By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Beverly Nichols of 308 Walnut St. Monday night shared her concern about neighborhood dogs running loose with Dowagiac City Council.
"Especially the Rottweilers and pit bulls," she said.
"The short answer is yes, something can be done about it," Mayor Don Lyons assured her. "We have a pet leash ordinance on the books and we'd be happy to work with you."
Nichols, who is a next-door neighbor of First Ward Councilman Darron Murray, said she does not own a dog.
"I called animal control and they said that due to the high cost of gas prices, they cannot keep running out for dogs running loose," she said. "I like to walk in the neighborhood, so I wanted to know what could be done about this before anyone gets hurt or harmed, like a child. Something's got to be done."
"In Niles I had a friend. She had a little dog in a $200,000 to $300,000 neighborhood … and she got fined $90," Nichols said.
"I understand the county's problems. They've got awful budget issues over there," Lyons said. "I'm not surprised they told you that, but that doesn't apply to our Police Department."
Ambulance service
repays loan in full
Jackie Evans and Kathy McFadden of the Dowagiac Volunteer Fire Department Ambulance Service appeared before the council to thank the mayor, council members and Interim City Manager Rose Scherr for the $15,000 bridge loan Feb. 26.
"It was very helpful to us," Evans said. "It was only necessary for us to borrow less than $5,000 and, as of today, it's paid back in full. We thank you very much for your support."
Life EMS of Kalamazoo "is in here now, managing us. They were able to pick up all of our employees who applied for jobs. They're now working through hiring our on-call staff into part-time positions. There are two not-very-attractive green-and-white ambulances sitting over there. Our units were taken to Grand Rapids for inspection and maintenance. One of them is on its way back now. The other one we're checking to see if it's going to be able to make inspection or not. If not, we're going to work towards getting it replaced.
"We've still got a lot of work ahead of us," Evans said, "but we're determined to get it back under some type of local government control as soon as possible."