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Date Posted: 05:09:19 03/17/02 Sun
Author: Sue N
Subject: Warren, Michigan

Pit bull attack may prompt new law in Warren

By: By Norb Franz, Macomb Daily Staff Writer March 17, 2002

Sharp

Warren officials may adopt a tougher vicious dog law after a 6-year-old boy was mauled by a pit bull.
Currently, the city prohibits any person from allowing a vicious, fierce or dangerous dog to go unconfined or unrestrained on their premises, or to run at large.

Lori Sharp feels any changes are too little, too late for her son.

As Nate Sharp played with a neighbor's Pekinese on Jan. 25, a pit bull, one of two from a neighboring yard, crawled under a fence and mauled the boy's left leg.

The mother of the owner of the dogs managed to get Zeke, a 9-month-old pit bull, away from Nate and pull the boy out of the yard. Ronda Bayisden held the frightened, severely bleeding boy until paramedics arrived.

He kept saying, "Ronda, I don't want to go to heaven" she said. "I thought he was going to die in my arms."

The bites to Nate's left leg just missed an artery, his mother said. He lost much of the flesh around his calf and part of the muscle.

Nate underwent two donor skin grafts, and spent three weeks in Children's Hospital.

Nate is practically bedridden to keep his leg elevated. A suction machine is hooked to the wound 24 hours a day. Doctors anesthetize him when changing his bandages every three days.

For his third skin graft last week, he'll face skin replacement until he reaches adulthood, doctors harvested skin from his left thigh.

Warren police waited two days before taking the two pit bulls, Zeke and Chyna, from Daniel Martinez's home. Both dogs were held at the Macomb County Animal Shelter, and Martinez requested Zeke be euthanized. Chyna was spared, but Martinez said he planned to give the older dog away.

"Just so I donŐt have ... problems here," he explained after The Macomb Daily reported the incident.

The Warren City Council recently directed the city's Animal Rights Commission to meet with city attorneys to review current regulations.

Councilman James Fouts, who proposes tougher measures, wants possession and harboring of a vicious dog, or more than one pit bull, outlawed.

Fouts suggested any person who fails to properly confine and restrain a pit bull should face a mandatory $500 fine. He criticized his colleagues for not discussing his proposal before referring the issue to the animal rights panel.

Any ordinance changes recommended by lawyers for the city are subject to council's approval, although no date has been set for a review.

Mayor Mark Steenbergh criticized Fouts' idea, saying responsible pet owners could suffer if officials are left to define viciousness.

"Obviously, this is not the business for government to be in," Steenbergh said in a letter mailed to some 1,800 dog owners. The letter, paid by the mayor's campaign fund, listed Fouts' home telephone number.

The councilman wasn't pleased to be inundated with calls Friday.

"Why is it the mayor is so paranoid about Jim Fouts?" Fouts wondered. He added his proposal is not aimed at removing family pets, but targets people who train dogs to be vicious.

The Michigan Humane Society opposes any local or state laws prohibiting private ownership of dogs by breed.

"The issue is not what type of breed a person owns, or even how many pets a person owns, but whether or not a pet owner behaves in a responsible manner so that their pet(s) do not cause any type of public nuisance, safety or health threat," the organization states in a position statement.

"After my son's leg was mauled by this dog," Mrs. Sharp said, "the owner did not so much as receive a ticket. These laws go unenforced. And who suffers? It's usually small children, neighborhood dogs."

Martinez did not return phone calls seeking comment.

His mother, Esther Martinez, said her son's pit bulls were never vicious toward children who had been inside her home on occasions before the Jan. 25 attack.

Mrs. Martinez said her son has received two telephoned death threats since the incident.

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