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NEWS >>> CONTINUED FROM P. 9 strength training, like having the dog hang by their jaw from a tire tied to a tree.” “A lot of times it has to do with the way the animal is kept,” Fielder adds. “People who fight dogs rarely just have one. They’ll have a number of dogs,” often chained or in small outdoor kennels. Vets and concerned citizens can look for “scarring on the face or front legs in particular or evidence of wounds in those areas.” Sen. Floyd Prozanski of Eugene carried House Bill 2625, which allows animal care agencies to “pursue forfeiture of animals seized in cases that involve animal neglect or abuse, regardless of whether any of the criminal charges involve that specific animal,” according to the news release. These forfeitures would be based on a guilty verdict in a criminal case. The third bill, HB 3283, prevents felony animal abusers from owning the kind of animals they abused for much longer than laid out by previous law; the bill extends the prohibition from 5 years to 15 years. All three bills now await Gov. Kate Brown’s signature. Fielder says neglect is the most common form of animal cruelty reported. “Skinny horses, the dog tied out without a doghouse — that type of neglect is what we most frequently have reported to us.” Oregon’s animal cruelty prosecutor, Jacob Kamins, says criminal neglect cas- es come up when a person has “a legal responsibility to care for the animal. If you fail to give them minimal care under the law you could be guilty of neglect.” In Lane County, however, neglect and abuse may not lead to criminal charges, and so may not face the increased penalties of these new bills. “Lane County treats those things as violation level, so a traffic ticket. No chance of jail, no chance of probation,” Kamins says. “This means the burden of proof is lower for whoever is prosecuting the case, but it also means you don’t have the same punishments when charging someone with a crime.” ‘Lane County treats those things as violation level, so a traffic ticket. No chance of jail, no chance of probation.’ — OREGON’S ANIMAL CRUELTY PROSECUTOR, JACOB KAMINS Devon Ashbridge, the public information officer for Lane County, says in an email that “animal owners can be cited under Lane Code 7.120 (abuse) or Lane Code 7.125 (neglect) or Lane Code 7.105 (abandonment). If the neglect or abuse is severe, criminal prosecution is a possibility.” These codes Ashbridge adds, cover only unincorporated parts of the county, not cities like Eugene and Springfield. It is up to the district attorney’s office to determine whether a case is criminal, she says. She says that signs of neglect include lack of food or water, lack of shelter, unsanitary conditions, noticeable trauma and abandonment. If a person is cited under Lane Code instead of Oregon Law, they will face small fines instead of jail time, the abuse charges won’t be on their record, and they won’t face the same consequences that the state requires for criminal cases. See Eugene Weekly’s previous reporting for more information (“Why is animal neglect not criminal in Lane County?” in the January 8, 2015 issue). Ashbridge says, “There have not been changes in how cases are cited in the last two years.” Ingrid Kessler is the co-owner of the Emergency Veterinary Hospital in Springfield, a 24/7 facility that sees emergency cases, including 12 to 20 abuse cases per year from owners and local agencies alike. “It’s hard to talk about even if you’ve been doing it for 20 years,” Kessler says. “We have seen animals here who have been burned or cut or sexually abused — sometimes with an isolated incident and sometimes with human family members who are seeking medical care simultaneously.” Kessler points to an alarming statistic: There is an 88 percent correlation between animal abuse and child abuse. “If someone is going to be a jerk to a vulnerable family member, they’re not going stop to consider if it has two legs or four legs.” Oregon laws reflect this, with criminal animal abuse cases including harsher penalties if a child witnesses the violence. Kessler says that anyone concerned about animal cruelty should call their lo- cal police agency to contact the animal welfare office. If you suspect an animal is being abused or neglected, call Eugene Animal welfare at 541-687-4060. For unincor- porated areas of Lane County, call Lane County Animal Services at 541-682-3645. • About 40 marchers showed up on Friday, June 2, to protest the downtown Eugene dog ban. It’s interesting that the city decided to wait on banning alcohol in all parks due to “mixed” reviews in public comment, but the City Council charged ahead with banning pups, despite decidedly mixed reviews. Were there more people with money and influence wanting to sip wine or toss back a hoppy beer in the park than there were who stroll with their dogs downtown? For the record, we are pro-dog and pro- a responsible drink in the park once in a while. We are anti targeting the homeless with awkward bans clearly aimed at driving the unhoused where they can’t be seen, but not helping them. • This is the anniversary of the Summer of Love (See this week’s cover feature). Why don’t we add a renaming party to all the fun activities the city is planning for downtown Eugene this summer? Make Kesey Square Kesey Square again! Some elements of this town tried to run away from that name, going instead to the officially boring Broadway Plaza, but the City Council has reaffirmed the tribute to the great writer Ken Kesey. Time to celebrate those things that make us different from Everytown, U.S.A. • Remember this name. Hope Hicks. She’s a young staffer down the food chain on Donald Trump’s communications team. She was part of the Trump meeting with the pope at the Vatican, while Sean Spicer, a Catholic, was not. In response to a report by The Washington Post detailing Trump’s tendency to be demeaning and rude to his staff, Hicks issued a statement full of exaggerated compliments: Trump has a “magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him,” as well as “an unparalleled ability to communicate with people.” Watch Hope Hicks. • What We’re Reading: We haven’t opened this one yet but two of our smartest reading friends have recommended it. Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It by Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution, said to be powerful in its look at the upper middle educated class in America. • Ashland actor Denis Arndt, who put in 15 seasons with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the 1970s and ’80s, is up for a Tony Award for his lead performance in Simon Stephens’s comedy Heisenberg. Arndt came out of retirement for the play, which ran on Broadway for two months last fall at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. He played against Mary-Louise Parker (Fried Green Tomatoes, The West Wing, Weeds), who inexplicably kisses him on the neck when she encounters him in a train station to open the show. Not too bad for a guy who turned 78 in February. SL ANT INCLUDES SHORT OPINION PIECES, OBSERVATIONS AND RUMOR-CHASING NOTES COMPILED BY THE EW EDITORIAL BOARD. HE ARD ANY GOOD RUMORS L ATELY? CONTAC T C AMILL A MORTENSEN AT 541-484-0519, EDITOR@EUGENEWEEKLY.COM eugeneweekly.com • June 8, 2017 11
