Sandy and Zuko, which belong to Melinda Golas and Donald Golas, killed Perry Pascarella’s Shih Tzu, Bella, and injured Pascarella on Aug. 10.
“The judge determined that the ‘dangerous dog’ designations should stay,” said Avon Lake Prosecutor John Reulbach. “The Golas’ were trying to overturn that designation, but the judge agreed with the city on that.”
Under Ohio Revised Code, a “dangerous dog” is a dog that has killed another dog; caused injury, other than killing or serious injury, to a person; or a dog whose owner has been cited for failure to keep the dog under control or prevent its escape.
The Golas’, whose dogs are currently at home, plan to appeal the Sept. 1 decision, said David Kos, Ward 4 Councilman and safety committee chairman.
Their attorney said only one of the dogs should have been declared as “dangerous” because it is unclear which one killed Bella, Reulbach said.
However, he said that Pascarella and a witness testified that the dogs pulled at both ends of Bella “like it was a toy.”
Under state law, owners of a “dangerous dog” have to keep the dog in a locked pen with a top while on the owners’ premises and on a chain-link leash or tether no longer than six feet and muzzled while off the owners’ premises.
Donald Golas said at the scene of the incident that the gate to his fenced-in backyard wasn’t latched properly, according to an Avon Lake police report.
Other restrictions of owners of “dangerous dogs” include a $100,000 mandatory liability insurance policy, receipt of a dangerous dog registration certificate from the county auditor and micro chipping of the dog.
Donald Golas has a hearing scheduled for 11 a.m., Sept. 17, for two charges of dog at-large, a minor misdemeanor that carries a maximum $150 fine, Reulbach said.
The Aug. 10 dog attack follows another that occurred in Avon Lake on June 19, where a pit bull attacked and killed a corgi-beagle mix.
The pit bull’s owner’s girlfriend, who was walking the dog, was charged with a minor misdemeanor and fined $150, but the dog wasn’t designated as “dangerous.”
City officials are continuing to draft legislation pertaining to dog attacks and are now working with Medina-based law firm Holland & Muirden, Kos said
“The law firm of Holland & Muirden has a real expertise in animal law,” Kos said. “They’ve helped draft state legislation.”
Such legislation includes Goddard’s Law, an anti-animal cruelty law named after Cleveland meteorologist Dick Goddard, he said.
City officials are improving upon what they already have drafted. While the hiring of Holland & Muirden might delay the final reading of the new legislation by a couple weeks, it will make it stronger, Kos said.
“We are not starting from scratch again,” he said.
(Morning Journal - Sept 2, 2015)
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