SCHENECTADY -- A pit bull bit a postal worker on Bluff Avenue Tuesday morning, a week after pit bulls viciously attacked a woman in Hamilton Hill.

Schenectady police said two pit bulls that were running loose chased the female postal worker at 11:35 a.m. in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood, one of them biting her. The victim was treated on the scene by paramedics and transported to Ellis Hospital, where her injuries are not considered life threatening.

The pit bulls' owner, Amanda Radley, was issued four summonses, two for having a loose dog and two for having a dangerous dog.


Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....79.php#ixzz1WZKrzt00

If we dont know what to do with the dogs and their owners by now we will be loosing out place at the top of the food chain.....and NO! I will
not give my $$ toward 'doggie rehabilitation'.....

Welll it appears that both the hamilton hills have had pitbull attacks in less than what.....a couple of weeks? But hell....there is always proctors!!!

Quoted Text

Unfair discrimination against pit bulls and responsible owners


    Re Aug. 25 article, “Pit bulls attack woman on walk”: The victim of the recent dog attack recommended that “they should kill off the entire pit bull race.” While I feel terrible for her, I also cringe at her all-too-typical attitude against Bully breeds.
    Bullies are all derived from the bull mastiff, a breed classified as a working dog, trained originally to seize a bull by its nose long enough for a rancher to get a rope around its neck. They had to be intelligent, strong and relentlessly loyal, qualities that, unfortunately, are also great for training them to rip each other apart for money.
    As a Bully owner, I have to put up with the “fi ghting dog” stereotype almost daily. At the pet store, a petrifi ed woman asked, “Is your dog going to attack me?” while her puffball Pomeranian leaped three feet into the air and barked at everything that moved. I told my dog to sit. He did. I asked “Pomeranian Patty” if she could make her dog do that. She couldn’t.
    But it’s not just individuals. My homeowner’s insurance company was going to drop us when they discovered we owned a pit bull. When we told them he was “just” an American bulldog, they decided to “just” raise our rates.
    So why own a Bully if there’s such a stigma? Because, in reality, they make one of the best family dogs. They are faithful, love to play, and are smart enough to be gentle around children. There’s a reason the producers of Little Rascals chose an AKC [American Kennel Club]-registered pit bull to co-star alongside a dozen rowdy kids in a chaotic television studio.
    The fight should be led against dangerous dog owners, not breeds. There are plenty of Labradors and cute, little Yorkie-poos who will gladly bite the face off a toddler because their owners raised them to be mean and antisocial.
    Had our insurance company a fair policy, perhaps they would have sent out agents to actually talk with my wife and me. Perhaps they could have gotten over their fear of my bulldog when they saw my 12-month-old lying on him, pulling his ears, poking his eyes, and smacking his head without so much as a shudder from the ferocious 70-pound beast.
    Perhaps they could have learned his name — “Ralphie” — and maybe even pet him.  

    RYAN SMITHSON
    Schenectady

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01102&AppName=1

the insurance company can insure whatever they want. maybe they could offer a rider. as for the 'bad owners' take their dog, euthanize it and
charge the owners.

I'm glad he has his nice dog, he wont have an issue. dont ban a breed make a 'doggie/people kennel' so the bad owners can serve time for their
STUPIDNESS.

but I'm still not going to pay for doggie rehab for one of their dogs.

Quoted Text

It’s not just the pit bulls, but the owners

    I couldn’t agree more with Sally Bywater’s Aug. 27 letter [“Hold pit bull owners accountable for attacks”] regarding the brutal and very sad pit bull attack where a Schenectady woman lost both of her ears.
    We always hear of these terrible attacks and at the same time we hear how pit bulls get a bad rap because of these attacks and that they are great animals. I have never owned a pit bull (and never would), so I have no experience with that. What I do have experience with, however, are the irresponsible owners of these animals who shouldn’t own this type of dog or any dog for that matter.
    Someone communicated to me in recent months via e-mail that she rescues homeless pit bulls “who are really healthy now and know the words ‘get ’em’ and ‘kill.’ What smart animals!”
    I forwarded this disturbing documentation to some pit bull rescue shelters that should share in the blame of this problem as well. I highly doubt they would get strongly involved in stopping people like this from adopting animals, since they have so many animals that need homes. This is not only a perfect example of unstable and dangerous behavior as a pit bull owner but as a human being as well. More unbelievable proof that it is not just the dogs with the problem, and that the owners of these animals are more to blame and must be held accountable.
    Should we wait until someone is killed before this issue is taken more seriously?

    MICHELE BIANCO KEISTER
    Glenville

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00906&AppName=1

Because of total City indifference residents of Bluff Ave can now pick up their mail at the post office. The USPS will no longer deliver it! The Gazetto hilariously suggests that all dog owners in the City get insurance. Move in from the sticks boys. Hire more animal control officers, triple fines for loose dogs and stop pretending this is not a problem. Hey Sybil-where's your list of Saratoga pit bull attacks?

Hey maybe if everyone suffers because of the jerks on the street they will make an issue to those jerks.  Dad used to tell me how if one guy in the group screwed up for inspections everyone got punished by losing their leave privilege and boy that guy found out real quick to get his act together.  Of course you can't do what they did to the guy but there could be something these residents could do to put the pressure on.

Then again maybe the owners are gang members etc.  Time to get the PD to help with this issue for sure.  But then again maybe the jerks will still go after the residents but if there are enough of them in unity I think there still is some chance for change.

Quoted from benny salami

Because of total City indifference residents of Bluff Ave can now pick up their mail at the post office.  

Where is this detailed?

Quoted from benny salami

... Hire more animal control officers,  

Where does the money come from to pay them?  Hike taxes on responible homeowners?

Increase fines on dangerous dog owners, sure, easier said than done.   If owners, as is often the case in the city, are welfare or delaer how does the fine get paid?   If the owners has no insurance on the dog, who pays for the medical expenses of the person attacked?

Instead of giving all the tax dollars to downtown, how about making those tax exempt businesses (including Proctors) pay their taxes and the money will be there for  more animal control

Here is my take on the pit bull situation. Something has got to be done. At the present time, the only ones held responsible are the dogs themselves, which doesn't help the victims much.
I'm going to suggest lawsuits. Now, hear me out. I know that people have a justified bias against lawyers and people who file lawsuits, but in these cases I feel it is warranted because in a lawsuit someone will be held responsible and right now no one is taking responsibility.
I think the victims should sue the owners of the property where the animals are kept. Hold on, I know we don't like blaming property owners, but think about this - would any of the long suffering, responsible Schenectady landlords you know allow some irresponsible scuzzbucket tenant with three pitbulls, who can't even be bothered to secure a gate (ever hear of a lock?) to rent their property? I think not. More than likely the property is owned by one of those "investors" (slumlords) from Brooklyn or some such place who has never even seen the place let alone driven by to check on things periodically. Isn't Pat Z. a landlord? I'll bet if one of her tenants tried to sneak in three dangerous animals she would find out pretty quick.
Sure, I agree that the owners of these dogs should be held accountable. I personally would like to see them to jail time. Dogs that don't get left in the yard all night and get taken for walks, visit the vet, etc. are generally not dogs that attack people, whatever the breed. A twenty-one year old woman can't afford three dogs if she is intending to care for them properly, IMO.
Hamilton Hill and Mont Pleasant are areas without too many adults who take adult responsibility for anything, not even feeding their own children. Landlords who allow such people to harbor dangerous animals are causing problems we don't need. Suppose the owner of the dogs is not a tenant, but a low-income homeowner? Then they have assets you can attach. Sue 'em.  

Point taken..however..the city officials don't even know how to get a hold of these slumlords....'supposedly'. All of these slum lords just collect their taxpaid section 8 check FROM the city officials. And as long as these slum lords continue to pay their taxes to the city officials....it is just one big happy family and screw everyone else.

Pittbulls and drug dealers and gangs have been an increasing problem for years in schenectady. There are so many of them now, that hamilton hill has run out of room, so they have now taken over mt. pleasant.

The city/county officials have been and will continue to be awol on these issues. They sit back in their nice suburb homes and wait for a catastrophe to happen like a 'flood/hurricane' and they are out of their chairs, lickitysplit, to make an appearance to shake hands and kiss babies... Oh and that's only if there is a tv camera present!

There is a very simple solution here.....lower schenectady county's welfare benefits!!

I was actually speaking to someone who came here from nyc to visit someone. They told me that schenectady is WORSE than 'the city'. He explained that crime is higher here when comparing population. He said there are no jobs. He also said it is a very depressed area in comparison. He said he would NEVER MOVE HERE and can't understand why people do....unless of course they are drug dealers or folks looking for a better welfare!

"The USPS has stopped postal delivery on the street which is the responsible thing to do if their carriers safety cannot be ensured." Lead editorial Gazetto. The renaissance continues?

bumblethru -that is what they are (drug dealers and/or in search of better welfare) and it is worse here, or only just as bad in some cases. Newspapers use the euphemism "in search of a better life" when describing those who come for the higher welfare payments. New York City's crime rate went down concurrently with this area's going up and no one noticed a correlation?
It seems to me that a city worker could go over to the desk of whoever collects the taxes and makes sure they are paid for a particular property, and look through all the three by five cards, and see where the taxes came from. Don't people have to pay a steep fee to register a deed nowadays? Wouldn't the process include an address to send paperwork to? Or are totally anonymous corporations owning property and collecting rents, many times paid with government benefits, without leaving a trace? Are there too many regulations for business in New York, unless you are a commercial landlord, in which case there are none? Hmmm.

I have a hunch that a law firm might be able to locate the owner of a building maintaining unsafe conditions faster than the city could. What would be the city's motivation? The lawyers wouldn't get paid if they failed. Many city officials don't even know where these houses are, let alone their owners. Heck, they probably even sympathize with them. Who wants to be bothered with THAT neighborhood? They wouldn't want to have to go there to check on things either.