WOMAN HAS A BONE TO PICK OVER DOG LAW
Delynn Mehrlander with Henry, the yellow lab pup she got after the death of her last dog. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
When Little Silver resident Delynn Mehrlander got a notice in the mail earlier this year reminding her to re-license her dog, Jode, she tossed it away.
Jode, a 10-year-old yellow lab, had been put down with cancer five months earlier, so there was no dog to license, she reasoned.
About a month ago came a summons, telling her she’d violated the local animal licensing law.
Mehrlander says she called borough hall to explain, but was told that the summons was for “failure to notify,” and that she’d have to show up in municipal court if she wanted to fight the $5 penalty.
Confused over how the nature of the summons could change after the fact, she says she looked into the Little Silver dog-licensing ordinance. There, she found no mention of an animal owner’s obligation to notify the town of a dog’s death, nor any reference to a failure-to-notify violation.
Instead, she learned that the ordinance requires the police department to conduct an annual canvass each January “of all dogs owned, kept or harbored” in the borough, with the information to be filed with the borough clerk a process that would appear to obviate the need for the owners of dogs that have died to notify the town themselves. Licenses must be applied for by January 31.
“A very small part of me wanted desperately not to show up in court and see if a bench warrant would be issued,” Mehrlander, a dermatology nurse and owner of Jodes Happy Tail, a maker of organic dog treats sold in local stores and animal hospitals, told redbankgreen.
Still, she found herself earlier this month at the cattle call that is municipal court, among defendants charged with DWI, domestic offenses and yelling at police officers, she said. Also present was another woman summonsed for failure to register, “only, her dog was alive,” Mehrlander said.
She spoke to the prosecutor, Mike Halfacre, who is also the mayor in Fair Haven, who told her he would ask Judge James Berube to dismiss the charge, but that she would have to pay $15 in court costs. Mehrlander did just that, but wasn’t happy about it.
Halfacre tells redbankgreen that the town makes “repeated” attempts to notify dog owners of their licensing obligations, and that a phone call to the borough clerk’s office by Mehrlander would have headed off the summons.
“The summons was for not responding,” he said. “We don’t know the dog is dead. So you get a summons when you ignore the request.”
Halfacre said he sees similar cases “all the time” in Rumson, where he also serves as the town prosecutor.
Mehrlander thinks the re-licensing notification needs to be clearer, telling residents they must report to the town when they no longer have a dog.
She now has a seven-month-old yellow lab pup named Henry, who she got in May and licensed right away, she said.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 08:00:39
Great job Prosecutor.
Anyone can go after career criminals.
Your campaign to go after normally law abiding citizens is what is keeps LS safe.
The notification law makes such sense.
It gives the LS police a chance to make sure there was no foul play involved in the dog’s death.
I have an idea, why not make LS residents come in and buy a doggie death certificate for $15?
Sep 23, 2011 @ 08:27:33
It’s stories such as this that remind me of why I moved to West Virginia, where I do not need to buy a dog license, and where my annual property taxes are 6% of what they were in Monmouth County. Plus I can cut down any tree on my property that I damn well please.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 08:34:06
I got a similar notice from Red Bank & when I called the Borough the woman that I spoke with couldn’t have been nicer or more apologetic for the loss of my pet. I am actually surprised they made this woman go to municipal court.
I find it really hard to believe that they couldn’t waive/dismiss the ticket without the $15 court cost. What a disgrace.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 08:44:58
Henry looks like a very lucky dog! Good luck with your new forever friend.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 10:09:23
Once again a great job by local govt!
Sep 23, 2011 @ 10:45:32
Unbelievable. Glad small town NJ government has its priorities aligned reasonably.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 11:29:30
This all would have been avoided if she merely called the borough when she received the first notice.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 11:36:02
Read the article…she did call the boro
Sep 23, 2011 @ 11:37:32
The first notice was tossed in the trash. She called the borough after the second notice.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 12:00:26
Calling is not the issue. The issue is the fact that the ordinance holds individuals to something not explicitly stated as required.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 13:02:09
She threw out the notice to renew her dogs license because she no longer had a dog. She did what was required of her every year prior. There was no indicattion on the town ordiance to advise if dog had died, ran away, gave away..etc. Does government really need to kmow every detail of our lives?
Sep 23, 2011 @ 13:15:06
Either the municipality should change the ordinance requiring notice to the town when a pet dies or leaves the residence or they should refund this woman’s $15. Is the town so broke that they need to issue $5 fines for failure to inform the borough of deceased pets even though there is no such municipal law requiring the notice??
Sep 23, 2011 @ 13:25:27
Plus now about a refund for having to take the day off from work!!
Sep 23, 2011 @ 14:07:41
This is appalling! It’s bad enough to go through the loss of a beloved family pet – you don’t need to be made into a criminal on top of it. I’m glad I don’t live in Little Silver – it sounds like it’s being run like a police state. Shame on them for putting her through all that extra grief and especially for charging her that $15. That’s really low.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 17:34:48
When we lived in Littla Silver there was a boy scout troop that called us every January to get an update on our pets. Then the right forms were sent to us. I wonder why that stopped?
Sep 23, 2011 @ 18:47:26
There’s no reason for LS to need to know when your pets die.
They should just give tickets for unlicensed LIVE dogs.
Then they don’t have to keep track of which formerly licensed dogs are still alive.
And you’d be getting a ticket for a real violation.
Failure to help make a LS employee’s busy work easier shouldn’t be a violation.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 19:45:08
Under Administrative Office of Court (AOC) rules, if a complaint is Dismissed, no court costs shall be imposed since the summons is nullified.
Sep 23, 2011 @ 21:47:09
As with Red Bank’s municipal court, the $15 court fee is the key figure here. $15 from one person isn’t a lot to the town, but if you see all of the people that are packed into municipal courts on a daily basis, you can do the math and see how quickly those $15 payments add up to the town getting a decent amount of money out of it.
Sep 24, 2011 @ 11:20:48
Pat:
I’ve learned you’re about to find out first hand how right you are.
A summons is on the way charging you with “making wisecracks against the duly elected government of Red Bank”.
Of course you’ll be found “not guilty” with a First Amendment defense.
Start working on your defense to have this charge dismissed outright or have the $15 ready…cash.