Call to action for all Suffolk County Dog owners:

The Suffolk County Park Police have recently issued a ticket to one of our fellow dog owners at Coindre Hall. We believe that if the Suffolk County Parks department is going to issue tickets at Coindre Hall after all the well-written and heartfelt letters that were written to Steve Levy, and Commissioner Foley, then Steve Levy - Commissioner Foley’s boss, is going to have to be made aware of our displeasure with their decision. We plan on voicing our displeasure each and every time they ticket one of us.

We are asking all dog owners who believe in this cause to send the following letter of solidarity to Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy at [email protected]

You should also CC or send Legislator Jon Cooper a copy of the letter. His e-mail address is [email protected]

Please forward this to any dog owning friends or dog groups in Suffolk County who would be willing to participate.

To send the message to Steve Levy and Jon Cooper, copy and paste the letter below into your e-mail program and add your name at the bottom.
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We the dog owners of Suffolk County stand in solidarity behind Casey Lott, who was given a ticket on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, at Coindre Hall for exercising their duties as a responsible dog owner.

Suffolk County had three park police officers, and two cars there at the early morning hour of 7:00 am, and they gave this lone person in the whole park a ticket for giving their dog a chance to get a little exercise. We consider this to be a complete waste of Suffolk County’s resources, as well as a poor way to use our tax dollars.

Given the number of letters and phone calls that County Executive Steve Levy’s office has received recently, we find it hard to believe that the county’s response is to continue to criminalize responsible dog owners, instead trying to work together with them towards a solution.

We ask that Suffolk County rethink its position on this matter, and start working together with dog owners towards a constructive solution at Coindre Hall, as well as providing adequate off-leash areas throughout Suffolk County.

According to a poll done by Newsday based on their story, “Dog-run solution unleashed”, on Jan. 25, 2007, 75.4% of the 4,692 votes tallied said that Suffolk County is overreacting by cracking down on dog owners at Coindre Hall.

As staff writer John Vaughan of the Charlotte Observer wrote, “One measure of a society's sanity is its ability to suspend or ignore its own rules when a larger issue is at stake. A society that obsessively enforces every one of its laws, regardless of circumstances, is probably neurotic, if not tyrannical”.

Sincerely,