Category Archives: Texas

Three Rivers, TX: Town may consider breed ban

Posted on October 7, 2011 by | Comments Off on Three Rivers, TX: Town may consider breed ban

Texas state law prohibits municipalities from passing breed-specific legislation. Small, rural towns in the state are sometimes unaware of this prohibition. The police chief in this town has suggested a ban on “pit bulls.”

Please send polite, respectful, informative correspondence to city hall, advising city officials that a breed-specific law would be illegal, and encouraging them to consider effective, nondiscriminatory breed-neutral measures.

Contact information for Three Rivers:
City Hall, 105 Harborth Ave., PO Box 398, Three Rivers, Texas 78071
Voice: 361-786-2528
Fax: 361-786-3281

Police Department, Chief Vance Roberts, 361-786-2743
Mayor James Liska, 361-786-2528 X 225
City Administrator Rosie Forehand, 361-786-2528 X 226

South Texas town could examine ban on pit bulls

by Phil Anaya / KENS 5
Posted on October 6, 2011 at 8:25 PM
Updated today at 7:32 AM

After two separate pit bull attacks in one week it appears there’s potential that the town of Three Rivers could examine the idea of banning the breed from city limits.

This comes after the Three Rivers Police Chief was quoted in the local paper saying a ban would better protect the community and residents.[…]

A city administrator and councilmember were aware of the concerns, but said the chief has yet to suggest a breed ban at the next council meeting. Residents seemed split on the idea. […]

Full article and video retrieved 10/7/11 from http://www.kens5.com/news/local/South-Texas-town-could-examine-ban-on-pit-bulls-131300284.html

Chief wants city to ban pit bulls

by Mike Alexieff editor
1 day 20 hrs ago

THREE RIVERS – Police Chief Vance Roberts plans to ask the city council to ban pit bulls in the wake of two attacks that sent a woman and two boys to hospitals.[…]

“I think we need to ban pit bulls in the city limits,” Roberts said. “We need to do that to protect our community, our citizens.”

Full article retrieved 10/7/11 from http://www.mysoutex.com/view/full_story/15904667/article-Chief-wants-city-to-ban-pit-bulls?

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Texas: “Justin’s Law” supporters searching for sponsor

Posted on January 12, 2011 by | 48 comments

Update 3/17/11: Texas bill filings for this type of bill have officially ended; no breed-specific laws were filed during this session. There is still a possibility that a filed bill may be amended to become breed-specific, and we will continue to watch the filed bills. However, “Justin’s Law” was not filed.

According to a recent news report in Houston, supporters of “Justin’s Law” (which would make “pit bull” ownership a felony in Texas) have yet to find a legislator who will file and sponsor the bill.

Texans, you can join the effort to prevent this bill from being filed. Tell your legislators that you do not want them to sponsor “Justin’s Law.”

Please write a quick note to your respective legislators (SENATOR AND HOUSE REP) and simply state that you do not support Justin’s Law, and request that they not support it either. Something very short, like this:
 
Dear [rep or senator name],
 
In the following days, a lawyer may ask you to file “Justin’s Law,” a bill that would make felons out of Texas citizens because of the shape of their dog’s body. I do not support this discriminatory proposal, and I ask that you do not sponsor or support this bill. Please do not support breed-specific proposals of any kind.
 
Thank you,
 
[Name, address, phone number]
 
You can find your reps here:  http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/
Texans can track BSL-related issues in the Texas legislature by joining the Texans Against BSL announce-only mailing list: http://groups.google.com/group/texans-against-bsl

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Texas reminder: Mail signatures for anti-BSL petition by Jan 3

Posted on January 3, 2011 by | Comments Off on Texas reminder: Mail signatures for anti-BSL petition by Jan 3

Over the last year, several groups have been pushing for a statewide breed ban or breed-specific legislation in Texas. To combat this, Love-A-Bull and StopBSL have been running a petition against BSL over the last year.

The petition, signatures, and informational material will be submitted to each of Texas’ 31 state senators and 150 state representatives on January 10th, 2011.

We have collected nearly 7,000 signatures to date. Texas residents: Please make sure your signatures are counted! Please mail your signature pages by January 3rd, 2011 so we can add them to the package.

Blank signature pages can be downloaded here: http://love-a-bull.org/resources/bsl/petition/. The mailing address is at the bottom of each signature page.

