CONDITIONS SET TO SPARE LIFE OF GREAT DANE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 8, 1993                   TAG: 9301080289
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CONDITIONS SET TO SPARE LIFE OF GREAT DANE
A Great Dane that has attacked three people has three days to live - unless its owner can meet the requirements of Roanoke's new ordinance dealing with dangerous dogs.
Chris Milliner, who owns the dog named Damion, was in Roanoke Circuit Court on Thursday, two days after the dog bit two workers at the Roanoke Valley SPCA.
Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein ordered that unless Milliner pays the SPCA $510 in boarding fees and obtains liability insurance for the dog by Monday, the animal will be destroyed.
The case is one of the first to reach Circuit Court under the city's new ordinance, which attempts to define dogs that attack people as either dangerous or vicious.
A vicious dog must be destroyed, while a dangerous one can be kept if the owner follows strict conditions - including getting at least $50,000 in liability insurance, keeping the dog confined at all times and using tattoos to identify it as a threat.
Milliner had been charged in October with keeping a vicious dog after the Great Dane bit his roommate in the arm, according to Tammy Javier of the SPCA. A judge in General District Court convicted him and ordered the dog destroyed, but Milliner appealed the case to Circuit Court.
On appeal last month, a judge ruled the dog was dangerous and allowed Milliner to keep the animal if he met all the requirements within three weeks - the end of which falls on Monday.
After the SPCA attack, prosecutors took Milliner back to court Thursday to make sure the dog was not released before Monday.
"Basically, this dog cannot be handled," Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said.
Milliner said Thursday that he still hopes to get his dog back.
Even if the dog is allowed to live under the dangerous classification, Milliner now faces new charges of keeping a vicious dog stemming from the SPCA attack. In that case, the dog attacked two workers while being held at the SPCA while the court case was pending.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB