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BSL - The Rest of the Story

Perhaps you were following my ordeal with the anti-BSL crowd. For a while there, it got pretty intense. I was bombarded with emails from all over the United States. One group in particular was mean-spirited.

But there was also another group that was delightful and informative. The North Texas Bully Breed Club, led by president Rachael King, showed the level of courtesy and maturity that can actually get people’s attention.

To summarize, the Cedar Hill City Council passed a resolution requesting the legislature allow cities to make their own decision about BSL. The day after the meeting, Rachael asked me to come to one of their meetings. I think I surprised her by agreeing to go. So, on that Saturday night my wife and I went to White Rock Lake and met with the North Texas Bully Breed Club.

Given Rachael’s emails, I knew the group would be courteous. When I arrived, I was given a tour and introduced to many of the pets. The pets were predominately American Pit Bull Terriers but there were a few other “bully” breeds there.

I was surprised to find that some of the pets didn’t look like my vision of pit bulls. Some had faces quite similar to a labrador. Without exception the pets were well-behaved.

These pet owners represented the “responsible” owner. Someone who cares for the animal and spends the necessary time to train the dog. They also took precautions, such has keeping the dogs in individual cages when they were not being played with.

A couple of times some of the dogs started barking and growling at each other. But I suppose that is not a breed specific act. The owners were very careful not to allow their dog to approach another dog from behind. I was told that because of their breeding, pit bulls can be aggressive toward other dogs and so reasonable measures were taken.

All in all, I had a very enjoyable time. The people were nice and the animals were well-behaved. I don’t know that I have changed my position just yet, but groups like these go a long way in changing the perspective and opening a productive dialog.

The owners who attack people with name-calling and hateful language do not serve their cause well. To those people, you would be better served not acting like the stereotype of the animals you are defending.

School District to Propose 13 Cent Tax Increase

The Cedar Hill I.S.D. Board of Trustees could vote as early as this month on a proposed 13 cent tax increase. If it passes, it would go to the voters in sometime in October for approval.

The City Council met with the school board to discuss the issues and asked some direct and tough questions.

In 2006, the Texas Legislature passed comprehensive school finance reform. I wrote about this plan back in 2006 as the negotiations were raging.

In a nutshell, the plan called for reducing a school district’s M&O budget from a cap of $1.50 to $1.00. At the time most districts, including Cedar Hill, chose the “Golden Pennies,” raising the M&O tax rate to $1.04.

In exchange for the reduction in revenue, the Legislature promised new monies to schools in the form of teacher raises, teacher performance incentives, and 1 billion over three years to reform Texas high schools.
You can read Gov. Perry’s press release of May 16 2006 here.

But Cedar Hill has not seen any of that money.

Mike McSwain, the Director of Finance for the district, did a good job explaining the situation.

Schools receive money from the state based on a standard called the “Weighted Average Daily Attendance” or WADA. Essentially, this is how much the state thinks it should cost to educate each student in the district.

When a city’s property values increase so that the district would collect more than their set WADA, the excess is given to the state to support the “Robin Hood” program.

So schools don’t get the benefit of a healthly local economy. The only way to get more than the WADA, is to raise the tax rate.

The additional 13 cent tax increase would amount to about $4.7 million dollars to the schools.

This would help pay for some basics that have been deferred from prior budgets. It is also the first step in bringing the schools inline with the vision the school board and the citizens of Cedar Hill have for our schools.

New Assistant Chief of Police

Cedar Hill hired a new Assistant Chief of Police last month. Lt. Rodney Thompson was chosen from a number of area applicants, beating out the somewhat controversial Southlake Police Chief, Wade Goolsby.

Lt. Thompson has is a 23-year veteran from Arlington where he commanded the southwest sector of the city.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Southwest Texas Statute University now known as Texas State University.

He will officially begin August 4, wisely avoiding the move into the new Government Center.

Breed Specific Legislation Discussed

Are you for or against BSL? Don’t know what BSL is? Neither did I until a few days ago.

BSL stands for Breed Specific Legislation. That is, an ordinance that applies to a specific breed of dog.

Think pit bulls are more aggressive than other breeds and want to do something about it? Well, you can’t. At least not under the law as passed by the Texas Legislature.

The Texas Legislature prohibits cities from passing ordinances designed to address specific dangerous dog breeds.

All this came up because the Council had received numerous complaints from citizens about dogs — pit bulls especially — wandering around neighborhoods “terrorizing” the citizens.

Normal ordinances don’t work very well. We can pick up the dog and impound it. We can even impose escalating fines and impoundment fees. But the irresponsible owners, who don’t care for the animal anyway, never claim it. They just go get another dog and start the process over again.

Citizens told us compelling stories about their experiences with pit bulls. One poor lady said she was charged by a pit bull and her small dog jumped in to protect her. She ran to a safe place and watched as the Pit Bull mutilated and fatally wounded her dog.

Another citizen was recently attacked in her own yard when a pit bull got out of a neighbors yard. In that case, the pit bull was euthanized and the citizen agreed to help with the medical bills.

The issue before the Council last night was not a specific BSL. Rather, it was a resolution asking the Texas Legislature to remove the prohibition to BSL so local governments can pass ordinances that are right for that community. In my view, it provides flexibility for municipalities.

The issue got the attention of several animal groups. In the days leading up the meeting, the Council received emails from Wisconsin, Washington, and a host of area cities. A rather large crowd gathered.

In emails, BSL was called “doggie profiling.” Some of its opponents compared it to the KKK or Al-Queda. One person at the Council meeting said that America was fighting the war in Iraq to protect the rights of persons wanting to own pit bulls. I was called some pretty mean-spirited names in emails when I challenged some of their arguments.

Last night’s resolution passed unanimously.

Update: Rachael King’ the president of the North Texas Bully Breed Club, invited me to one of their meetings. I think she was a little surprised I accepted. I went last Saturday night and had a good meeting. The people we very nice and the dogs were well behaved. It was an enjoyable evening.

Also on the Net: Cedar Hill Addresses Pit Bull Problem, from Best Southwest Citizen.

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