They have told city officials and police they carry pepper spray to fend off any sudden attack if they venture outdoors. They also fret over the danger they say awaits unaware bikers, skateboarders and dog walkers who use the street to get to city parks in the middle-class neighborhood near police headquarters.
Police reports and minutes of a City Commission meeting last month document the terror-filled voices of neighbors who fear three pit bulls living at the home in question. At least 20 incidents have occurred starting in 2009 with a male pit bull later joined by two female pits.
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| One of the three dogs looked out from an upstairs window. Several residents of an Atlantic Beach, FL. neighborhood went to the last city commission meeting to complain about three pit bull dogs who have been allowed to "terrorize" people and animals along Magnolia Street. |
Animal control officers have written 14 citations for city ordinance violations by one or more of the dogs including excessive barking, running at large and once leaving puncture wounds in a small dog’s neck while on the beach. A contractor working on a neighboring home reportedly got nipped while fighting off one dog, while other people tell stories of fending off attacks using a surfboard and a shovel.
Neighborhood organizer Lindsay Cole has lived next door for what she described to the commission as a pretty miserable two years. Cole’s concerns were documented in the minutes of the Sept. 24 meeting.
“She stated the residents of Magnolia Street feel like prisoners in their own homes because of these irresponsible residents at 330 Magnolia,” the record said, adding that everyday passers-by are unknowingly at risk.
But dog owner Suzanne LeViseur said she’s fixed the problem by buying them new collars and holding her 20-year-old daughter more accountable for their care.
What happens next depends in part on a showdown set for Monday between the neighbors and LeViseur during the commission’s regularly scheduled 6:30 p.m. meeting.
The commission will sit as a quasi-judicial board to hear LeViseur’s appeal of Police Chief Michael Classey’s recent declaration that the dogs are a public nuisance, which he said she has to abate under city ordinance. The dogs must be secured while on her property and will be impounded if caught running at large off-leash again, Classey said.
Classey also deemed the dogs dangerous by documenting their aggressive, menacing behavior while running loose. Those violations, to be appealed at a separate hearing, would require LeViseur to take special measures to ensure the animals are secured on her property or face losing the dogs.
LeViseur did not return messages left by the Times-Union on her phone. She also didn’t return one left with her daughter, Cecilia Babillis, who the mother and neighbors said is the troublemaker.
In an appeals letter to the commission, LeViseur blamed Babillis for letting the dogs off their property without a leash or with an inappropriate collar and leash. LeViseur, 54, said she recently bought choker chain collars for the dogs and said they shouldn’t be considered a public nuisance.
“She [Babillis] now understands the severity of her actions and understands that she is not to take any of them out without one of these collars and leashes,” LeViseur wrote.
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| On Wednesday October 17, 2012 a woman in the home at 330 Magnolia refused to comment about the claims while the dogs barked from the balcony above the front door. The same woman (L) returned with the dogs to the balcony to take photos of an interview of a woman with two dogs on a leash walking down the street. |
“Innocent until proven guilty,” Babillis said to a Times-Union reporter without elaborating.
Classey said the mother and daughter have had plenty of chances but repeatedly ignored citations and talks with neighbors and authorities. The chief said he didn’t hesitate to act once his officers began investigating the complaints made to the commission and found other victims along the way.
Classey said it’s not uncommon for people to let their dogs run off-leash in Atlantic Beach, causing his agency to write scores of citations a year. But he said in his six years as chief he’s never seen the blatant disregard for city ordinances and associated danger that has occurred in this case.
“Talking about putting the public in danger, these dogs chasing and almost attacking people certainly meets that in my eyes,” Classey said.
The chief said he will call at least three witnesses to counter any testimony from LeViseur and whomever she chooses to call. Neighbors applauded the chief’s efforts, including Jennifer Chalot, who recalled once being confronted by one of the dogs as she got out of her car next door. She said she re-entered the vehicle and called for help to be rescued.
Chalot said she now carries pepper spray and intends to get a specially designed Taser for further protection.
“Everyone has talked to them, but they sincerely love the dogs and don’t believe they’re dangerous,” said Chalot, 64, a neighbor of LeViseur’s for 20 years. “I think they’re in a state of denial.”
Ronelle Davis said she recalls once hearing a group of skateboarders screeching to a halt, causing her to look out her picture window to see one of the dogs charging at them.
“They were all frozen,” Davis said. “I was thinking, ‘Where’s my bat? Those kids were going to be attacked.’ ”
She said Babillis retrieved the dog, leaving the skateboarders unharmed.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of if these dogs will attack people,” Davis said. “It’s a matter of when.”
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| Area resident Cindy Corey knows of the dogs which live in the home behind her but says she has had no trouble with them. |
Corey, 55, said dog owners must be responsible, but she also believes the community has to show some compassion and do what’s possible to steer troubled owners toward the proper training rather than threaten to take their animals.
“A lot of us need to train our dogs better,” Corey said.
(Jacksonville.com - Oct 22, 2012)
