By John Howell
A December 2 notice to Police Chief Earl Burdette that a dangerous dog was being moved from a Texas municipality to Como brought the chief to last Tuesday night’s town board meeting with questions.
“The police department’s not equipped to deal with biting dogs already,” Burdette said. “The board needs to think about the issue where a vicious dog is brought from somewhere else to here.”
Burdette said that the notice stated that John Holden of Sledge Street, Como had adopted the dog.
“Texas was going to put him down but Mr. Holden managed to stop (them) from putting the dog down,” the police chief said.
Holden told Burdette, town officials and citizens that the dog had been “humanely euthanized” prior to being brought to his Como home “because he had congestive heart failure.”
“I would like to see the law that says I have to tell him (Burdette) I’m bringing an animal in,” Holden said.
He said that the dog (a Mastiff) had bitten its former owner twice. “He bit his own owner to protect himself,” Holden said.
Holden said the dog was never brought to Como, but, “My house is set up to detain these animals.”
“I didn’t find this stuff; it found me,” Burdette said, citing the Texas report that stated the dog had bitten three people.
“As a police chief if I am aware of danger to this town, my job is to bring it to the public.”
“I brought it to the board to let y’all know of the potential … if it happens again,” Burdette continued.
“My house is set up to detain my animals,” Holden said, speaking to the mayor after the police chief took his seat.
Como town attorney Revonda Griffin asked Holden to provide verification of the dog having been euthanized.
In other business, aldermen approved payment of monthly claims totaling $50,526.52 by a 2 to 1 vote. Alderwoman Rachel Powell cast the vote against payment as is her custom. She questioned repeated monthly payments to a vendor for vehicles repairs. The mayor told city clerk Alice Houston to provide invoices “for the whole year” to show Powell at the next meeting.
The town officials removed a maintenance worker from his 90-day probationary status, authorizing a 32-hour work week and pay increase from $9 to $10 hourly.
Near the meeting’s conclusion, the elected officials moved to executive session to consider an applicant for another city position.