Dog problems assumed major importance at last night’s selectmen’s meeting, featuring a public hearing on a barking dogs complaint and a complicated application for a kennel license. Sixteen persons, including Police Chief James M. Murphy and Dog Officer Angelo Iodice, attended the hearing regarding the complaint of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Borsa of 112 Gay St., who stated that the four barking dogs owned by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Weta of 31 Fourth St. have “robbed them of the peace and tranquility of their homes.” Mr. Borsa explained that a lack of sleep due to the constant barking had made him too nervous to talk, turning the floor over to his wife. Mrs. Borsa stated they only asked for assurance that the quiet which has prevailed during the three weeks since their complaint was publicized be continued.
“We are not here as troublemakers. We merely seek tranquility in our home. We want to be able to open our windows or to sit out in the yard on a hot night without listening to constant barking. We also don’t want the reprisals of egg bombing that we received when we complained in the past,” she said.
Noting that he would like a bit of tranquility at the meeting at which voices were often raised, Chairman Joseph F. Curran suggested that the three weeks of silence might signal the end of the problem. Speaking in defense of their dogs, Mr. and Mrs. Weta contended that the silence was more the rule than the exception. Mrs. Weta said the dogs were confined to her garage while she and her husband were at work each day and released to her yard when her sons returned from school, noting they were usually brought in by 10 p.m. Mr. Weta added that one of his dogs is 13 years old and will not live much longer, and that he needs the other dogs in his yard for protection from prowlers in the neighborhood.
Mr. and Mrs. Borsa were joined in their complaint by several neighbors including John Palladino, who said his yard at 30 Third St. abuts the Weta yard and his wife is “terrified to go out to hang clothes.” Police reports read to the board stated that at times spot checks were made, no dogs were in evidence and no barking was heard. In reply to several persons who claimed that the town leash law is not enforced and that they are bothered by “tramp dogs” as well as the dogs owned by Mr. and Mrs. Weta, Dog Officer Angelo Iodice explained that he and his assistant are part-time employees of the town and that it is impossible for them to effect 100 per cent enforcement of the law. Chairman Curran called for a motion to conclude the hearing despite protests from the complainants that they seemed to have no recourse if the barking begins again.
A previous dog complaint which selectmen considered settled cropped up again when the board was advised that John Stupak had applied for a kennel license. Chairman Curran said he understood that Mr. Stupak had agreed to sell the three dogs about which his neighbors complained and was mystified by the application. Dog Officer Iodice told the board that by law a kennel license must be granted if the applicant resides in a suitably zoned area, stating, “Well, you have to give him the license he wants. If any more trouble comes up, you just hold another hearing on it”. Commenting that the board “running an $80 million corporation here on Tuesday nights” had more important things to do than issue a license only to revoke it, Mr. Curran bowed to the inevitable and said his board would not stand in the way of issuance by the town clerk’s office.
The Patriot Ledger, May 27, 1970
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