Board Mulls Chaining Changes
www.forsythnews.com
December 14, 2006 - CUMMING, GEORGIA The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday watched a two-minute video containing various photographs of chained dogs, some of which had been injured, before asking attorneys to come up with proposed changes to the dog control ordinance.
Commissioners viewed the videotape of the animals at the request of Stacey Sarros, the chief organizer behind a local movement to amend the county's dog control ordinance.
"This [prohibiting dogs from being tethered] is something that is going on in the state of Georgia and all over the nation," said Sarros after the board's called meeting.
Animal Welfare Organization of Forsyth (AWOOF), which Sarros co-founded, provided to county attorney Ken Jarrard a copy of the county's dog control ordinance which they had included suggested changes. Sarros sought to convince commissioners to conduct a public hearing on the ordinance.
However, commissioners said they were not comfortable with all of the proposed changes in the ordinance.
District 1 Commissioner Cha-rles Laughinghouse said that while he supports amending the ordinance, he had compared it to an animal control ordinance in DeKalb County which chaining opponents originally referred to when first presenting the concept in Forsyth County.
Laughinghouse said AWOOF's proposed changes in the Forsyth ordinance were "more aggressive" than he had envisioned.
Sarros said DeKalb's ordinance was the first one in the state. She said that while it generally prohibits dog owners from chaining their pets, it allows a "trolley" system -- where dogs are tethered to a line that allows them to run over a greater distance -- as a substitute.
"That [trolley system] is not the way to go," said Sarros.
District 5 Commissioner Linda Ledbetter also said she supported amending the dog control ordinance but questioned if provisions should be allowed for some residents to tether their pets in certain instances such as when the owner goes to work.
Commissioners directed Jarrard to work toward revising the county's ordinance and create a version residents will be able to comment on in a future public hearing.
Sarros, after the meeting, invited anyone interested in the proposed amendments to e-mail her at staceysarros@adelphia.net.
