Jackson, MS: City council to continue debating possible pit bull ban

Jackson ban on pit bulls
possible

Fatal attack on Terry child raises officials'
concerns

Chris Joyner • chris.joyner@jackson.gannett.com
• March 2, 2010

Jackson City Councilman Jeff Weill believes he has
enough votes to ban pit bull terriers from the city,
an idea that seemed unlikely before last month's
death of a 5-year-old girl in Terry.

Weill, who for months has pushed to ban the
controversial breed, said he has the support of a
majority of the seven-person council. He said
Chokwe Lumumba and Margaret Barrett-Simon have
said they would vote in favor, and that Charles
Tillman and Kenneth Stokes also have voiced
support.

"I'm leaning that way," said Tillman, who represents
Ward 5. "You are talking about people's lives."

Weill, of Ward 1, had all but abandoned his idea,
but the Feb. 12 attack that killed 5-year-old Anataisa
Bingham in Terry has brought up concerns again
about the breed.

In 2006, Stokes, the city's Ward 3 representative,
pushed to outlaw pit bulls in the city as part of a
more comprehensive approach to vicious dogs.
Ultimately, the ban was removed from a proposed
ordinance when pit bull owners and breeders
complained.

"Right now, my position has not changed. I still
believe they should be banned," he said. "I think
safety must be the overall issue right now."

But Stokes said he is willing to listen to other points
of view.

Frank Bluntson and Tony Yarber are the only
council members opposed to banning the breed.

Yarber, a pit bull owner, said last month the city
should do a better job of enforcing the dog
ordinance on the books.

The proposed ban likely will face resistance from
owners and breeders of pit bulls. Maurice Williams,
owner of Jactown Kennels, compared the proposed
ban to racism.

"There is no such thing as a bad dog. It's bad
owners," he said.

Williams said he carefully breeds American Bullies, a
breed descended from pit bulls, and socializes them
so they are comfortable around people.

A Federal Express driver, Williams said he
encounters dogs all the time and pit bulls are not
what he worries about.

"I'm scared of Rottweilers. I think they are the
dumbest dogs you could buy," he said. "The houses
I have the most trouble with are those with
dachshunds."


But Chassidy Vardaman Webb said the ban is long
overdue. Webb's 3-year-old son, Tony Evans Jr.,
was mauled to death by a pit bull in south Jackson
on July 22, 2008.

"It's sad that another child's life had to be taken
before they did something about it," she said. "The
first one should have been enough. The first one
was too much."

In the wake of the attack in Terry, Hinds County also
is revisiting its dangerous dog ordinance to include

possible stiffer penalties.

Sheriff Malcolm McMillin on Monday requested the
Hinds County Board of Supervisors consider
spending money to expand the county's animal
control facility.

"Our current building has run out of space, and I
think we're going to be getting a lot more calls than
we have in the past," the sheriff said. "After this last
incident (in Terry), there will be a little stepped-up
activity as far as reporting dangerous dogs."

The Sheriff's Department has about 15 kennels,
McMillin said.

"We're full. We'll need at least twice that," he said.

Debra Boswell, director of the Mississippi Animal
Rescue League, said a ban on the breed likely will
solve nothing because the city will not be able to
enforce it.

"They don't have enough officers to control the at-
large dogs as it is," she said. "I don't see how they
are going to do that without doubling the number of
officers on the street."

A ban will cause pit bull owners to hide their dogs,
she said. Boswell said a better approach for the city
and county is to adopt ordinances requiring pit bull
owners to register their pets, prohibit ownership of
multiple pit bulls and require all dogs to be kept in
enclosures instead of chains or tethers.

Boswell said the danger posed by pit bulls is
incontrovertible because of how they are used.

"We get about 600 a year at our shelter, and 60
percent of those show signs of having been fought,"
she said. "It's not uncommon to see four, five, six or
eight in a backyard."

Boswell said unscrupulous breeding has enhanced
aggressiveness in the dogs.

"If their bloodlines are fighting bloodlines, that's
just a time bomb waiting to go off," she said.

City and county officials should impose mandatory
spaying and neutering of pit bulls and other
potentially dangerous dogs rather than attempting a
breed-specific ban, Boswell said.

Weill said he plans to bring the ban up next week at
a meeting of the council's rules committee. Pending
a successful committee vote, the ordinance would
move to the full council for public hearings and a
final vote.

Weill suggested a ban on the breed could be
gradual.

"There is discussion of a grandfather clause for
those pit bulls that are older and have a stellar
(safety) record," he said.

Jackson ban on pit bulls possible | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger