Bath mayor: Village has no authority to restrain dog
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

BATH - a Campbell Street resident Monday appealed to the Bath village board for protection against a neighbor's dog who allegedly attacked his wife and, according to police, has bitten three people within the last two years.

But village Mayor David Wallace says the municipal board's hands are tied.

"We don't have the authority to do that," Wallace told Patrick Murat, of 109 Campbell St., after Murat asked whether the village could order the dog removed.from the area.

According to Wallace, there has been no legal violation of a judicial order handed down from village Justice Chauncy Watches requiring the dog's owner, Jamie Price of 111 Campbell St., to keep the dog under control. Specifically, Wallace noted, Watches ordered Price to keep the dog on its own property or to have it under the control of someone at least 21 years old whenever it is off the property.

Price reportedly planned to fence in his Campbell Street property; however, Wallace noted protective fencing was not part of Watches' order.

"If it's not off the property, I don't know what else we can do," Wallace said of the dog.

Murat told village officials he is concerned the dog would get loose and attack his children. "If he gets loose … he can come over to anyone's yard…. We're just trying to protect our children from getting killed."

In late July, a young boy was killed in his Bath home by the family's young pit bull; the boy's father is currently facing a child endangerment charge.

Wallace told Murat to contact the village dog enforcement officer immediately in the event the neighboring dog appears to have escaped from its yard and the court order is violated..