Oh.. did I say I was going to plead guilty?  If so, I am sorry, I meant, “not guilty

The irony is that the city gave me a permit in April 2004 for the same number of the animals I requested – the officer who was in charge of giving the permit apparently ignored the very stupid part of the ordinance (see below) and gave me and lots of other rescue people permit and now he is gone, they are enforcing the very stupid part of the ordinance shown below

 

The very stupid part of the ordinance is as follows:

 

 (L)     The number of adult dogs or cats, or any combination thereof, which a hobby breeder or hobby facility permit or multiple animal permit holder may keep is limited by the following factors:

          (1)     In a residential zone, the area of the permitted hobby breeder or hobby facility site or multiple animal site shall be limited to 10% of the total area of the premises.

          (2)     Within the kennel area of a hobby breeder or hobby facility site or multiple animal site, 75 square feet of area shall be provided for each animal weighing under 30 pounds, 100 square feet for each animal weighing between 30 and 49 pounds and 125 square feet for each animal weighing 50 pounds or more.

So basically, I have 4,000 sq ft in my property, based on the calculation, I can only have up to 5 animals.. but I don’t put my cats in cages, having to only allow 10% as a living space for animals just does not make sense.  Only it assumes that 30Lb dog has a very same space need as let’s say 8 lb cat according to this law, which does not make sense.. based on the weight I could have up to 150Lb worth of animals according to the above (30lb X 5 animals) – so if I have 8 lb cats, I should almost be able to have 20 cats which is equivalent of the same weights as having five of 30lb dogs..

 


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 5:03 PM
To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: Hideyo's court case 19th??

 

Hideyo,

 

    Thank you. I read it. The link is not to the decision itself, but to a summary of the decision. And it was not a federal court, but a state court that struck down the ordinance.

 

    Does your town have a limit on the number of animals? Or was this just a case-by-case decision denying you the permits you need? If you are being charged criminally for not having the requisite permits and they would not give them to you based on numbers alone, I am not sure I would plead guilty.  I think I might argue that there was no basis for denying you the permits and therefore no basis to charge you criminally, or that the denial was unconstitutional.  But I really do think you will need legal help in order to make these arguments and should try to get a lawyer.  In the civil case, I definitely think you should raise this argument. But you should get the other cases the ALDF member mentioned, because the more courts that have made similar determinations, the more persuasive the argument will be.

 

    Again, though, I really do not have enough information about the laws and government actions in your case to figure out exactly how to argue the case. You need someone who can get involved on a local level, if possible.

 

   When I worked in NM briefly, I found the legal system pretty appalling.  I worked on the state court level, probably above the level of the court you are going to, and even on that level I was amazed.  Common law (legal principles developed by courts) were not very developed compared to MA, and some of the courts did not seem familiar with U.S. Supreme Court cases that I learned about in first year of law school.  The state court in one county was refusing to waive filing fees for divorce cases when people were too poor to pay the fees, and the U.S. Supreme Court had stated this was unconstitutional way back in the 70's!  All of which is to say that you may have to educate the court a bit.

 

Michelle

 

In a message dated 12/8/2005 6:15:57 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/limitlawpennsylvania.htm

here you go.. please read and if it will help my case, michelle.

 

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