Pit bulls
Dayton Meister, Tytus Meister and Jordan Turner enjoy some time with their pet pit bulls Ugly and Beef. Photo by Kootenai Valley Record
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Family fighting to save pit bulls
by Brent Shrum, Kootenai Valley Record
August 13, 2008
A Libby family is pleading with City Hall for an exemption that would allow them to keep their beloved pit bulls at home.
"These are my dogs and I love them very much," 10-year-old Jordan Turner told city council members last week between sobs. "I’ve raised pit bulls my whole life, and I just want to keep my puppies."
Barbara Turner told the council she and her family moved to Libby in January from Michigan and didn’t become aware of the city’s ordinance banning pit bulls until June 30, when a Libby police officer told them they would have 24 hours to get rid of their two pets. Turner said her family doesn’t have the means to just pack up and move outside the city limits, but giving up 6-year-old Ugly and 2-year-old Beef isn’t an option either.
"They’re members of our family," she said.
Turner handed the council 10 letters of support from friends, neighbors and even the county animal control officer who looked into the issue but declined to take the dogs into custody.
When the officer showed up at the house, "these guys were rolling on their backs, waiting for their bellies to be rubbed," Turner said. "They’re that kind of dog."
In her letter to the council, animal control officer Sarah Caswell described the dogs as "very well behaved and gentle." She said she has received no complaints about the dogs and the dogs have not shown any aggression.
"When I entered the home, both of the dogs welcomed me warmly," Caswell wrote. "Both of the dogs were relaxed and comfortable with me being in their home."
She said she considers the dogs "no more a threat to the public than any other family dog that resides in the city limits of Libby."
Family friend Richard Devine, who attended the council meeting to speak in support of Turner’s request for a variance that will allow her family to keep the dogs, said pit bulls have a bad reputation because of their popularity with drug dealers and bikers who raise them to be aggressive. He doesn’t see Ugly and Beef as a threat to anyone.
"My experience with them is they’re as harmless as my 8-year-old Chihuahua," he said.
Councilman Doug Roll asked city supervisor Dan Thede if he was aware of the circumstances that led to the council’s adoption of the pit bull ordinance. He asked Thede if there were any local incidents involving the dogs, or if the ordinance resulted "from a national hysteria kind of thing."
Thede said he didn’t think there had been any problems with the dogs locally.
"At that time, they were passing them all over," he said.
Turner asked the city council to grant a variance that will allow her family to keep the dogs. The council agreed to look into the matter and to have an answer at its next meeting.
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Editor’s Note: See the August 11, 2008 edition of the Kootenai Valley Record for the printed version of this story. The Kootenai Valley Record publishes once a week, on Monday, in Libby, Montana. They are a locally owned community newspaper, located at 403 Mineral Avenue in Libby. For in-county and out-of-county subscription information, call 406-293-2424, or e-mail kvrecord@gmail.com.
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