I an a retired California lawyer living in the city of Orangeburg with my friend and mortgagor, Biaggia Crucilla, since December of 2005.

Throughout this time I have been putting up with a neighbor’s eight to 10 dogs and the out-of-control barking he allows even though there is a sign across the street stating, “Noise Ordinance Strictly Enforced.” After several unsuccessful attempts to quiet them by calling Orangeburg Public Safety (e.g., the police) in 2006, I worked out an uneasy truce with my neighbor during 2007.

This year he acquired a new dog that sounds worse than a barking seal.

Having had enough, I looked up the city and county ordinances and found both nuisance and barking dog ordinances. I also started videotaping, causing another neighbor to retaliate by getting four dogs. I contacted the chief of Public Safety, Wendell Davis, and City Administrator John Yow, requesting that they broker a workable solution to what was becoming an ugly and volatile neighborhood conflict.

The chief, one of his captains, the animal control officer, my neighbors, Ms. Crucilla and I attempted and informal “mediation.” Things were very tense and hostile on my neighbors’ side. Ms. Crucilla and I left believing things were unlikely to change, and they haven’t.

On April 15 I appeared before City Council imploring them to pass an ordinance like the one on the books in my hometown of San Marino, Calif., limiting each household within the city limits to no more than three dogs per household. The council indicated they would study the matter and reach a decision in the summer. I needn’t tell you that they reached the wrong decision. Tucker Lyon’s story covering that meeting appeared the following day. I also provided my support to Mr. John Cruise at the following council meeting, at which he also complained that the barking dog ordinances aren’t being adequately enforced.

On June 5 my next-door neighbor was fined by the municipal court judge and her father was fined $100 for contempt of court. I thought this would discourage my other neighbor from permitting his dogs to bark wildly. I was wrong, and that neighbor went to municipal court this month with Ms. Crucilla and me as chief witnesses against him.

The outcome before the same judge was an about-face. This neighbor was found not guilty with the judge’s reasoning essentially being “dogs will bark.”

This neighborhood has gone to the dogs, literally. I have reviewed the ordinances and zoning ordinances from start to finish. There are already restrictions which, in effect, limit each household to no more than three dogs in an A2 Residential Zone. The city administrator has indicated, however, that the council is unlikely to enforce this ordinance if it results in a forfeiture. If anything, he went on, the council is likely to repeal these ordinances, even though I live in a densely populated area and dog kennels are and should be prohibited.

I will be appearing before the council again to make the point.

-- Jeffrey Paul McMorrow, Esq. Orangeburg

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