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State Sen. Edd Houck leads a panel discussion yesterday at Germanna Community College on his proposals to regulate dangerous dogs, one result of the fatal mauling of Spotsylvania resident Dorothy Sullivan (left) and her pet dog (lower left) by roving pit bulls.
Doris Phelps comforts daughter Jennifer Vanover at yesterday's hearing. Jennifer is the granddaughter, Doris a daughter, of Dorothy Sullivan of Spotsylvania, who was killed by pit bulls in March. |
By CHELYEN DAVIS
If the members of the General Assembly agree as much as members of a panel discussing dog legislation did yesterday, state Sen. Edd Houck's attempt to tighten the state's dangerous-dog laws will pass without a hitch.
Houck held a public hearing at Germanna Community College's Fredericksburg campus yesterday to discuss proposals to make the laws regarding ownership of dangerous dogs more stringent. He'd gathered a panel from law enforcement, local government and dog groups, and presented them with several proposed changes to the state code. Surprisingly, there was much unanimity among the panel about what needs to go into any legislation, as well as what needs to be left out.
"I've been struck by how much agreement there's been on this panel," said Houck, D-Spotsylvania. "That's a very positive signal to the people of Virginia. Now, 140 members of the General Assembly, that's another story."
The problem of dangerous dogs running loose was highlighted by the March death of Spotsylvania resident Dorothy Sullivan and her pet dog, both of whom police said were attacked and killed by a neighbor's pit bulls.
The neighbor, Deanna H. Large, is set to go on trial Tuesday on charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Spotsylvania Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Neely is charging her with involuntary manslaughter because the state code does not specifically spell out applicable criminal charges for owners of dogs that attack people or other animals. That's one loophole Houck is seeking to close.
For the hearing, Houck invited representatives from the Virginia Crime Commission and the Division of Legislative Services to explain draft legislation and proposals already in the works.
Crime Commission Executive Director Kimberly Hamilton noted that the commission held a public hearing on the issue in June, and took no action. However, the issue will be up again at the commission's September meeting.
She said there are three proposals in the works--to amend the code to make it clear that manslaughter charges apply to those who let dangerous dogs run loose if the dogs kill a person; to make a felony offense of bodily injury apply to the owner of a dangerous dog that maims but does not kill a person; and to let law enforcement, instead of just animal control officers, seek to have dogs declared dangerous by the courts.
Those proposals were outlined in draft legislation presented to the panel.
"It's exactly what I had in mind," said Neely, a member of the panel.
He added that it's critical to have regulations for dogs that attack someone but haven't formally been declared dangerous by a court.
Other members of the panel agreed. They also liked a suggestion that the state institute statewide, mandatory dog ordinances, rather than allow localities to make their own, as is the case now.
Kathy Strouse, representing the Virginia Animal Control Association, said there is a problem with
owners of dangerous dogs simply crossing jurisdictional lines to places where their dogs have not been declared dangerous. If ordinances were uniform and, if a dog declared dangerous in one jurisdiction were automatically considered dangerous in all jurisdictions, it would ease that problem, she said.
Panelists also largely liked a proposal to institute a database, accessible to the public on a Web site, of dangerous dogs and their owners.
Douglas Barnes, deputy administrator of Spotsylvania County, said the county actually has a similar Web site, and that the public embarrassment of being named an owner of a dangerous dog led half to two-thirds of the owners of such dogs to get rid of their dogs.
"They made a conscious decision they did not want their name associated with that dangerous dog," Barnes said.
Many of the panelists agreed that most of the punitive actions discussed for dangerous dogs are punishing the dogs, not the owners.
Localities can, at their discretion, require the owners of dangerous dogs to take out a $100,000 liability insurance policy.
Tom Evans, representing the Virginia Federation of Dog Clubs and Breeders, proposed raising the insurance policy to $300,000.
He admitted the proposal was partly punitive.
"It's too easy to keep animals that are a threat to the community," he said, noting how expensive medical treatment for a bad dog bite can be. "Insurance is supposed to take care of the cost of the event that you're insured against. If it's hard to get the insurance, I'm sorry. It's even harder to repair the injury."
The panelists also said they wanted to make sure any legislation punishes irresponsible dog owners, while not affecting responsible ones.
They also seemed to agree that animal control officers should have all the law enforcement capabilities of regular police or deputy sheriffs. In Spotsylvania they do, Sheriff Howard Smith said, but not all localities do that.
A number of people spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting. One man wanted a provision for evaluation of a dog before it's declared dangerous; a woman with the Charlottesville SPCA wanted to have all pit bulls sterilized. Representatives from the Virginia Association of Counties and the Virginia Municipal League, which together include most localities in Virginia, both said dog laws are an issue they'll be looking at for the 2006 session.
And finally, Dorothy Sullivan's family members, who had been sitting in the front row during the meeting, spoke.
Son-in-law Larry Just said the family was there advocating responsible pet ownership, and that they're glad the proposals were not breed-specific.
Other members of the family broke down in tears minutes later when Houck said he will call his legislation the "Dorothy Sullivan Memorial" bill.
Houck said he wants his panel members to take the proposals back to the groups they represent, and meet again in October to discuss possible legislation.
"This is just another step along the way," he said.
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