Swampscott dog ban proposal becomes a laughing matter

SWAMPSCOTT – An article that would ban dogs from certain town properties was laughed out of Town Meeting Monday, as critics complained there would be no way to enforce the rule.The proposed Article 17, sponsored by the Board of Selectmen, would amend bylaws to ban dogs from all cemetery land, athletic fields and public school and recreation department playgrounds.Precinct 3 representative Whitney White had a majority of his fellow members laughing at the high school auditorium when he took the podium. “How could you possibly enforce this?” said White. “When my kids played sports, I couldn?t stand when they came home with crap all over their sneakers. ? I cleaned up for my dogs and others. I never left my house without four bags, and my dog was a one-bag kind of dog.”White said the bylaw would restrict the future possibility of a dog park, where dogs should be going to do their business.?Someone gets angry and creates a bylaw,” said White. “I understand the problem, but I don?t think this is the way to do it.”Others argued that the language of the article was not specific enough. Some scoffed at Selectman John Callahan, who presented the article, when he told members that dogs would be allowed on the outskirts of playing fields like Phillips Park, so residents and their four-legged friends could cut across the field to access the woods.Janelle Cameron, a former school secretary who said she had “cleaned more poop off of kids? sneakers than anyone in this room,” asked if the farmers market held in the high school parking lot would be off-limits to dogs. Town Meeting members surrounding her assumed it had to, according to the way that the language was written. But Callahan said that part of the bylaw was “up for interpretation,” adding, “This bylaw is mostly to keep dogs off the fields.”One member worried that the language was too broad that it would prevent disabled people with service dogs from accessing the public fields.There were some Town Meeting members who supported the bylaw.?Thinking about the playing fields, it?s common sense for the decency and health of our children,” said Herrick Wales, a Precinct 2 representative. “People think they are being responsible picking up after their dogs, but there is still remnants. Children play there and tumble around and they shouldn?t be exposed to that.”In response, there were mumbles through the crowd that perhaps the town should somehow ban geese from landing on the fields.Article 17 was only one that failed Monday.