DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997             TAG: 9704160546

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY                    LENGTH:   82 lines

DOG DROPPINGS ATTRACT OFFICIALS' ATTENTION ELIZABETH CITY HAS CANINE POOP WOES

The City Council is doggedly determined to find an answer to a problem that many residents consider a very sticky issue.

Led by Councilman Zack Robertson, the council has promised to rid constituents of their concern over stepping in doggy do.

``I want that one bad,'' Robertson said during a recent board planning session.

Robertson lives on Main Street, where the problem became so bad he had signs made and put them up in his yard. The signs featured a squatting dog looking over its shoulder. Painted over the dog was the universal ``No'' symbol of a red circle with a line through it.

The signs were effective for four or five weeks, Robertson said, until someone stole them.

Robertson said in an interview Tuesday that it's a problem not only on shoes.

``You get it all over your lawn mower wheels. It's not fair. It's not right.''

He once caught his neighbor standing by her large bulldog while the animal squatted in Robertson's yard.

``I screamed. I hollered,'' said Robertson. ``I told her, `You can't let that dog poop where I've got to mow. I don't go over there and do it on your porch.' Needless to say, she's not going to vote for me next time.''

The proposed city ordinance will make it illegal for anybody to let their dog deposit in someone else's yard or in a public park unless they clean up afterward. The ordinance will likely be similar to a ``dog defecation'' law in effect in Raleigh since the 1950s.

``It shall be unlawful for any person owning, harboring, keeping, or in charge of any dog to fail to remove feces deposited by the dog on any street, sidewalk, park or other publicly owned area,'' the ordinance reads. A second part of the ordinance outlaws dogs doing it in people's yards.

``We have leash laws,'' City Manager Steven Harrell said. ``You can't just let your dog run free. Butthere are no poop laws. We do have a problem in our parks, too. Waterfront Park is a favorite. It's definitely an issue we need to address.''

Improper dog toiletry goes beyond city limits.

The Pasquotank County animal control officers average 15 to 20 calls a day and about half of those are dog complaints, said Ronnie Barefoot, a local animal control officer. ``In the last two weeks we had a lady who complained about dog poop on her gravel road and that it was not sanitary for her to run over it and get it on her tires,'' said Barefoot.

Barefoot could do nothing about it on a public road.

When a citizen calls Barefoot with dog complaints, he has the option of issuing a verbal or written warning to the dog's owner. If the problem continues, and Barefoot actually sees the dog trespassing, he can issue a warrant or criminal summons.

The charge depends on the severity of the crime. Doggy poop in the yard does not normally cause the arrest of the owner. Many people just endure the aggravation to get along with their neighbors.

Jim Bridges was polite about a small inconvenience in the Forest Park neighborhood where he lives.

``No significant problem,'' Bridges said. ``A neighbor nearby has little bitty dogs who leave little bitty surprises.''

Another man, who lives in the Country Village subdivision, complained about a large dog that uses his yard regularly. He wished not to be identified.

``That dog poops regularly right next to where I get out of my car,'' he said. ``I have to be careful, especially if I come home after dark.''

Pete Lacy lives out in the country on Gaulberry Road and has no problems around his home but, ``I walk a lot downtown,'' he said as if the phrase were the punchline of a joke.

``Sometimes I step off the sidewalk to let people pass, and I step in it once in a while,'' he said. ``I watch for it now. You don't have to hit it but a couple of times and you learn.''

Charlene Henard, supervisor of the SPCA shelter in Elizabeth City, suggested dog owners practice better etiquette by carrying with them plastic bags and a small garden shovel.

Harrell said some California cities make plastic bags available at the parks, but that may be too expensive here. The owner will be responsible for providing his own bag.

A bread bag works sufficiently, Robertson said, by putting the bag over the hand and arm, picking up the feces, then pulling the bag off. The feces is left in the bag.

``I understand a dog has to go before it gets home,'' Robertson said. ``Just clean it up so I don't have to step in it. That's all.''

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