Hallsville, Missouri had a ban on "pit bulls" for over 20 years. Passed in 1989, the ban was instituted after there were some "aggressive" pit bulls in the community, according to Mayor Cheri Reish.
On November 10th, the board of aldermen voted unanimously to repeal the long-standing ban. The issue came up after a family was targeted as having a banned dog. The dog was newly adopted and the family wanted to be able to keep their dog. They approached the council with the request that the ban be re-examined. According to the Mayor of Hallsville, the Board decided that the ordinance was "an unfair law."
It took only roughly month between the time the initial request was made to the time the board repealed the law.
The Mayor also spoke of people who wanted to move into the community, but were unable to because of the ban. In a
report on the repeal the mayor said, “We had a couple of people wanting to move in our city who already own pit-bull dogs. Once they found out we didn’t allow them, they decided not to move into our city.”
City officials see the repeal as a positive one for the community. They cited the ability of local shelters to be able to find homes for dogs in need as well as creating equitable laws for everyone and an equal standard of behavior.
Hallsville does have a generic dangerous dog law, that addresses all dogs. Interestingly, a group has been working on getting an ordinance that would prohibit tethering a dog for 24 hours a day, but it keeps failing to move forward.
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