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34 RAINBOW DRIVE ~ <br /> JAY T. KIMURA - <+oax Hao,luwalv5~zo <br /> <br /> PROSECUTING ATTORNEY yt%~:_u:- FAx: ' <br /> B3e-3x03 <br /> CHARLENE Y. IBOSHI - +a~-~ <br /> FIRST DEPUTY WEST HAWAII UNR <br /> PROSECUTING ATTORNEY ?~r~«M',~,r 81-880 HALEKII ST , <br /> KEALAIO=KUA , HAWAl198T50 <br /> PX; 372-2552 <br /> FAX 322-6551 <br /> OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY <br /> January 2, 2007 <br /> The Honorable Mayor Harry Kim <br /> Office of the Mayor <br /> 25 Aupuni Street, <br /> Hilo, Hawaii 92720-4252 <br /> RE: Request for Veto of Bill No. 258 <br /> Relating to Animals <br /> Dear Mayor Kim, <br /> The Office of the Prosecuting Attorney concurs with your Veto of Bill No. 258, Relating <br /> to Animals which was passed on November 29, 2006, by the County Council. During <br /> the Council meeting, the Police Department and the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney <br /> testified against the bill as drafted. <br /> Over the last couple of years, the Office of the Prosecuting Attomey has been working <br /> with the community to make changes that would improve the County's Animal Control <br /> Ordinance. Changes that we were hoping to make, included changes to the noisy <br /> animal ordinance, increasing fines, strengthening of the Dangerous Dog ordinance as <br /> well as licensing of animals. <br /> Numerous public meetings were held. Somewhere along the way, the mission changed <br /> from making needed changes to making changes in a new bill modeled after the City <br /> and County of Honolulu Animal Control Ordinance. Council then went through 5 drafts <br /> of the Honolulu Ordinance. <br /> These changes made parts of the bill Constitutionally unenforceable for vagueness. <br /> They took out meaningful changes such as increasing fines put in by community <br /> members and added potentially dangerous requirements for the police. An example is <br /> Section 4-16 Seizure of Unlicensed Dogs: <br /> (1) "Every o~cershall seize anv unlicensed dog found running at lame. . <br /> (2) `Yf not so redeemed the dog shall be sold by the officer. , <br /> The "..shall.." language in this section would place an officer responding to an <br /> emergency in an impractical position of violating this section. I believe that we can work <br /> with the Council to find other language that could meet the intent of this and other <br /> sections. <br /> XawY'1 County la an EquN DPPOrNaJ1Y Pmrldsr and Employer <br /> <br />