of serious and fatal dog bites. But, and this is a big BUT, those statisics are not really valid. The number of bites reported are collected electronically from emergency rooms across the country. What these # show is that there was a dog bite, the severity of it, age and sex of the victim, that type of thing. What type of dog did the biting or why is NOT part of the information collected. To find out breeds, phone calls are made to victims at random. Now unless the victim was bit by the family pet, chances are they don't really know the difference between a pitbull and a lab mix.

See if you can find out when the next council meeting is. Try calling City Hall. Line up a bunch of like minded doggy friends, grab a cup of coffee and go sit in. Remember to leave your emotions at home, you don't want to look like a "dog hugging loonatic". Take a copy of the link I am going to give you and see how many of the people on the council know what a pit bull is. Remember, two of the best known rescue dogs in the country are American Pit Bull Terriers. APBT's also serve as service dogs and therapy dogs.

If you need anything else, let me know.

Here is the link that I promised. There are three different sets of pictures here.

[daisy18216]

Thank you very much!!!

I will do that and I'll let you know what happens.

I have friends but not in this area, I can e-mail them and see if they can come up to Hazleton to help me w/this situation.

Thanks again LavR, your wonderful!!!!!!!

[Luba]

I can't believe they think this is acceptable?

The number of bites reported are collected electronically from emergency rooms across the country. What these # show is that there was a dog bite, the severity of it, age and sex of the victim, that type of thing. What type of dog did the biting or why is NOT part of the information collected. To find out breeds, phone calls are made to victims at random.

[LavenderRott]

Not only is it considered exceptable, but I believe it is done basically the same way in Canada.

[daisy18216]

Well, I didn't get to speak to the reporter on the phone, but I did send him an e-mail and this is what he wrote back to me,

AnnMarie,
Thanks for your e-mails. As I understand it, any decision on legislation
banning pitbulls from the city would have to be taken up by City Council.
While I don't cover council meetings, I have heard nothing about Council
discussing this yet in a public forum. I would suggest you attend the next
Council meeting and inform council members of your concerns. Since these
meetings are held in the evenings, a reporter from the night shift here
covers them.
Thank you again for writing.
Alan Gregory

My next step is going to be calling City Hall and finding out when the council meeting is going to be held and if this is going to be one of the topics.

I spoke to some friends and they are willing to help me and if possible come w/me to the council meeting.

[LavenderRott]

Sounds like you are doing a great job. Let me know if you get any more info, so I can pass it along to my friends.

[daisy18216]

Thanks, and as soon as i get more info i will let you know.

I'm going to look in today's paper to see if there is anything listed about a council meeting.

Thanks for the advice and guidance.

[babykitty]

This would probably be directed at LUBA, but if any one else can help me out please do..... How or who do I go about writing about these disturbing breed ban law that they are trying to pass all over Canada?
My Ex owned an AmStaff and he was a wonderfully socialized loving suck. The rep that they have is a sin because anyone who knows the breed knows that they are lovers not fighters!
It disturbs me to know that government hasn't realized that there are no bad dogs only bad breeders and owners

[LavenderRott]

If you look in the breed discussion forum, I had a thread in there called "Attention Big Dog Owners". I believe I also posted a link that has some info on all the the Canadian MLA's. If not, pm me and I will get that link to you.

[babykitty]

Thank you for your help LavenderRott, as I said in another forum I am new to this site as well as the whole debate/chat room atmosphere. And any help you give is greatly appreciated as I learn to navigate through here!