Marty
07-18-2005, 09:43 PM
GA, USA -- A DeKalb County legislator is backing off a proposal to ban new pit bulls and to require that dogs already in the state be neutered, leashed and muzzled.
State Rep. Earnest "Coach" Williams (D-Avondale Estates) opened a public hearing on his legislation Monday morning by announcing that he plans to rewrite the bill to eliminate references to any specific breeds.
The focus, he said, will now be on "vicious dogs" of any breed.
Williams' bill as currently drawn would have outlawed the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Stafford Bull Terrier or other dogs with "majority physical traits" of any of those breeds.
The bill, which went nowhere in the last legislative session, drew angry responses from pit bull lovers who said bad or mean owners are to blame for vicious attacks that make the headlines.
"The problem is not with the sincere breeders of these dogs, but with the macho man who comes to you and says, 'I want to get me a mean dog,' " Keith G. Bates, president of the Griffin Kennel Club, testified Monday morning.
"There are people who fight chickens and nobody's suggesting we discontinue breeding chickens," Bates said.
Williams told about 50 people who attended the hearing that his new bill will not be breed-specific. But he said, "These attacks are happening in our community, and we want to keep our citizens safe.
"It's certainly about the owner — some have [dogs] for other reasons than just a pet," he said.
State Rep. Earnest "Coach" Williams (D-Avondale Estates) opened a public hearing on his legislation Monday morning by announcing that he plans to rewrite the bill to eliminate references to any specific breeds.
The focus, he said, will now be on "vicious dogs" of any breed.
Williams' bill as currently drawn would have outlawed the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Stafford Bull Terrier or other dogs with "majority physical traits" of any of those breeds.
The bill, which went nowhere in the last legislative session, drew angry responses from pit bull lovers who said bad or mean owners are to blame for vicious attacks that make the headlines.
"The problem is not with the sincere breeders of these dogs, but with the macho man who comes to you and says, 'I want to get me a mean dog,' " Keith G. Bates, president of the Griffin Kennel Club, testified Monday morning.
"There are people who fight chickens and nobody's suggesting we discontinue breeding chickens," Bates said.
Williams told about 50 people who attended the hearing that his new bill will not be breed-specific. But he said, "These attacks are happening in our community, and we want to keep our citizens safe.
"It's certainly about the owner — some have [dogs] for other reasons than just a pet," he said.