[bunkalapa]

I found this gem while looking through some really old newspaper articles in a town not too far from where live.

NEIGHBORS CONCERNED ABOUT PRESENCE OF DOG

Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA) - Tuesday, July 16, 1996


NORTHAMPTON - The presence of a pit bull named Buddy in the Gables condominiums has some residents worried that their children are in danger of being attacked.

Concerned residents say they hope that a meeting Thursday 7/18 with the condominium association's trustees will lead to the dog's ouster.

Their concerns have escalated in the wake of a dog attack in Orange this month, in which a chained Rottweiler attacked and killed a toddler.

Although the dog at the Gables has bitten no one, these residents say they are unwilling to wait until it commits an aggressive act. attempts by the owner of the dog to reassure them of their safety have fallen on deaf ears. The complex is located off Bridge Road near Meadowbrook Apartments.

Pearl Wilson, whose son Seth owns the animal, said they have been trying to give the dog away, but there have been no takers.

"We'd like to see him get to a nice home where he can have room to run and play," she said. "But you say it's a pit bull and everybody is turned off."

Wilson says that while her neighbors' concerns about their small children are understandable, they should be placed in context.

She said that Buddy is kenneled inside her house, and never goes outside without a leash.

"He does not run loose," she says. "He doesn't bark. He doesn't growl."

Wilson, who is a trustee of the Gables condominium association, notes that the group has no rules against pit bulls.

Dog Officer Nancy Graham says neither does the city.

She says Northampton has a leash law which requires that dogs be restrained. That law is in addition to state law covering complaints about dogs that create a nuisance through their "viscious disposition."

But Graham said that the half-dozen calls she has received regarding Buddy are more information-seeking than complaints.

"There have been no complaints of anything specific of what this dog has done," she said. "It's just been based on people's fears. I hope people will look at the whole picture, which is owner responsibility, and not get into an hysteria over different breeds."

Lori Malanowski, who lives next door to Wilson, said she is petrified about her 3-month-old and 3-year-old children being near a dog with "dominant aggressive" tendencies.

"I'm concerned the dog would feel his territory is being invaded with my children out playing and would attack," she says. "I don't think we're an hysterical community up here."

Glenn Chunglo said that knowing the pit bull is around has forced him and his wife to watch their 5-year-old daughter "a lot more closely."

Gables resident Beverly Newman, however, said she didn't even know a pit bull was in the complex.

"But pit bulls are nice dogs if they are raised properly," she said. "I worked at a veterinary hospital for 11 years. I met a lot of nice pit bulls."

She said, though, that she wouldn't trust any dog 100 percent around her 8-year-old son.

"But as long as (the owner) is responsible and keeps that dog on a leash and obeys the laws, it doesn't bother me," she said.



To add to the ridiculousness, the dog attack they're talking about that killed a toddler wasn't even covered in this paper!