ABERDEEN – Concerned residents in the Meadowlane neighborhood have taken their issue to both city and Monroe County officials – the issue of banning pit bulldogs (American Pit Bull Terriers) in the City of Aberdeen.

“We now have five of these dogs in our neighborhood,” concerned citizen Brick Young said. “These dogs can be extremely vicious and even deadly – we need to have something done so that we do not have problems of that nature in Aberdeen.

Young, along with other residents from the neighborhood, have brought the topic of pit bulls in front of both the city’s aldermen and the county board.

Young and his group first approached the Aberdeen Board of Aldermen on the issue during the September 2 meeting. It was tabled until the following meeting. At the September 16 meeting, Young and other once again brought the notion of banning pit bulls in Aberdeen before the board. The board tabled the measure at the request of city attorney Robert Faulks until October.

“I had a pit bull once,” Ward 3 Alderman David Ewing said. “I loved that dog a lot, but eventually I had to put him down.”

Ward 1 Alderman Alonzo Sykes said he, too, recognized the potential danger of rogue pit bulls.

“These things can be very dangerous,” he said. “This is something we definitely want to look at and see what we can legally do about it.”

Monroe County Board of Supervisors President Randle Gray said the county would also have board attorney John Creekmore address the issue.

“There is definitely a hazard with these animals,” Gray said. “We will see what our options are. This is a very serious matter.”

Virginia Pounders, who also lives in the Meadowlane area, sees the pit bull situation from another perspective as a volunteer with the Aberdeen Animal Shelter.

“When we have pits’ brought into the shelter, we have to have them put down,” she said. “We don’t have the cages to hold them. These dogs can be extremely viscous and hard to handle. We have a lot of children and elderly people in our neighborhood and we need to do something about these dogs before it’s too late.”