Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma failed to take up a court case in which the city of Midwest City, OK had tried to enforce a city-wide breed ban. Oklahoma state law outlaws breed-specific laws.
The State Supreme Court decision then defers back to lower court rulings which had previously ruled that the ban violated state law.
So the ban in Midwest City, OK is now, officially gone.
This suit was initially filed in 2007. So for nearly four years, Midwest City has been tying up city and state taxpayer dollars trying to defend their clearly illegal breed ban.
Meanwhile, it should be noted, that the dogs in question had never shown signs of aggression -- but were only presumed to be aggressive based on breed stereotype.
Dollars, and time, wasted; defending a law based on fear-mongering rather than rational thought.
Good for Jerry Stuckey -- who gets to keep his dogs and remain in his home - -and finally the lingering lawsuit is out from over him. Meanwhile, shame on Midwest City for wasting taxpayer dollars on a failed ordinance.
These dogs were Bull Terriers.
Kudos to the people for fighting and kudos to Oklahoma, one of the few states that has consistently upheld its state law prohibiting BSL.
Posted by: kmk | March 11, 2011 at 07:50 PM
Their law was one of the most idiotic I have seen. They banned any dog with the word "pit" or "bull" in the name
Posted by: Lisa in OH | March 12, 2011 at 07:29 AM
Agreed Lisa. On the list of how ridiculous all of these law are, Midwest City's would be at the top. It's crazy enough to ban everything that LOOKS a certain way. It's another to do it based on their name.
I propose a ban all people named George.
Posted by: Brent | March 12, 2011 at 07:46 AM
Oh no, I want bans on all people named "Wayne Pacelle" and "Randall Lockwood". While we're at it let's toss in "Barb Schmitz", "Bob Baker", and "Kathy Warnick".
No one can accuse me of being "vague".
:-)
Posted by: kmk | March 13, 2011 at 08:20 PM