PLEASE CROSS POST!

Today there was supposed to be a hearing held in Room 125 of the Capitol building in
downtown Atlanta to discuss House Bill 78.

I arrived early and found the room and introduced myself to a couple who were sitting in
there already. It turns out that the woman had been severely mauled last October and
almost lost her life to what she at first stated was a vicious Pit Bull Dog. The poor woman
was very angry and emotional and was scarred from head to toe. She showed me pictures
and I could see it was indeed a horrific experience. It turns out that the dog who attacked
this woman was a mixed breed and she did end up stating she was not sure what breeds it
was.

Shortly, several others arrived and came in and an informal meeting began. It quickly
became obvious that we were not in a meeting to discuss options for this proposed bill at
all. The couple had brought with them an attorney, an animal control officer and a police
woman...and...the media! They told us that our meeting must have been changed or
cancelled and they were there to discuss dangerous dogs, animal cruelty and dog fighting.
It turns out that they were there to discuss supporting a ban on APBT, Amstaffs and SBT's
and all mixes. We were asked to leave the meeting and told to go upstairs to get
Representative Williams out of session if we wished to talk with him...that theirs was a
private meeting.

So, myself and about 15 or so others did just that. We sent a runner in for Representatives
Earnest "Coach" Williams and Michele Henson. Our group was made up mostly of several
APBT breeders, two rescue groups, a no-kill shelter owner, two teachers, an animal control
officer, a dog trainer, Gail LaBerge an attorney Francis J. Mulcahy and myself.

Representative Williams came out of session and we went into another room where for
over 30 minutes he listened to each one of speak. He apologized for the schedule change
and not giving notice of it.

He took notes, asked us for copies of the information we spoke of, photos and any other
information we brought. One man had a newspaper article about how his 8 month old pit
bull saved him and his family from a burning house fire. One woman told a story of a drug
dog who had been adopted from a bad situation and trained by a police precinct to locate
drugs in school lockers. There was a story of how pit bulls were utilized at Ground Zero
after the 9/11 incident to locate people under the rubble.

He asked us if we thought that perhaps chaining all pit bulls would be acceptable, which
was met with loud arguments against this idea. He asked us for other alternatives such as
muzzling. It was pointed out to him that that would not only cause unnecessary trauma to
the dog and owners, but would attract negative attention to the breed when in public and
that it was not necessary. I asked him why would he suggest only bully breeds be required
to be muzzled...why not go ahead and require the muzzling of all dogs in public. He
laughed and said that would be silly unless they showed aggression...then he chuckled
and said he saw my point. He seemed to be really trying to learn and understand what he
was being told.

We did not get to speak with Representative Henson, but my emails with her indicate she
is against this bill as it is written. They are hearing us say that the focus should be on
responsible dog ownership and education and not on specific breed bans. He agreed that
the dangerous dog laws in place now are not followed and that perhaps they should be
looked at again. Perhaps stricter enforcement of them would be written into this
legislation - or that the laws already on the books be tightened up without regard to
breed.

He ended by saying that this bill has been put to bed for the time being and that he is still
gathering information. When asked why he proposed this bill he stated that a good friend
lost a sister to a pit bull attack. He also stated that there remains a huge problem in his
area with dangerous dogs. BTW, if I am not mistaken, he is in Dekalb County where pit
bulls are already restricted. Perfect example of why this does not work.

I wanted to go back to the room downstairs to see what was happening in the other
meeting, but could not stay. A guy from PAWS Atlanta had managed to sit in on that
meeting, so hopefully he can report on what went on. To me it looked like an opportunity
to bring this to the attention of the media - whom as we know will embellish on it and
make our jobs even harder.

Please spread the word to folks here in Georgia that they really need to contact their
representatives regarding how they feel. Keep it short and to the point. They are quite
accessible and willing to listen, especially to their own constituents.

Thank you to all of you who have helped me. I am grateful to you all and am prepared to
be as involved as I need to be to see this through to fruition so that we are satisfied with
any laws introduced onto Georgia's (and any city, state, county or country for that matter)
books regarding BSL.

Regards,

Lynnie