The repeal of the ban on pit bull dogs in Kansas City, Kansas, is on the agenda for the 5 p.m. Monday, May 20, Unified Government Public Works and Safety Committee meeting.
The meeting will be held at the fifth floor conference room, City Hall, 701 N. 7th St., Kansas City, Kansas.
According to the agenda, the ordinance repealing the pit bull ban is sponsored by Commissioners Melissa Bynum and Jane Philbrook.
Currently, anyone with a pit bull in the city could be fined $300 to $1,000, and could be sentenced to as much as 90 days in jail, according to the ordinance now in effect.
Kansas City, Kansas, put a pit bull ban into effect in 1988.
At the last effort to repeal the pit bull ban, an incident in July 2006 was cited by those who wanted to keep the ban in place. Jimmie Mae McConnell was mauled by a dog from next door while she was working in her garden in her own yard in Kansas City, Kansas. She died after the attack. The pit bull ban was supported by McConnell’s church at the time.
At a UG meeting in March 2014, an attorney representing a group of animal shelters said the current thinking on pit bulls is that animal behavior varies according to individual animals and not according to breed.
The UG heard a proposal to remove the pit bull ban in November 2014, and it was approved at the committee level but not at the commission. The issue generated a lot of interest, with the meeting room packed with people. The commission needed 6 votes to pass a repeal, but the vote tied 4-4 and the repeal died. Two of the four commissioners who voted against a repeal in 2014 are no longer on the commission.
Other items on Monday night’s Public Works and Safety Committee meeting include:
• A presentation by Board of Public Utilities staff on the new Rosedale substation to replace the Fisher substation, construction of a new transmission line from the new substation to the existing Barber substation and the upgrade of two new transmission lines.
• A resolution declaring the BPU Barber-Rosedale transmission line to be a necessary and valid improvement. This will authorize a survey for the project, and to submit an ordinance authorizing eminent domain and to acquire the property.
• An resolution supporting an agreement with Johnson County f to use their communications center’s existing 911 phone and radio communications equipment as emergency backup.
• A report on the operation of the Joe E. Amayo Argentine Community Center.
• A request to repave and line Klamm Park and Quindaro Park’s tennis courts.
The UG Administration and Human Services Committee will meet immediately after the Public Works and Safety Committee meeting in the same location.
On the agenda for the Administration and Human Services Committee:
• Reappointment of Theresa Reyes-Cummings to the R.E.A.C.H. Healthcare Foundation’s Community Advisory Committee for a three-year term.
• A proposal by Chris Morrow to reduce the penalty for simple marijuana possession.
• Discussion of a policy where first responders know one’s wishes in the event of one’s death.
The agendas are online at www.wycokck.org.
Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the ban on pit bull dogs started in 2006. It actually started in the 1980s.
You do this and you’ll be sorry.
“…an attorney representing a group of animal shelters said the current thinking on pit bulls is that animal behavior varies according to individual animals and not according to breed.”
So why do we have border collies? Setters and retrievers? Why don’t dog fighters use pugs?
They are referring to general behavior. Not breed traits.
Dog fighting hasn’t been legal anywhere in decades.
Of the 61 shelter dogs known to have participated in killing 35 people since 2007, including a Florida woman just last week, 44 were pit bulls. Only five shelter dogs had killed anyone in the previous 150 years, and none from 1858 to 1988. Pit bulls, meanwhile, have accounted for half or more of all dog fatalities in every 10-year time frame since 1833, & not fewer than 30 per year in each of the past 10 years, while never amounting to more than the present 5.6% of the U.S. dog populatin.
Please do not repeal this ban! Communities all across the country are dealing with serious issues with this type of dog running loose and attacking and killing other dogs, children, even adult joggers. For every one of the 30-40 people killed every year, thousands are maimed for life and having continued painful surgeries to try to live with their injuries. You don’t need to endanger your residents by putting them through what we are going through in the Carolinas, where in many communities people are even afraid to go for a walk! Don’t put your public’s safety at risk, uphold this ban!
They should be sued when the inevitable happens.