Ohio City Attorney not an idiot

Whitehall attorney says pit bull legislation unconstitutional

(by Dianne Garrett, Staff Writer - April 12, 2008)

Whitehall City Council members were barking at each other April 8 over a proposed ordinance to ban pit that the city attorney declared unconstitutional.
After reviewing the Ohio Attorney General's opinion on the issue, as well as the Ohio Supreme Court decisions, City Attorney Mike Shannon said that he believed the proposal to be unconstitutional because it does not provide for an appeals process.
"Whether or not a dog is a pit bull is a completely separate issue from whether or not a particular pit bull is vicious," Shannon said. "As such, I believe the ordinance you have sponsored is unconstitutional as it does not provide for an appeals board to hear appeals on whether dogs (other than pit bulls) are dangerous and/or vicious, or appeals on whether or not a particular dog is a pit bull."
....Spotting a pit bull can be difficult, Councilman Bob Bailey said. He was given a poster that had a photo of 20 dogs that looked like pit bulls, but only one was actually the breed.
Mayor John Wolfe ..... questioned if an attempt would be made later on to rid dogs breed by breed every time there is a complaint about a certain kind of dog. "We will go through this each time."

(thanks to Jody Preis for passing this along)