Agenda - 09-21-1993 - VIII-F - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 LESLIE J. MANN 369 ST. MARY'S ROAD HILLSBOROUGH, NC 27278 September 9, 1993 The Honorable Moses Carey, Jr. The Honorable Stephen Halkiotis The Honorable Verla Inko The Honorable Don Willhoit The Honorable Alice Gordon Board of County Commissioners 200 S. Cameron Street Hillsborough, NC 27278 Dear Commissioners: I am writing in response to last week's article in the Chapel Hill Herald concerning a proposed increase in the pet licensing fee. As the owner-of 12 pets, I wholeheartedly approve of such an increase and hope that the Board will also approve such a measure. On numerous occasions, I have witnessed firsthand the need for additional animal control assistance. Director Elma Greene and her staff do excellent work in the community, however, a band aid approach in this field is clearly not enough. If Orange County is ever going to stay on top of the numerous neglect/abuse/licensing/stray pet, etc. problems, then you are going to have to be proactive, not reactive. The hiring of additional staff is one move in the right direction. One move in the wrong direction, however, are comments like that of Commissioner Halkiotis who was quoted as saying in the June 25, 1993 News & Observer: "We've got worse things to worry about than another truck chasing another little dog down I-40." As a daily weekday commuter to Raleigh, I was both insulted and disgusted to read such a comment. Evidently Commissioner Halkiotis is not aware of the numbers of "little dogs" that end up in the middle of or parallel with I-40. During a two week period last month, I saw two dogs in the median of the highway and one running along the shoulder. In one case during morning rush hour, I could tell for almost a half a mile that there was a dog in the median waiting to cross my direction of traffic. I was in the fast lane and began tapping my breaks to let cars behind me know that we were approaching a hazardous situation. Just before I reached the dog, he ran into traffic. Aside from the fact that this dog was killed before me and I am reminded of it every day I drive to work, there was nearly a chain reaction accident of cars braking on the highway. In the other case when the dog was in the median of the highway, a number of people had pulled over to try catch the dog. One of the men began walking onto the eastbound lane of the highway to get traffic to come to a standstill so that they could herald the dog to one side of the highway. The dog ran into the woods and was never caught.