dog ordinances

No person’s right to keep a dangerous animal should trump another innocent person’s right to live, to play outside, to walk to school or work.  And we all need to be more vigilant in reporting “seemingly” dangerous animals and dogs running loose.  And animal control workers and law enforcement officers, when called out,  need to be more vigilant in ensuring that dogs have been registered.  In The Register Mail opinion page in a discussion following the mauling death of seven year old Ryan Maxwell, someone cavalierly stated that “accidents will happen”, and another writer stated that he was sure that “some petty bureaucrat would love to tell people what they can and cannot do”.  Galesburg has plenty of ordinances that are not associated with life and death issues.  Like the ordinance stating that a resident cannot have upholstered furniture on their porch,  and they are not to cover things with tarps (like a dirt bike in the backyard).    There are vigilant citizens that drive around town, taking pictures of people’s yards, and ensuring that you are promptly mailed a notice from the City outlining penalties to be accrued if the situation in question is not met.   I suggest some of us get just as vigilant about dogs running loose, and whether our neighbors have registered their pets.  Maybe we need to be more of “our brother’s keeper”, or at least the safekeeper of the children in our neighborhoods.  I’m a believer in “it takes a village to raise a child”.   If a speeder or drunk driver kills someone that’s manslaughter.  I feel strongly that Ryan Aidden Maxwell’s death crys out for “criminally negligent homicide” charges to be issued.