Home rule will let city address vicious dogs > Letter to the Editor > Stories > Centennial

RECENT STORIES

Mary Chesley named CCSD superintendent ( Cherry Creek School District )
Aviation employers support Colorado Guardsmen ( SSG Liesl Marelli )
Staples opens in Centennial ( Allison Wittern )
The Children's Hospital commemorates centennial ( Amy Moynihan )
Take the TRIP ( Sara Thibodeau )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Centennial \\ Stories \\ Sound Off \\ Letter to the Editor

Home rule will let city address vicious dogs

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Lynn Goering on 6/4/2008

Dear Centennial Neighbors;

Last November, you elected us as two of 21 Home Rule Charter Commissioners to write Centennial's home rule charter. Neither of us had any previous political background. Neither of us has political aspirations.

Our interest in home rule began several years ago, when we learned that statutory cities, like Centennial, cannot ban or restrict pit bull dogs. Centennial is completely governed under Colorado statutes, and one of these prohibits statutory municipalities from banning any specific dog breed. For this reason alone we decided that we would do anything in our power to help Centennial become a home rule city with the right to address this issue.

We had a personal reason for wanting pit bull restrictions. Four years ago, we were living a nightmare. Our neighbors directly behind us owned 17 pit bulls - five adult dogs and twelve pups. The adult dogs barked, growled and pounded at the fence between our properties. I gave up weeding in the backyard because the dogs frightened me with their threatening behavior. We couldn't let our grandchildren play outside for fear the dogs would break through the fence and attack them. We reinforced the fence from our side and called animal control.

At the time, Centennial contracted with Arapahoe County for animal control. Arapahoe County did step in to help us as much as they could, eventually forcing our neighbors to reduce their number of dogs, but neither they nor Centennial could completely get rid of them. For the next two years, we still had three full grown growling hissing dogs jumping at our fence, trying to climb it to attack us. I remained nervous about doing yard work. We still couldn't allow our grandchildren or their friends to play in our back yard. We couldn't entertain on our back patio, and couldn't even sit there quietly with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. We checked the strength of the fence posts weekly to help ease our concerns.

Fortunately, these neighbors finally moved, and new friendly, responsible neighbors now live there. So although we thankfully no longer have our own pit bull problem, we are painfully aware this problem exists for others in the community. Many neighboring cities, including Denver, Aurora, Greenwood Village and Lone Tree, as home rule cities, have adopted pit bull restrictions or bans. Their restrictions force pit bull owners to seek new locations. Where better to go than Centennial - still a statutory city, and therefore one of the few remaining places in the metro area that cannot restrict their animals?

Having now helped to write Centennial's home rule charter, we know that there are many reasons for voters to vote YES to Centennial's charter and to home rule. But for some citizens, just finally being able to address our city's vicious dog problem is reason enough. We urge voters to vote YES to Home Rule on their June 10 mail ballots, so that as a home rule city our Centennial City Council and our citizens can find a workable solution to this potentially very dangerous problem.

Lynn Goering
Richard Goering

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 4 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

Submitted By: Ciara Dugas

posted on 6/17/2008 @ 6:55:58 PM

Rated Story

I am a Centennial resident and I own an American Pit Bull Terrier. I am really sorry you had a bad experience with a neighbor's dogs, but your story is not typical of the breed nor is it typical of any dog breed or mix. Punishing an entire breed or group of breeds based on one or even a few dogs is ignorant. You will be hearing from me again.

[Report as objectionable]

Submitted By: Rhonda Livingston

posted on 6/5/2008 @ 11:20:36 AM

Rated Story

For more information and the facts about the Home Rule Charter, please visit www.homerule2008.com.

[Report as objectionable]

Showing 1-2 of 2 comments

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Centennial

All stories by Kevin Hamm

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad