By John Howell

For their second straight monthly meeting Como’s mayor and aldermen heard complaints about dog attacks. This time the dog attacked a person.

Jeff Evans told town officials that on June 15 his fiancée, Yancy Allison, left their home at 504 Sycamore to walk their dog.

“Five minutes later she comes back and she’s covered in blood from her mouth down,” Evans said. “I thought she had been shot or something.

“She was attacked by a vicious dog, a neighbor’s dog, two doors down.”

When the neighbor’s dog had attacked, Evans continued, Allison bent down to pull her miniature dog to safety.

“The dog knocked her over on the ground and when she was down, the dog was able to get at her throat, her mouth … He also attacked our dog,” Evans continued. 

The attack was ended, when “a teenage boy next door grabbed a stick and beat him off of her,” Evans said.

We had to go to the emergency room …; she had nine bites; she also had to get surgery — stitches in her mouth,” the victim’s fiancé said.

At Como’s June 10 meeting Kay Long told town officials that on May 20 a dog attacked her small dog while she was walking him on a leash and killed

(In the June 13 edition of The Panolian, a story about that incident inadvertently omitted the four introductory paragraphs. They are printed with this story as a sidebar.

The Panolian regrets the omission.)

The reports of the May and June dog attacks prompted considerable comment from citizens who attended the meetings, but by Tuesday night city attorney John Calvin Patterson had prepared a comprehensive ordinance regulating animals in Como.

Assistant city attorney Kate Patterson distributed copies of the proposed ordinance for the elected officials’ consideration.

“Now I have something I can go by,” Police Chief Earl Burdette said, referring to the proposed ordinance. “Everything is covered.”

“Before I leave here tonight, are we going to get someplace to put these dogs,” Burdette asked.

“I think we’re looking at a special called meeting later on and get everything together so we’ll know what it costs …” Mayor Everette Hill said.

“If this happens again, can I have permission to take the dog and put him in the animal clinic?” Burdette asked.

Alderwoman Teresa Dishmon offered a motion to allow the police chief to take dogs to Woodlawn Hospital for Animals for impoundment. The motion passed unanimously and was later amended to include language to make dog owners responsible for the cost of impoundment.

“I’ve got a question,” said Alderman John Walton. “If I’m walking and a dog attacks me, what happens if I kill the dog?”

“You’ve got a right to stop the threat,” the police chief replied.

“If that means killing?” 

“You’ve stopped the threat,” Burdette said.