T'

Ordinance on pit bulls lacks focus

Proposed legislation should meet several requirements before passage. A law should be properly focused to address a substantial problem. Its public benefit must be properly balanced with any restriction of personal freedom; the good should not be indiscriminately punished with the bad. Finally, the law must be reasonable and enforceable.

The proposed Annapolis pit bull ordinance meets none of these requirements. Emotional supporters believe it will deter vicious dog attacks and dog fighting, yet the law never once mentions either.

It is not properly focused. If your aim is to deter dog attacks, create a vicious dog ordinance. Anne Arundel County statistics indicate that mixed breeds, German shepherds, labs, and Rottweilers accounted for 522 more dog bites than pit bulls in 1997. Why concentrate on pit bulls alone? If your goal is to deter dog fighting, say so, and craft a law directed toward it.

The ordinance is not reasonable. It bars pit bull ownership to citizens under 25 years old. A person could drive, serve in the military, vote and drink before he could own a pit bull. The law also requires pit bull owners to muzzle and leash their dogs on fenced-in property. These requirements are neither balanced or reasonable. They arbitrarily and unnecessarily restrict property rights and personal freedom.

Requiring pit bull owners to pay a $100 licensing fee, carry a

$500,000 insurance policy and register their dogs with the Annapolis police (in addition to Anne Arundel County licensing requirements) is neither balanced nor properly focused. This burden on responsible owners will not deter dog fighting or vicious dog attacks. Dog fighters will pay the fee and continue their criminal activity. Large purses easily justify the expenditure. A $100 pit bull fee will not discourage pit bull attacks. It will only discourage ownership of pit bulls.

The ordinance requires the registration of mixed-breed dogs who "appear to be" predominantly pit bull. It does not say who will make this determination. Police? Veterinarians? Veterinarians have testified that determination of predominant breed can't be done by appearance. Additionally, who will ensure that pit bull owners maintain their $500,000 insurance policy? The law is vague and unenforceable.

Supporters of this ordinance say they want to "do something" about vicious pit bulls. That is laudable.

Unfortunately, the ordinance presumes all pit bulls to be vicious, and that simply isn't true.

I support stricter enforcement of existing animal control laws. I will support a vicious dog ordinance and stronger dog fighting laws, but I will not support the pit bull ordinance until it is properly focused, balanced, reasonable and enforceable. In creating laws, we need to do more than just "something." We need to do the right thing.

Herb McMillan

Annapolis

?3 The writer is an Annapolis alderman in Ward 5.

Reader cancels, and here's why

This is my first letter to the editor. Should you choose to publish it, I will not see it because I recently canceled my subscription. I have done this for a number of reasons.

First, I have read your continuing coverage of education in Maryland and your "Reading by 9" series for many months. I am an educator and while your coverage has occasionally been enlightening, more often than not it has skewed the issues along political and educational lines that I find disconcerting.

While many professionals espouse a balanced literacy approach, your reporters have misinterpreted that message in a variety of ways, which serves to muddy the waters more than clear them. The past few years have made "whole language" a dirty word and phonics the savior of the lost generation.

In fact, a balanced literacy approach correctly names each of them as methods to teach reading that work best when used in conjunction rather than as mutually exclusive teaching styles. While I awaited your "Reading by 9" series and applaud your commitment to children, the information contained therein will not end illiteracy. Shame on you for advertising that it will.

The second reason I chose to cancel was your Oct. 22 endorsement of John G. Gary as executive of Anne Arundel County.

I am a speech language pathologist for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The embarrassing budget fight was only the latest salvo directed at the Board of Education and professional staff of the county.

Mr. Gary has undermined the policies of the board and the needs of students. Moreover, he continually displays a lack of respect for the efforts of teachers. Mr. Gary would have us believe he is a friend of education because he released funds after a spring and summer of mudslinging, stonewalling and insults.

Keep in mind that the released money is to build schools (which the board continually says it does not need and cannot maintain) and to hire teachers. With a hiring freeze through the prime season of interviews, whom does he expect the principals to hire? Most new teachers interviewed and signed contracts with other school systems. Those teachers who were left in the pool face an uncertain fiscal future as well as a hostile work environment.

