Dog Owner Slapped With Hefty Fine

By Jack Gurner
Reporter

WATER VALLEY – A Wood Street resident was assessed over $1000 in City Court Monday afternoon after pleading guilty to violating the City Dog Ordinance.

Angela Cobb of 414 Wood St. was fined $300 plus $96 in state assessments for allowing a dog to roam at large, a violation of section six of the ordinance.

Cobb was also ordered to pay $693.14 in restitution to Janice Crow who was bitten by the dog Saturday, Aug. 8 as she walked her miniature dachshunds on Wood Street.

During the initial appearance Monday, Municipal Judge Trent Howell explained the charges to Cobb and asked for a plea.

“I guess I will plead guilty and I will pay,” Cobb said.

Crow, the victim, was standing nearby holding several bills from her ambulance trip to the Baptist Hospital emergency room in Oxford where she received five stitches for her injuries.

The judge asked Crow if she was pushing for jail time for Cobb. “No,” she said. “She has come and checked on me.”

Under the ordinance, Cobb could have received up to six months in jail and a $500 fine.

She did receive a 90-day jail sentence that was suspended pending completion of the terms imposed by Howell.

At one point during the initial appearance, Cobb told Howell that the dog, a pit bull, belonged to her daughter. “You are responsible for your daughter,” Howell said.

Cobb also said that the dog was no longer at the Wood Street residence.

“There is a lesson to be learned here,” Howell told Cobb and ordered her to pay $150 a month.

Crow said later that Water Valley residents should be able to go walking in their own neighborhoods and feel safe. She plans to ask City officials to update Water Valley’s 15-year-old dog ordinance to match others in the state.