NEW SHARON – Anyone who doesn’t believe that every dog has his day wasn’t at the New Sharon Congregational Church onThursday night, where 36 voters put a muzzle on a new anti-barking ordinance.
The “Ordinance for the Regulation of Barking Dogs Within the Town of New Sharon” failed to be approved by residents, who voted on the issue in a special town meeting. More than 50 residents attended the meeting, which was moderated by Farmington attorney Paul Mills.
This was the town’s second attempt to pass an anti-barking ordinance. The issue was originally raised at the March town meeting, where residents refused to ratify the agreement, mostly due to the dogs-at-large segment of the ordinance.
A committee was formed, which looked at other town’s regulations and came up with an ordinance dealing strictly with barking dogs.
The owners of noisy dogs would have had to pay anywhere from $50 to $250 and risked losing their animals if the complaints continued.
Many residents at the meeting where quite vocal in their support or opposition to the ordinance.
Dennis Palmer, who raises and trains beagles, said the ordinance was too restrictive and told the people at the meeting: “You’re effectively putting me out of business.”
Other residents questioned the language of the ordinance, noting that the regulation did not set limits for how loud a dog would need to bark to be considered a disturbance and did not define what the phrase “barking … intermittently for three consecutive hours” meant.
Residents questioned the necessity of having a barking-dog ordinance, some of them calling the proposed ordinance “really ambiguous” and “terrible.”
As one resident sarcastically said from the back of the vestry: “What’s next, a cow mooing ordinance?”
Town Selectman Russell Gardner defended the proposed regulation, pointing out that he had taken out an advertisement in the local paper, the Franklin Journal, to inform the town that a commission was being formed and that anyone who had an interest in the issue could have served on the committee that drafted the ordinance.
Others stated their concerns about the town’s not having an enforceable barking-dog ordinance on the books. One resident reported that he had been having problems with his neighbor’s dogs and said that he felt it was “important to have this law on the books.”
After 30 minutes of spirited debate, resident John Firth put forward a motion to “cut off further discussion.” This motion passed, and Mills called for a vote. The final tally was 14 votes in favor and 36 votes against the new ordinance.
Many voters applauded and cheered when the final results were posted, while others left the meeting silently.
Gardner said that Thursday’s vote effectively rendered the barking-dog ordinance “dead and done.” He added that if other residents wanted to pursue the matter, the town could reconsider the possibility of passing an ordinance at the next town meeting.
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