Council looking at vicious dog ordinance
Three residents made their case to the Columbia Falls City Council on Feb. 6 that the city's vicious dog ordinance and its enforcement does not adequately protect people and pets.
The council appeared to agree and continued discussion of the matter during their city code review hearing.
Two dog cases sparked the renewed interest. In the most recent, Columbia Falls resident Daniel Petersen was cited on Aug. 18, 2011, for having two dogs at large and for having two vicious dogs. Witnesses Sherry Lewis-Peterson and Sandra McGavock claimed the dogs killed three cats in the Marantette Park neighborhood.
In interpreting the case for sentencing, city judge Tina Gordon said she was unable to find a definition for vicious dogs in the city code and turned to state law.
City code refers to dogs that bite people under its vicious dogs section, while the definition of vicious dog in state law refers to dogs that bite or attempt to bite people, livestock or domestic pets.
Gordon ordered Petersen to pay $400 in fines for the two citations and $55 in restitution per cat. Petersen was also ordered to keep the two dogs contained. He later provided photos of the dogs inside a pen in Coram, where he agreed to keep them.
Rumors that Petersen's dogs were seen back in Columbia Falls since then could not be confirmed by police chief Dave Perry. He also noted that citing a dog owner for not complying with a court order is more difficult than simply for having a dog at-large. There's also the matter of proving it's the same dog without use of microchipping.
In an earlier case, Columbia Falls resident Jamie Boles was issued four citations on Sept. 27, 2010, for two dogs at-large and two vicious dogs after a woman was bitten near Fourth Ave. and 11th St. West.
One of the dogs later died in a car accident, and when Gordon ordered the second dog to be euthanized, Boles appealed the case to Flathead County District Court. A deal was reached to stop the euthanizing, and the case was remanded back to city court.
On June 15, 2011, Gordon ordered Boles to pay $800 in fines, full restitution and costs for housing the dog at the Flathead County Animal Shelter. Gordon, who notes that she's limited during sentencing to what's allowed under the law, said several people had testified against euthanizing the dog, including the bite victim.
During their code review, several city councilors said they'd like to see changes to the dog-at-large definition, which currently means dogs that are off an owner's premises and not under the control of the owner, family member or agent "either by leash, cord, chain or otherwise." The councilors said they'd like to make sure "otherwise" does not include verbal control.
While city code allows a police officer to kill a vicious dog, Perry noted that court cases can go on for a year, meaning the city could be liable for a dog that gets sick while impounded. City attorney Justin Breck also brought up the issue of whether the city or the county ends up paying the costs of impounding a problem dog.