ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240023
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Kennels and cleanliness capped the contemplations of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors Monday night.
The board sent proposed new kennel regulations back to its animal welfare committee to be simplified, and asked its Clean Community Council to look into establishing a county cleanup day.
It also authorized setting up a committee to look into the creation of Randolph Park between Dublin and Newbern, where Evelyn Randolph Alexander has offered to donate 43 acres. Virginia Tech's Community Design Assistance Center has completed a master plan for developing it.
Supervisor Bruce Fariss said the committee could work in a fashion similar to the county courthouses committee, which planned the rebuilding of the old stone courthouse and expansion of the adjacent brick courthouse. It also could recommend ways to seek funding for the park development, he said.
Such a park could be a big part of the county's economic development, Fariss said, because of its affect on the quality of life, especially a proposed swimming pool, he said. The county currently has no public pool.
The board reviewed proposed animal control regulations submitted by the animal welfare committee. Suggested changes will be presented in a new draft next month, with a public hearing planned for June.
The revisions include penalties for dogs or other animals acting as nuisances. The board received a letter from 20 residents of the Lakeview subdivision, off Owens Road in the Snowville area, saying they favor nuisance penalties, especially for barking dogs. Deputies and animal control officials, they said, have been unable to stop dogs barking constantly without an ordinance to back them up.
The draft ordinance would require rabies inoculations for domesticated cats as well as dogs. Fariss suggested lowering the cost of dog licenses where owners have obtained three-year inoculations instead of shots for one year for their animals, to encourage the longer immunity.
But a draft kennel ordinance was deemed difficult to interpret.
"It's so complicated, it's so vague, I think it ought to be sent back and redone," Supervisor Frank Conner said. "It just doesn't make sense to me."
"When I got to the end of it, I didn't know what it said, it was so confusing," Farris said.
Kennel owner Robert Goad said the proposed regulations would make kennels unnecessarily costly. "The majority of people in this county take care of their animals," he said.
The board added Goad to the animal welfare committee to represent kennel interests, along with Diane Graham, who already represents the New River Kennel Association on the committee.
Fariss said the towns of Dublin and Pulaski and city of Radford have been holding cleanup days, and he thought the county should plan one also. He said county citizens need to become concerned once more about keeping litter off roadsides and the countryside.
Chairman Joe Sheffey, who had participated in a cleanup in the Hazel Hollow area, said he was amazed at the trash dumped just in that area. It included refrigerators, junked cars and other large items, he said.
Supervisor Charles Cook said disposing of trash should be made as easy as possible for residents, and cleanup work should be done at the same time. "You've got to get community involvement. It's the only way," said Supervisor Jerry White.
"I agree with Jerry. We've got to sell the people in our community that we've got to improve our image," Fariss said. The board approved his motion to have the Clean Community Council report on cleanup recommendations within 30 days.
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