Feb 25, 2010 Elgin city council puts a tight leash on pit bulls


By Harry Hitzeman

Elgin residents who own pit bulls are in for a whole new set of rules come this summer if a city council majority holds.
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"Something needs to be done," said Councilman John Prigge, who was joined by fellow council members Robert Gilliam, Mike Warren, and Mayor Ed Schock. "This is the best plan for Elgin and its safety. It treats the cause and effect. It targets the owner and punishes them for bad behavior."

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Feb 19, 2010 Elgin Home Raided: Pot Farm and 21 Vicious Pit Bulls Found Police Kill 6

Elgin – Raiding a home across the street from Ellis Middle School that reportedly was being used as an indoor marijuana farm, a task force of police also discovered 21 vicious pit bulls that apparently were being trained for dogfighting. Officers said that when the dogs began attacking them and each other, police shot six of them to death and trapped the other 15.


Feb 18, 2010 Lawsuit: Elgin Preacher's Pit Bull Attacks Visting St. Charles Woman

Elgin - A St. Charles woman has filed suit against an Elgin preacher, claiming she and her daughter were mauled by his "vicious" pit bull.The unprovoked attack happened May 10, 2009, when the dog "slipped his collar" while plaintiff Kathleen Callahan and her daughter were visiting in a backyard on the 2000 block of Torino Street in Elgin, according to the lawsuit filed in Kane County on Wednesday.

The dog charged and attacked the plaintiff's adult daughter, scratching and biting her forearms, and then butted its head into Callahan's knee, causing injury to both women, the suit says.

The dog's owners are identified as Epworth United Methodist Church Pastor David Newhouse and his wife Christy, who are each named as defendants along with Epworth and the United Methodist Church.

David Newhouse, who was unaware of the suit, referred questions Thursday to church attorney Alfred Kirkland, who did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The complaint says Newhouse and his wife, who live next door to the plaintiff's daughter, acquired the American Staffordshire terrier from a humane society or rescue shelter several years ago, and that it routinely escaped its leash and acted aggressively with people.

The suit, which seeks more than $50,000 in damages, claims both the Newhouses and the church, which owns the property where they live, ignored the animal's "viciousness and its prior contact when running free and unsupervised throughout the neighborhood."

As a result of the attack, Callahan says, she suffered "severe and permanent personal injuries, both internally and externally," which will affect her ability to lead a normal life and left her with medical bills.

The case goes to a judge May 6 at the courthouse in Geneva.

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Daily Herald

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Elgin pit bull attacks (there are a LOT of them)

Feb 02, 2010 Pit Bulls and Ignorance Equal "a Recipe for a Really Wicked Soup"

"Seventy percent of our calls are about pit bulls or pit bull mixes," he said. "We get calls about them every day - and it's not just one call a day either. It never stops. It's overwhelming."

The calls range from simple sightings of the dogs to bites to deadly attacks on other domestic animals.

"Because of the perception of pit bulls out there, when people see one running loose, they call us to come get it," he said. "But I'd rather them call than not because we've also gone out after they've killed a cat or another dog. We had a call not too long ago where a woman was walking her dog on a leash. She saw two pit bulls coming and pulled her dog into her arms, so they got her when they were trying to get at her dog."

The county animal shelter has also become home to several pit bulls in the past few months, thanks to owners who, after bringing the dogs into their families, decide the breed is "too aggressive," he said.

"A lot of times, they decide it's too aggressive and they stick it in a pen in the backyard and forget about it. That can make it even more aggressive. Then they are afraid of it and ask us to come get it," he said.

- Franklin County Animal Control Supervisor Jarrett Broy

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The SouthernWhat's the problem: People or pit bulls? Becky Malkovich
Accessed: 2011-12-30. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/64JW9kFZx)

Feb 10, 2010 Vicious pit bull Abused pit bull


Mt. Vernon - Monday, police responded to a report of a vicious pit bull in the 700 block of Park Avenue.

Tuesday at 10:32 a.m., police responded to a report in the 900 block of South 19th Street that a pit bull that appeared to be abused was lying in the snow and possibly dead.

Register News

Feb 06, 2010 Pot Belly Pig Victim of Pit Bull

Harvard – Rang said she takes in pigs from all over the United States. One potbelly was even flown in from Washington state. She’s taken in sad cases, too, such as the potbelly who was attacked by a pit bull and the pig who was abandoned in a shed without food when the owners moved.

For more information about Pig Tales, call Gregg and Claudia Rang at (815) 943-3580.

By Mary Wicoff
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