If you are mailing close to the deadline and concerned that your pages might not make it in time, you may also scan your pages as PDFs and email them to stopbsl.com@gmail.com. (Please make sure to send the pages via USPS after you email them. We need the hard copies too!)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for helping with this effort. Over the last year, the petition has raised awareness about the threat of BSL; it has connected concerned Texans; and it has told (and will tell) our state legislators where we, the public, stand. Your hard work and efforts have been valuable and significant–including those of you who do not live in Texas but have taken the time to spread the word about the petition. We could not have done this without you. Thank you!

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Texas reminder: Petition against BSL

Posted on December 20, 2010 by | 1 comment

The Texas statewide pen-and-paper petition against BSL will be wrapping up soon. This holiday season is the perfect time to gather signatures from friends and family who are Texas residents. Please take this final opportunity to gather signatures for the petition.

You can find more information about the petition, and a downloadable signature sheet, here: http://love-a-bull.org/resources/bsl/petition/

At last count, we had approximately 4,000 signatures. This was before the media report a few months ago that BSL or a breed ban will likely be proposed in the Texas legislature this year. I expect many more signatures have been gathered since then.

Please join us in gathering these signatures from Texas residents. The signatures will be presented to Texas legislators at the start of the 2011 Legislative Session. For this reason, please send in by Jan 3 any signatures you have collected. There is a mailing address at the bottom of every signature sheet.

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Van, TX: Dog ordinance to be discussed in March

Posted on December 10, 2010 by | Comments Off on Van, TX: Dog ordinance to be discussed in March

Van, TX city council took no action at last night’s meeting, where a resident has asked the council to pass a ban or BSL against “pit bulls” (and Rottweilers, according to some news reports).

Van city council decided to form a four-person committee to research the issue. The resident who requested the ban will be on the committee, as will two councilmembers. It is not known who the fourth member will be, but one hopes it is someone with a solid understanding of public safety and dog behavior.

Council will discuss the committee findings in March 2011.

Van City Council meets on proposed pit bull ban

Posted: Dec 09, 2010 9:34 PM CST
By Taylor Hemness

[…]While there were some pretty strong opinions voiced in Wednesday night’s city council meeting, the tone stayed civil and quiet.[…]

Ultimately, no action was taken at the meeting. But the council decided to form a four person committee–two council members, two citizens–to research the issue and come back in March. Douglas Wolfe told us that he’s just glad people are taking this seriously.[…]

Full article retrieved 12/10/10 from http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13649511

All alerts for Van: http://stopbsl.com/?s=%22van%2C+tx%22

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Van, TX reminder: Council to discuss breed ban, Dec 9

Posted on December 7, 2010 by | 1 comment

A resident of Van, TX has asked city council to ban “pit bulls” and Rottweilers.

Texas state law prohibits breed-specific laws, but Van city council says they will give his request “serious consideration.” They plan to discuss the issue during the December 9th council meeting.

Van City Hall, 189 S. Maple Street, Van, TX 75790
(903) 963-7216
Fax 903-963-5643

All alerts for Van: http://stopbsl.com/?s=%22van%2C+tx%22

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Texas: Statewide ban unlikely, but local BSLs a possibility

Posted on November 17, 2010 by | 3 comments

Texas state law currently forbids municipalities from passing breed-specific laws.

Texas Senator Eltife and Representative Hopson were presented last week with a proposal to ban “pit bulls” statewide.

Eltife’s public comments indicate that he is aware that a statewide “pit bull” ban is unlikely to pass. However, he states he is interested in allowing municipalities to decide for themselves whether to pass breed-specific laws.

In other words, Eltife supports and may introduce a proposal that would eliminate the protection currently provided by state law.

If such a proposal were to pass, it would allow cities and counties across Texas to propose breed-specific laws and breed bans. This would create a patchwork of differing laws and proposals across the state, which means more places to watch for BSL, and more worry for Texas dog owners, as they no longer have the assurance that their dog is welcome in a town regardless of its appearance.

Several legislators who responded to StopBSL’s survey on BSL indicated that while they would not support statewide BSL, they had no issue with local breed-specific laws (apparently failing to understand that BSL is discrimination no matter where it goes into effect). Prefiling has started in Texas; we are watching the filings for further developments.

Senator Eltife weighs in on banning Pit Bulls

Posted: Nov 17, 2010 9:22 AM CST
Updated: Nov 17, 2010 10:59 AM CST

TYLER, TX (KLTV) – […] Senator Eltife tells KLTV 7, the ban would be difficult to enforce on a state level, and he would rather focus on controlling the dogs on a local level.

“I’m one of these guys, I’m pretty realistic on will pass and what won’t pass. I don’t see a state-wide ban passing. She sent us additional legislation that would give control to cities and counties and I want to work with her on that.”, said Eltife.[…]

Full article retrieved 11/17/10 from http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13518630

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