Veteran teachers have not received a pay raise in seven years and have collected only a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment over that same period of time. They now face more students in decaying buildings without heat or air conditioning outside set hours and a limited number of copies on the one copy machine in their building. When their quota runs out, that is it.

As a professional, I find it appalling that I have to pick and choose assignments for my students so my access code number doesn't expire in the middle of the year. The hiring freeze also essentially stopped processing new substitute teachers so that classes are combined or cultural arts classes are canceled when subs are not available.

This increases discipline problems and, at the very least, interferes with the educational process. In this atmosphere, teachers had better raise test scores, use the "correct" teaching methods and continue their own educational programs in order to maintain their certification.

I can't imagine why there is a teacher shortage, can you?

Maureen Wood

Ellicott City

Getting to work without a car

The Anne Arundel Bicycle/Pedestrian Council has been formed under the Maryland Governors Bicycle Advisory committee to represent the interests of Anne Arundel County bicyclists and pedestrians.

The council's mission is to enliven and facilitate bicycling, walking, running and in-line skating as safe modes of transportation and recreation.

AABC's vision is to unite pedestrians and bicyclists that live, work, and visit Anne Arundel County to facilitate the creation of an interconnected network of off-road paths and on-road shoulders and bike lanes for safe bicycling and pedestrian use.

We will meet every other month to hear and address the needs of our community, learn the status of projects, prioritize projects for recommendation to planners and organize to support county and state representatives standing for bicycle and pedestrian issues.

The first general meeting will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Anne Arundel County Department of Parks and Recreation, 1 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis.

At this meeting, we will begin to define recommendations for a county network of on- and off-road paths and bike lanes. We have 1,000 signatures on petitions -- 91 percent said that if bike lanes were available, they would use them for transportation.

I am taking a bike ride through the county this week in an effort to promote the interconnected network of roads and paths that will not only provide continuous travel within the county but also to and from adjacent counties.

Therese Quaranta

Edgewater

The writer is chairwoman of the Anne Arundel Bicycle/Pedestrian Council.

Zoning officials aren't getting job done

In the foyer of PACE (Planning and Code Enforcement), Anne Arundel's zoning office, a large picture of a train is coming toward the viewer. In the foreground, the track turns abruptly, a sharp 90 degrees. The train is labeled "Anne Arundel County." The track around the turn is labeled "County Land Use Policy."

The developers just smile.

Gwendolyn Girdling is the tree officer. She is supposed to tell the 16 SAPs (Small Area Plan citizen committees) how their parts of the county measure up to federal regulations for air quality. But she won't. She fears it would make road-building tougher for Weyden, her boss.

Penelope Pirquewell (aka "Septic Sue") is the wetlands officer. She is supposed to provide 12 Watershed Management Master Plan Studies to guide the SAPs. Only one and a half of these studies have been completed, but Penelope doesn't think this should delay the SAPs in their work.

C. Lesse Quayle is the farm officer. He is supposed to tell the SAPs the sewer capacity in their areas, but he won't.

It might delay his solution to the tobacco problem: a crop of townhouses that won't crowd the schools because only childless people will move in.

Weyden Moore Rhodes is the boss and also the highway officer. He is supposed to tell the SAPs their transportation capacity. Needless to say, he's the developers' favorite bureaucrat. To cut costs, he vetoes traffic lights unless fatalities rise above one child a year.

But there is one PACE staffer who does want to help: Racine O. Hall, the speedway officer. She wants an "entertainoplex" in each of the 16 SAP areas. You walk through a lobby filled with slot machines to grandstands around a track with a bandstand in the infield.

When critics deride her "rasinohalls" as road cloggers, Racy retorts: "Hey, go talk to Weyden. The Fort Smallwood Bridge traffic jam is just part of the human condition. Live with it!"

J. A. Hoage

Severna Park

Pub Date: 11/08/98