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Posted by GoatWorld on June 27, 2002 at 20:18:10:
Article last updated:
Friday, June 21, 2002 10:06 AM MST
Animal law citation gets city couple's goat(s)
They vow to keep three pets at Market Street house
By MIKE HOOVER
Dispatch/Sunday News
Richard and Patricia Gries, the first people to be charged with violating York City's new animal ordinance, vow to challenge the restriction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.
The Grieses say they have no intention of giving up three goats the family keeps as pets at their home in the 800 block of East Market Street home.
The couple has hired York Attorney Victor A. Neubaum Jr. to fight charges they violated the animal ordinance filed May 29 by the city's animal enforcement officer, Mark McCartney.
Neubaum said the city cannot target the Grieses for simply owning goats but legally must show that the animals pose a public safety or health issue, which he says they do not.
"Hell no, the goats won't go," Neubaum said.
"The goats are there, and they (the Grieses) are willing to fight to keep them."
A preliminary hearing has been set for Aug. 14 before York County Senior District Justice Margaret Bria.
Ban adopted: In a 3-2 vote in May, the city council banned all farm animals from the city and limited the number of pets per household to six. Anyone violating the ordinance faces a fine of $50 to $600, plus court costs, and up to 30 days in prison for each day of each violation.
After adopting the ordinance, the council members said the city would not make sweeping enforcement checks for illegal animals but would respond when a complaint was filed.
Wendell White, the Grieses' neighbor, complained to the city, saying the goats smelled. White had lobbied the city council for several months, and the council finally changed the animal ordinance for the first time in 40 years.
Mayor John S. Brenner signed the legislation in May after first questioning whether the initiative was a politically motivated attempt to resolve a neighbor dispute.
Selective enforcement: Neubaum said he can argue that the Grieses should be allowed to keep the goats because they had the animals before the city adopted the restrictions. He also said the city's selective enforcement of the ordinance discriminates against his clients, just to "placate a neighbor."
"This lets the neighbor decide who gets prosecuted or not. That decision should rest with the municipalities," Neubaum said.
Brenner was out of town and unavailable for comment.
City will fight: Abe Amoros, the city's public information officer, said he respected the Grieses right to appeal.
"And we will defend our ordinance," Amoros said.
Neubaum said the city's case is so weak that the city won't bother to get a court injunction to try to have the goats removed. City officials would be unable to meet the legal burden proving the animals are a nuisance and need to go, he said.
As an example, he said several council members visited the Grieses' home before the vote and publicly said they did not see the goats as a problem.
Good have to suffer: Before voting for the restrictions, Council President Mary Ann Bacas said she "regrets that the good and innocent have to suffer to protect a greater good."
Bacas could not be reached for comment yesterday.
If found guilty by Bria, Neubaum estimated it could easily take until next year before the case is heard on appeal in county court -- and then possibly years of appeals to state court.
Neubaum -- an animal rights advocate who has been active with the York County Society for the Prevention of Animals for 13 years -- said he may try to avoid the costly and time-consuming court process and appeals by asking for a declaratory judgment from a county judge who could find the city's ordinance invalid.
"I don't anticipate there is a way they (the city) can clean up the ordinance to hold my client criminally or civilly responsible," Neubaum said. "I don't think they can write a valid ordinance that will mean the goats have to go."
Amoros declined to address the city's potential legal strategy.
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