WYTHEVILLE'S CAT LOVERS ARE ALL A-DANGLE ABOUT TAGS

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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993                   TAG: 9302260071
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-11   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Medium
WYTHEVILLE'S CAT LOVERS ARE ALL A-DANGLE ABOUT TAGS
With the 1993 legislature having just authorized localities to license cats as well as dogs, some Wytheville residents wonder if their Town Council acted too quickly in creating its own cat-licensing ordinance.
Licenses went on sale this month at the town treasurer's office and the deadline for having bought them was today.
Patty W. Midkiff, a representative of the Wythe Humane Society, sent a letter to the town last week suggesting that council might be imposing unlawful fees on cat owners. When she wrote her letter, the General Assembly still was considering legislation allowing local cat licensing.
She asked that council rescind its ordinance and repay anyone who already had bought a cat license.
But council members think they are on safe legal ground with the ordinance because the town's charter authorizes regulations on animals in general.
"In Virginia, localities have only those authorities which are specifically given to them by the General Assembly or which is granted to them by the General Assembly in their locality's charter," council member D.B. Cox said last week.
"The town's charter specifically authorizes the council to create regulations for the control of animals within the corporate limits. This is the basis for the authority under which the council enacted regulations.
"Though the opinion of the attorney general does not reflect our position, it becomes a moot point since the General Assembly has specifically passed legislation permitting localities to develop regulations on cats."
The licenses under the Wytheville ordinance, adopted in November, are $4 annually for neutered cats and $6 for others.
Council adopted the ordinance because of complaints of property damage by cats.
In earlier versions, it would have required cats to be restricted to the property of their owners and to wear collars with licenses on them.
But cat owners at public hearings convinced council members that many cats would not cooperate with those requirements.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB