Parents worry dogs might attack elementary students

By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff Writer

Whiteville’s City Council is considering action against a local resident whose dogs are reportedly frightening children and disrupting classes at Edgewood School.

Jenny Greco appeared before the council Tuesday and described how “seven or eight” dogs at 200 N. Thompson Street in Whiteville are aggressive toward passers-by and “cruelly” tethered.

Greco presented the council with a petition signed by 187 teachers, staff and parents concerned about both the welfare of the dogs and their children at Edgewood. The dogs reportedly disrupt classes with incessant barking, Greco said, and teachers leading walking field trips have to make sure children avoid the dog lot.

Greco also told the board that one of the dogs, apparently a pit bull, is chained to a tree and is regularly seen standing in its own feces. The black dog also recently “reached through” a light chain link fence separating it from the other animals and severely injured another dog.

“My son was traumatized by this sight,” she said. “Another mother told me her child cried all the way home after seeing the attack.”

The black dog’s breed, combined with being chained to a tree, makes Greco fear for the worst, she said. Greco supplied the council with a list from an animal advocacy group documenting attacks on small children by tethered dogs.

“A tethered dog is going to become an aggressive dog,” Greco said. “This has been proven time and again. What’s going to happen if that dog breaks loose and ends up at the school during recess?”

Greco also admitted that sometimes children rattle the fence confining the dogs, or run their fingers down the fence, aggravating the animals.

“Children will be children,” she said. “They know they shouldn’t do that, but what are you going to do?”

Councilman Harold Troy cautioned the board about rushing to take action against the owner of the animals.

“I’d like to hear from the accused,” he said. “Is anyone here representing him?”

Greco gave the council photos of the black dog, and pointed out that the animal’s collar “is thin and worn. If that dog breaks loose,” she said, “the fence is not going to be a barrier to him. He’s going over or through it, and somebody will be hurt.”

Greco said she walks her son to and from school each day, and the dogs regularly “frighten us” with barking, growling, and other behavior.

“Plus,” she said, “you have to hold your breath sometimes as you go by. The smell is awful.”

Ben Davis, a teacher at Edgewood who regularly walks in the area, said the dogs are “intimidating to say the least. If my dog will climb a fence,” he said, “I’m pretty sure those could, too.”

Davis said when he takes classes on field trips to the courthouse, city hall or the Museum of Forestry, “we have to watch out when we go by there.

“It’s a scary situation,” he said. “I don’t blame the dog for the way it is being treated, but something has to be done.”

Greco asked the council to take code enforcement action against the dog’s owner if nothing else can be done.

“According to your ordinance,” she said, “animals can’t be kept in an inhumane manner. This looks pretty inhumane, in my opinion.”

Britt and Greco said the dogs’ owner regularly cleans up around the pen when he suspects city inspectors will be coming by. Greco said parents and teachers at the school have seen the dogs shred stuffed animals and spread trash around the pen, and when city officials come by to check out the reports, the area has been clean .

Britt said he has checked the pen several times since Greco’s complaint, “and I haven’t seen a thing. This doesn’t mean they aren’t keeping it clean because they know we’re coming,” he said. Britt said numerous attempts to contact the dogs’ owners have been unsuccessful.

Council instructed Britt, City Attorney Carlton Williamson and Interim City Manager Doug Palmer to investigate possible further action in the situation. The council is not immediately considering passing an anti-tether ordinance or strengthening rules regarding pets.

Greco thanked the board, and emphasized that some in the area consider the situation “a tragedy getting ready to happen.”

“I hope it doesn’t take a child being mauled to get something done,” she said.