ABERDEEN – At the October 6 Aberdeen Board of Aldermen meeting, the subject of pit bulls within the city was once again approached by both the board and concerned citizens.

City Attorney Robert Faulks said he had been looking at the legalities of a proposed amended pit bull ordinance.

“This new version is a lot harsher than the standing ordinance,” Faulks said. “The board needs to decide if they want to make it harsher.”

Brick Young, who lives in the Meadowlane area and has repeatedly been in front of the board regarding pit bulls in his neighborhood, asked the board for help in enforcing the current ordinance.

“We know we have pit bulls in this town,” Young said. “The animal control officer has been to our neighborhood many times and the pit bulls by my house are not registered. How do we get this enforced? There are ladies in my neighborhood that are scared to even walk on the streets anymore because they are scared of these dogs.”

Aberdeen Animal Shelter volunteer Astrid Peterson said the current ordinance would be hard to enforce because of the lack of facilities.

“We have a lack of facilities at the shelter right now,” Peterson said. “We are not equipped to hold and contain pit bulls. The thing is, we have some people that are following the rules – not all pit bulls are bad. We would like to have a concrete facility built so that we can handle pits when we get them. But we don’t have the money to do this. There is a serious pit bull fighting problem in Aberdeen. Aberdeen is the pit bull capital of Monroe County. There are some major dog fights going on in the City of Aberdeen.”

Katherine Butler of the Pit Bull Terrier Association suggested the city redo the ordinance to include vicious dogs and not just pit bulls.

“The problems with pit bulls can be traced back to their owners,” she said. “There are plenty of pit bulls that are good pets. I know that there has been talk of a pit bull ban in Aberdeen. Instead of a specific breed ban, I suggest you look at having a vicious dog ordinance.”

Although the board tabled the issue to a later date, Ward 3 Alderman David Ewing said the issue is a great concern to the board.

“Just because we are tabling this doesn’t mean we don’t care,” Ewing said. “This is a very serious issue and we need to make sure we are doing the right thing. This is a very doable situation and something we can definitely work out.”