Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020230
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That was about all Judge John Apostolou could do under a Vinton ordinance, but for the girl's family it was not enough.
"This dog is going to be let go to endanger someone's life again," said Debbie Taliaferro, the grandmother of Jessica Sartin, who was mauled by the dog July 2.
The dog's owner, Pamela Six of Vinton, also was fined $100 at a hearing Wednesday in Roanoke County General District Court.
Six pleaded guilty to keeping a vicious dog that attacked Sartin when the child was visiting friends in Vinton, according to Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Mark Claytor.
Although surrounding localities including Roanoke and Roanoke County have ordinances that allow vicious dogs to be put to death, the outcome in Thursday's case was the maximum punishment allowed under a Vinton town law.
"I think Vinton is going to need to take a look at its code," Claytor said.
Claytor said the dog has a history of threatening or attacking other people. It bit a 5-year-old boy in October 1991.
Six has arranged for friends to keep the dog in a heavily-secured cage outside of Vinton, Claytor said.
Her attorney, John Lichtenstein, said Six is "extremely concerned" about the attack and has "gone far beyond the order of the court" - which was simply that the dog can no longer be kept within town limits.
The dog, named Coda, had been quarantined at the Roanoke Valley SPCA since the attack.
Claytor said the dog was being held on a 10-foot chain at the time, but that did not prevent it from attacking the child without provocation in a small, shared lawn of a Raleigh Street apartment complex.
The 65-pound dog came out from under a porch and jumped the girl, biting her thigh, shoulder, back and face.
Sartin, now 10, received many stitches and may have to undergo plastic surgery, her grandmother said.
Six's husband, Steve, faces a charge of withholding information from authorities - including whether the dog had been vaccinated against rabies - during an investigation immediately after the mauling.
He had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, but the case was continued.
Akitas are Japanese dogs that do not have a reputation for violence. One common legend is that Japanese peasant women would leave their Akitas at home to watch their children while they worked in the fields.
In Roanoke, about a half-dozen dogs are put to death each year after attacks. Taliaferro said she plans to ask Vinton Town Council to consider an ordinance that would allow similar action.
"Jessie is scarred for the rest of her life, and this dog is being set loose," she said.
by CNB