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This is too unreal that this law is being enforced. This will only cause a domino affect with canines! If this can be done to one breed, it most likely won't stop there. Who knows! Maybe a few decades from now all dogs will be banned because of this! Why?? Are their teeth too sharp? Or do they look too dangerous? As we all know, looks can be deceiving.

I SEE STUPID PEOPLE THEY ARE EVERYWHERE...THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW THEIR DUMB...
I think we should ban stupid people...Breeders that breed to increase there welfare and ssi checks....And don't waste your time calling on our Mayor he's never even lived in the getto.. I did put my money where my mouth is and opened a business in the city....I had a hooker set up shop right next door, a bootlegger two block's south.
I called our mayor no return call!!!! called our third ward councilman he gave me a B.S. response.. even called the police chief. all for not..I lost 30,000 dollars in one year.. I wish all the people of this city luck because your going to need all you can get...set up a business ask for some help to clean up the neighborhood's you'll get nothing done....oh yeah i own two pittbull's and i plan on moving back to boardman or cainfield soon....to live FREE with my dog's REMEMBER PUNISH THE DEED NOT THE BREED.... hey jay williams.....2010 my a--!!!!

It will take some time for the officials that pushed this law to see how it cannot be successfully enforced. Another problem. The shorter a dog is kept on a leash and the harder the owner pulls the more of a problem you will have with a dog. I would suggest to city council that before they go making up laws they should first speak to an expert in dog behavior. The state has a six foot leash for a reason. An owner has more control with a six foot leash than a four foot leash. You only make things worse with a four foot leash. The four foot leash law only proves the lack of understanding for dogs and dog behavior council and their advisers posses.

Again, Mayor Williams. What will you do when the people move to another breed? Will you get it then? What will you do when those lovely drug pushers laugh at the new ban? If you have ten houses on a street and all ten own Pit bulls.. then what are the chances if one dog runs loose it will be a Pit bull? And how can the commissioners tell the dog warden to enforce a city law? Isn't the dog warden paid with county tax dollars?

Is the city of Youngstown establishing a special fund to pay for the dog warden to enforce city laws so that the taxpayers of the county aren't stuck paying for Youngstown's breed bans? Why would the people in Boardman, Poland, Austintown etc want their tax dollars to be used to enforce Youngstown laws? Isn't the Dog Warden in need of help as it is? And now you want to put more on that department? What about it taxpayers that live outside of Youngstown? Do you want to pay for Youngstown's breed bans to be enforced? I wonder if something can be put on the ballot that will prevent the county from using money from taxpayers outside of the city of youngstown to enforce city laws. I mean why not ask the Boardman Police to cover the streets of Youngstown while your at it since the commissioners seem to think it's no big deal to use the county taxpayer's money as they see fit.

Mayor Williams... why not find out how it is that the second a concerned citizen calls to report drug activity, the very people involved in the illegal activities seem to disappear for a while until things are forgotten again? Why insist on giving the responsible residents of this city another reason to leave Youngstown? How do you plan on revitalization when you make it so difficult to want to stay here? When you won the election I actually thought maybe you could make a difference. Your working to convince me otherwise. That is for sure.

1BADASSPITTBULL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I SEE STUPID PEOPLE THEY ARE EVERYWHERE...THEY
> DON'T EVEN KNOW THEIR DUMB...
> I think we should ban stupid people...Breeders
> that breed to increase there welfare and ssi
> checks....And don't waste your time calling on our
> Mayor he's never even lived in the getto.. I did
> put my money where my mouth is and opened a
> business in the city....I had a hooker set up shop
> right next door, a bootlegger two block's south.
> I called our mayor no return call!!!! called our
> third ward councilman he gave me a B.S. response..
> even called the police chief. all for not..I lost
> 30,000 dollars in one year.. I wish all the people
> of this city luck because your going to need all
> you can get...set up a business ask for some help
> to clean up the neighborhood's you'll get nothing
> done....oh yeah i own two pittbull's and i plan on
> moving back to boardman or cainfield soon....to
> live FREE with my dog's REMEMBER PUNISH THE DEED
> NOT THE BREED.... hey jay williams.....2010 my
> a--!!!!


I agree totally with this here post. I'm so sick of Aesop Williams its pitiful. And for those idiots like Phil Kidd and others who defend him, its sickening. he has no doggone, pardon the pun clue how to really police this city, the chief is a bumbling idiot, and so on, and now this dog ban? This really has no teeth to it because, just like other laws in this town, it won't be enforced. Case in point, all those dope houses i've been hollering about on my block for years? Well on yesterday at one address, lets say Arch, there had to been at least 20 cars parked at this dope house to witness, yes, a dog fight. Now shoould i have called the proper people? I've done this in the past but........................ because of the internal "leak" in the dept. by the time the law came around, if they came around, the thugs packed up stakes and "let" things cool-down before setting up shop. Zero Tolerance hell! Its sad that this city is heading to hell in a hand basket because of these do nothing officials that talk, talk, talk, but still aren't saying nothing. Oh beccause it doesn't happen in their little world they could care less. I agree about 2010 though. I'm praying this idiot Jaybird mayor is gone and his band of idiots too!

GOOO YOUNGSTOWN. . . down down down the drain!

Breed-specific legislation (BSL) which was passed in North Chicago, Illinois, in 2006 brought to light a disturbing new trend: prejudice that doesn’t just focus merely on bully breeds, but on their African-American and Hispanic owners. At least for bully breed owners in North Chicago, it would appear as if the breed-specific legislation there was racially motivated.

North Chicago is 36% African-American and 18% Hispanic, which means that the majority of the suburb is made up of minorities. The median income is only $38,180, which is well below that of surrounding suburbs, and the city is plagued with a high crime rate stemming from drug and gang problems.

As we’ve been saying for years, the so-called “pit bull” problem isn’t really the problem at all. The real problems affecting communities like North Chicago are drugs and gangs. The dogs used to protect drug houses, the fighting dogs, and the backyard breeders are a symptom of larger societal issues which keep minorities economically disadvantaged.

The truth is, the city council of North Chicago took advantage of its constituents by passing BSL. The city council didn’t think that its citizens were educated enough to know that their constitutional rights were being violated. Many don’t speak English and would have no way of even understanding what the ordinance entailed. Worse, because the people of North Chicago are so economically disadvantaged, they have no legal recourse in filing suit against the city for infringing on their rights, and I’m guessing the city council knew it.

Residents’ economic disadvantage is another reason North Chicago has, via its ordinance, forced residents to pay $500 per dog to register their American Pit Bull Terriers because they know most of them will be unable to pay the fee and will be forced to give up their dogs. This is a glaring violation of equal protection rights and the ex post facto clauses of the Constitution. North Chicago cannot simply say that bully breeds are vicious with no concrete evidence and then penalize residents with what amounts to a backdoor fine; a penalty which the city council knows that most residents will be unable to pay. Further, North Chicago knows that a lot of minorities tend to keep bully breeds. As such, not only are ordinances like the one North Chicago passed unconstitutional, they’re racist as well.

North Chicago is not the only one to be blamed, however. They were just following the example of their namesake to the south, Chicago, which is currently trying to divert the public’s attention away from the gangs and drugs and focus instead on the supposed “pit bull” problem using its media minions to do it. The media hypes every dog attack with false information and manipulated statistics, calling the dogs involved “pit bulls” whether they are a bully breed or not. So much for impartial reporting. (But then we already knew the media was biased didn’t we?)

Here is what the media won’t tell you: Breed bans are and have been found by courts to be unconstitutional. Breed bans don’t work and politicians know it, which further supports the thinking that politicians propose BSL to divert attention away from the real problems in society, namely crimes involving gangs and drugs.

It’s time to make our politicians bear responsibility for negating our constitutional rights, particularly for individuals like minorities who throughout history have often been the first to have their civil liberties infringed upon. We should send a clear message to our elected officials that unconstitutional and now racist BSL will not be tolerated, and that if it is passed as an excuse to skirt real societal issues then those elected officials will be looking for work after the next election.

It’s time to make our politicians bear responsibility for negating our constitutional rights, particularly for individuals like minorities who throughout history have often been the first to have their civil liberties infringed upon. We should send a clear message to our elected officials that unconstitutional and now racist BSL will not be tolerated, and that if it is passed as an excuse to skirt real societal issues then those elected officials will be looking for work after the next election.


Bravo! I would add, however, that we should seek legal action against this City Council. It is not enough to unseat them. They should be sued for knowingly and willfully putting into place a law that chips away at our Constitutional rights.