The Arnold case has been settled by the City of Denver for a multi-thousand dollar settlement. Did you hear that? Let's say it again. Denver has settled the Arnold pit bull case for thousands and thousands of dollars.
Included in the monetary settlement are some procedural changes to Denver's ordinance. What those procedural changes will do is make it easier for people to understand the often inscrutable system of pit bull pick-ups at animal control. Details on that will come later. Denver will start implementing these procedural changes this spring. These changes came after hours and hours of mind-numbing meetings with the city about the minutia of the procedures. Hopefully, it will help people whose dogs were picked up and who don't have any kind of advocate with them. We'll see.The email also says that there are two more lawsuits challenging the ban waiting in the wings to be filed. And, sources say that Denver's city attorney's office is short staffed so they've hired an outside law firm to handle the rest of the currently pending federal case. Denver, a city with a massive budget deficit, is paying them about $150 dollars an hour to handle it and have so far paid out close to $5000 in December and more than $10,000 in January.
Hopefully Denver officials are finally waking up and realizing that as long as they continue to blindly take and kill family pets based only on appearances, John Q Public will not stop fighting for his dogs.
Photo credit: Anthony Camera.
That last sentence really says it all - and it may be the fastest way to convince city councils and other legislative bodies of the fallacy of BSL.
ReplyDeleteI salute the people who continue to fight against the ridiculous ban.
ReplyDeleteThere is also legislature pending in Maryland which would make BSL illegal. Then we could win back Prince Georges county. And I would state it in the affirmative, John Q Public will persist and fight for his dogs.
ReplyDeleteHallefreakinlujah!
ReplyDeleteWhat is really scary is the fact that Denver Mayor Hickenlooper, a strong supporter of the pit bull ban, is running for Republican nomination for Governor of CO. :(
ReplyDeleteA state can adopt legislation making BSL illegal, BUT, a community that is a "home rule" community can adopt BSL. Creative lawmakers can wiggle their way around a state law and some communities just plain don't care if the state says they can't have BSL. CO is a perfect example of this and that is how Denver and the several other communities that have BSL get around it, they are home rule. So don't think that a state law will completely stop BSL in your community. If your town or county is home rule, they can still adopt BSL.