Marion County Animal Control Officer Ken Ferguson (right) makes plea for help in enforcing dog laws to the county board’s Community Relations Committee Wednesday night. Also pictured (left to right) are County Board Chair Debbie Smith, Board Secretary Sheri Barter, and Committee Chair Bill Henson.
The Marion County Board’s Community Relations Committee wants to look into a leash law in the county if one doesn’t already exist.
The decision came at Wednesday night’s meeting after Animal Control Officer Ken Ferguson said he had no options to deal with repeat offenders.
“We need to reinstate it. We have too many repeat people with dogs running at large without a current tag or rabies shot. And I’m not a ticket writer, never was and don’t want to be but when you go back to the same addresses over and over you have to wake them up somehow. So I’m asking for your help.”
Ferguson was making his request for assistance to State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth.
Marion County State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth
“I agree and I understand you right now don’t have a lot of options. The ones you do have are registration and rabies vaccinations and things like that. If you write tickets, our office will handle it. I’m not going to tell you we aren’t going to do it, because we are…that’s my job.”
But Hudspeth says he can’t enforce a leash law if the county doesn’t have one. He says implementing one is a “policy decision” that would have to be made by the Marion County Board.
Marion County Board Chair Debbie Smith says she will try and determine what ordinances have been passed in the past that are already on the books and can be enforced.
The new Community Relations Committee Chair Bill Henson says if no ordinances can be found, he wants to bring them up for discussion to weigh pros and cons before a decision is made on how to proceed.
Smith also announced after the meeting she wants to develop a burn ordinance for the county that would prohibit the burning of large items from no longer wanted homes, to piles of furniture, bedding, and clothing. She said she wasn’t as concerned about burn barrels, but noted the larger fires were creating undesirable conditions for neighbors.
