From: Smoresthepain@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, December 07,
2003 8:27 PM
To: MileHighMayor@ci.denver.co.us;
kathleen.mackenzie@ci.denver.co.us; elbra.wedgeworth@ci.denver.co.us;
judy.montero@ci.denver.co.us; marcia.johnson@ci.denver.co.us;
charlie.brown@ci.denver.co.us; peggy.lehmann@ci.denver.co.us;
carol.boigon@ci.denver.co.us; michael.hancock@ci.denver.co.us;
rick.garcia@ci.denver.co.us; rosemary.rodriguez@ci.denver.co.us;
jeanne.faatz@ci.denver.co.us; doug.linkhart@ci.denver.co.us
Subject: Breed banning did not help that poor
woman that was brutally murdered!
Dear Mayor:
City counsel
members,
My name is Jeff Armstrong, and I am writing this e-mail because
I have some concerns about your breed ban laws. I noticed these breed bans have
been around in Colorado since 1989. Well, I do not believe they are the right
approach to stopping dangerous dog attacks. I am sure in 1989 someone had the
idea, to enact these breed bans in hopes of stopping dangerous dog attacks. We
see that your breed ban do not help that poor woman Jennifer Brooke, form being
mauled to death! Breed bans do not work, irresponsible dog owners will simply
screw up another breed, they do not care about any dog breed to them that means
nothing.
Recently a new law was signed by Governor Blagojevich in
Illinois, the "Ryan Armstrong Law." I am very well aquatinted with new the law,
it is named after my son Ryan. This law came after my lobbing, along with a lot
of support. My son Ryan was attacked and almost killed by a Rottweiler two years
ago, and nothing happened to the irresponsible dog owner. In court he was fined
$200.00 and six months court supervision. Well, that I would not accept, a slap
on the wrist for his dog almost killing my son. I contacted my state rep. Angelo
"Skip" Saviano, and he listened and drafted a NON BREED SPECIFIC
BILL.
Because breed banning is against the US Constitution, and we are all
protected by the Constitution.
The Ryan Armstrong Law, is a fair
approach, and believe me the fines and penalties now Vs what we had here before,
are an excellent deterrent as we say. The law allows for a felony charge (up to
3 yrs in prison) and up to a $25,000 fine, pending on the circumstances of the
attack.
If the dog is deemed dangerous and or vicious certain restrictions
will apply, by court order. Also mandatory microchipping of the dog, so it may
be traced back to the irresponsible owner.
All of this will act a s a huge
deterrent. I know these irresponsible dog owners rarely follow the law, but when
the police catch up with them now it's jail time, which Illinois lacked in the
state statutes. Not anymore. We used DNA evidence to prove who's dog attacked
Ryan.
Yes, I will be the first to admit, I wanted all Rottweilers off
this planet, after one almost killed my son. But after months and months of
research it's not the dogs fault. Who taught the dog, as we all do we teach our
family pets the do's and don't as I call them. What is right and wrong. But
irresponsible dog owners will teach the dog to be mean, dangerous, vicious,
because that is the way they want the dog to be.
I have since my sons
attack, and Ryan has also came in contact with friendly Rottweilers, and if they
are all genetically messed up to attack, we would have never run into a friendly
one! All dogs can bite, all dogs have teeth.
We know we do not hear about
the little poodle who nibbled on someone foot, no one wants to hear about that,
they want to hear about the Pit Bull or Rottweiler that really tore someone up.
But I have studied the stats and all dogs have a history.
Large
breeds I will say are not for every Tom, Dick and Harry, they require certain
temperament testing and they take a bit more effort. And back yard breeders
should stay out of certain types of breeding.
They create the monsters, when
they breed to close to the genetic line. Their should be a ban on back yard
breeders, they create the problems we see all across the world. And responsible
pet owners pay the price.
I could have pushed for a breed ban, God knows
I had a very good reason. But they simply will not work! You must target the
irresponsible dog owner, who was clearly in the case of this horrendous mauling
in Colorado. And I have read this is not the first time these dogs have had
problems, why weren't these dogs taken into custody in April 2003 when they
attacked? The red flags should have been sky high. And at that time the owners
should have been charged. Maybe this fatal attack could have been
avoided.....
I would hope you will reconsider restructuring your,
dangerous dog statutes, and please reconsider your breed ban. It is not working,
and the responsible dog owners pay the price. That is simply not fair, in this
country.
I feel the "Ryan Armstrong Law" is an excellent draft to view, and
it may help you rewrite your legislation.
Please feel free to contact me,
I would be more than happy to help.
Below are some links to my crusade as it
has been called, and also a link to the law. Now public act 93-0548
Thank you for your time regarding this
matter.
Sincerely,
Jeff
Armstrong
Melrose Park Illinois
http://springfield.news-leader.com/news/today/1005-Mauledkids-184104.html
http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search?encquery=3E8F4B179ECE707EE747636694EDA644706AD915D2D55AF6E91DDD9A0AF42634321EF3C63DBFABD4&invocationType=keyword_rollover&ie=ISO-8859-1
http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=1&RecNum=2226
http://archives.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-search?config=localnews_2003&qmode=&format=ppo-short&words=Jeff%20Armstrong&page=1
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/081903_ns_dangerousdogs.html