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this will make it easier to enforce the law. I have seen the way these squishy provisions, <br /> leaving discretion in the hands of AS Officers and the AS Director,are simply avenues for <br /> uneven treatment of citizens from one case to the next. <br /> In a case I was in last summer; defending a property owner whose dogs were declared <br /> vicious animals" because one of the two had bitten a trespasser who had crept up from the <br /> distant rural road through adjacent woods to the very steps of my client's home, we found <br /> that the AS Officer was not even aware of the watchdog provision in the existing ordinance, <br /> had no idea how his being an intruder affected the case, and had no interest in his having <br /> been arrested several times in Alamance County for criminal trespass, or how that affected <br /> the matter. WE DO NOT NEED MORE DISCRETION IN THE AS OFFICERS OR THEIR <br /> DIRECTOR. <br /> What we need is to have you act to preserve the citizen's right to keep a watchdog, especially <br /> in rural Orange County, a natural human right that has existed since before there were laws, <br /> and ought to continue to be recognized and defended by our elected officials. <br /> Please do not vote to remove the present watchdog category, as the "Unified" ordinance <br /> proposes to do. <br /> Secondly, please be sure that the appeals Board,to which a citizen may appeal arbitrary, <br /> baseless, or otherwise patently incorrect decisions that affect their animals, their homes <br /> and their purses, is an independent appeals Board. The "Unified" ordinance requires that <br /> appeals be heard by the Animal Services Board. In my opinion, the appeal ought to go to a <br /> judicial authority, and I believe the "Unified" ordinance is unconstitutional because the right to <br /> appeal agency decisions to judicial review is fundamental to the principle of due process. But <br /> at least make the appeal's first step to a body consisting of a majority of citizens not directly <br /> associated with the AS Board. <br /> Finally,there are many places in the proposed "Unified" ordinance where sentences are <br /> incomplete or nonsense words or phrases remain, even after our pointing them out <br /> previously. Couldn't we at least expect that their product would have been edited so as to <br /> be in a form you might adopt, rather than still needing the assistance of outside editors? <br /> Bob Epting <br /> Ed Johnson read his own statement, as follows: <br /> I am glad that Animal Control has listened to both the Board and to us citizens who <br /> have made complaints and offered suggestions. My appearance last time was <br /> prompted by my dog's being declared "vicious" for biting someone. After I pointed <br /> out that my dog was acting as a watchdog and had bitten a trespasser, the <br /> declaration was rescinded. <br /> In the June draft of the unified ordinance, Animal Control deleted the category of <br /> watchdog and watered down the idea of a trespass. Under the new ordinance, my <br /> dog would be nailed as "vicious." You told Animal Control to come back with a new <br /> draft that makes no new laws. <br />