The City of Mebane has enacted a new series of ordinances for dog owners, as the Mebane City Council approved in September a new collection of amendments to its code of ordinance regarding animals.
While the town fell short of enacting a six-foot leash length for walking dogs – as suggested by the Mebane Police Department – the new measures will provide local law enforcement more authority under town codes to take action against residents that are keeping dogs in a reckless and potentially dangerous fashion.
The amendments will provide local residents more protection from potential dog attacks following a series of incidents that have taken place in the Fair Oaks community over the past several months.
The decision by Mebane’s elected officials in September ended a process that took nearly a year to resolve, which involved the Mebane Police Department, a collection of concerned local residents, and a specific resident who has drawn complaints from neighbors for the way he has kept his canines.
Multiple Fair Oaks residents made their way to public hearings in August and September to discuss the topic before town leaders. In addition, over 30 residents of the community submitted a petition last year to the town, requesting assistance in addressing the ongoing situation.
“We do not feel safe in our neighborhood or on our sidewalks,” said Fair Oaks resident Terry Fleitz to the City Council in August. “After two years of attacks, children play inside. Walkers don’t walk. We continue to be fearful, and we have to change our behavior, while the pit bull owners have not changed their behavior. As a result, many in our neighborhood still feel the need to arm themselves. Think about that when walking on our sidewalks.”
The situation grabbed the attention of the Mebane Police Department back in November of 2023, as the agency responded to a call for service in the Fair Oaks neighborhood involving an attack of multiple dogs chasing and fighting each other. The incident resulted in the mauling of a dog by two other dogs.
“Two dogs attacked my neighbor’s dog on November 7, 2023 and then chased the dog over one hundred yards to our yard, where the dog was mauled,” explained Fleitz. “We sent the video to the Mebane Police, which is as brutal as anything you’ll ever see. The mauling of the neighbor’s dog demonstrated a need for action — a petition.”
The following day – November 7, 2023, according to town notes – the Mebane Police Department completed its investigation into the mauling incident, which resulted in criminal charges being filed against the dog owner, and two local pit bull terriers being classified as “dangerous dogs.” Under the town’s code of ordinances, the town had authority to seize these two pit bulls that were deemed dangerous.
“Two dogs were identified as dangerous dogs under our existing ordinance,” said Mebane Police Chief Mitch McKinney to the City Council in August. “Those dogs were seized, and pursuant to the process that was in a part of that seizure, the court case was dismissed by the judge presiding over the the hearing after he determined that the owner of the dog paid restitution, and the dogs had been moved out of state to a rehabilitation program.”
“Unfortunately, we had a second event involving that same community stakeholder in June of this year,” Chief McKinney continued.
The latest incident in June resulted in new criminal charges being filed against Randall Dwayne Gerringer, a 63-year-old white male living at 801 Stuart Court in Mebane’s Fair Oaks community. After a continuance of the case in August, Gerringer’s case is now scheduled for October. The criminal charges related to the November 2023 incident against Derringer were confirmed to have been dismissed.
MPD is requesting that the dog owner receive therapeutic support from the court, which is in their words, ‘to assist with assessing defendant’s ability to safely keep and maintain dogs.’
Mebane defines a ‘dangerous dog’ as one who, without provocation, has killed or inflicted severe injury on a person, is determined by the Alamance County Animal Control Department to be dangerous based on specific listed behaviors, or any dog that has been bred and harbored primarily for the purpose of dog fighting or training for dog fighting.
While the Mebane Police Department recommended a leash length limit of six feet when it presented its suggested ordinance amendments in September, multiple residents, as well as Council members, expressed doubt about that particular proposal.
“I love living in Mebane,” said resident and public speaker Larisa Cioaca. “Every evening, I walk my dogs using retractable leashes that allow them just a bit of freedom, while keeping them under control and keeping everyone else safe. So when I saw the proposed ordinance to restrict leash length to just six feet, I was frankly appalled.”
“Are we seriously considering adopting rules designed for mega cities? Why?” Cioaca continued. “I wonder, did the staff not compare Mebane to a city in comparable size, or perhaps to other municipalities right here in Alamance County? This proposal of limiting the leash length to precisely six feet – not seven, not eight, not nine, but just six – is not only overkill, but it punishes responsible dog owners like myself for the actions of a few irresponsible ones.”
“I wonder how many of the dog incidents reported by the Chief of Police back in August would have been prevented by purely the length of the leash? None,” she continued. “The claim of no financial impact is laughable. How many thousands of dog owners – responsible dog owners – will have to buy new leashes or face fines up to $500 or even potentially jail time? And here’s what I don’t understand. How exactly would this be enforced? Are police officers going to walk sidewalks with a tape measure in hand verifying the length of leashes instead of protecting us from true crime? I urge you to reject this unnecessary and heavy handed proposal.”
Ultimately town leaders strayed from the Police Department on two fronts – the recommended leash limit, and a request to require dogs to stay on leashes while inside enclosed dog parks.
The City Council elected to enact no leash length limit, while allowing dog owners to take the leash off their pets while inside specific dog parks with enclosures that will now allow the dogs to take off running, or to attack other dogs in close vicinity. Council member Jonathan White made the motion for the amendments, which were approved 5-0 by town leaders.
According to town records, Mebane received 333 animal calls involving dogs in 2019 – the highest figure over the past half-decade. The figure dropped to 307 calls during the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020, and decreased further to 248 calls in 2021. After a slight increase to 290 calls n 2022, the number decreased again to 269 calls – just over 80 percent of the amount of calls the town received four years earlier.
The town is on pace for a similar year-over-year figure in 2024 compared to 2023, but still considerably lower than the end of last decade.
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