NORTHSHOREOFLONGISLAND.COM - Powered by TBR Newspapers

Letters to the Editor

Click Here to submit your letter!

Compelled to respond to ‘barking’ remarks

Your reporter did a very good job on the story on Coindre Hall ("The Quandary? Man and dog vs. man and home," Dec. 1, 2009, Times of Huntington). The article was balanced, accurate and interesting.

I need to respond, however, to several points made by neighbors and one county official. First, the only excessive barking we've heard has come from neighbors' yards. Dogs confined in a backyard are more likely to bark than dogs that are playing. Second, contrary to Huntington Trustee Alex McKay's contention, LI-DOG is not determined to make all the grounds at Coindre Hall "a dog park". What we are determined to do is get a solution that meets the needs of dog owners, as well as other park patrons. That solution — our Share the Park proposal — is an off-leash program that establishes hours and areas for off-leash activities in the park.

An off-leash program would:

• Create a structure for what the neighbors complain is an unstructured situation

• Limit any noise in the park to certain times of day

• Leave the historic status of the park unaffected. It would be a recreational program similar to the exercise, soccer and basketball programs already run in the gym.

• Allow dog owners to give their dogs the exercise they need without worrying about getting a ticket.

Off-leash programs are run in multi-use parks throughout the country including New York City's beautiful and historic Central Park. That program, which provides off-leash hours in the morning and evening, has been a resounding success because it meets the needs of non-dog owners who can enjoy the park throughout the day when dogs are required to be on-leash as well as dog owners who can give their dogs the exercise and socialization they need during off-leash hours.

The problem with the hard line approach the County has taken at Coindre Hall — an approach that Huntington Trustee McKay has continually pushed the Parks Dept. to take including issuing $90 summonses to dog owners for being off-leash — is that it fails to address the needs of the park's historically largest user group, dog owners. Banning dogs completely, as Trustee McKay also proposes, would do nothing but escalate the situation. Mr. McKay should temper his hostility toward dog owners and play a more constructive role in the situation.

It's time for a solution at Coindre Hall that addresses everyone's needs. An off-leash program is the only way to finally put an end to the quandary at Coindre Hall.

Ginny Munger Kahn, president

LI-DOG

Huntington

January 12, 2010

Search The Site

March

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12	13
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27
28	29	30	31

Born March 16th

1822: Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor.

1822: John Pope, Union general in the American Civil War.

1861: Maxim Gorky, Russian dramatist

1912: Thelma Catherine Patricia Ryan Nixon, first lady to President Richard Nixon.

1926: Jerry Lewis, American comedian and film actor.