Longtime Greenwood resident Marsh Pickett has seen it go on year after year in his front yard.
“I hate to see people coming by here with dogs and seeing them messing in the yard,” he said.
Despite a city ordinance that requires dog owners to clean up after their pets, the daily assaults have continued.
Pickett, 88, said he often goes out armed with a shovel and a rake and cleans his yard afterwards.
“I just wish people would be a little bit more considerate,” he said.
Pickett, a self-described animal lover, does not blame the dog. “That dog only knows when it is time to go to the bathroom,” he said.
Instead, he blames the owners for lacking in common courtesy.
Grand Boulevard is a center of the unseemly activity because it’s a popular destination for dog-walkers.
Pickett, who has lived on Grand Boulevard for the past seven years, said he encountered the same lack of consideration when he lived on High Street.
One resident said that over the years Taylor Drive has turned into a dumping ground — literally.
“There’s quite a bit of it in my neighborhood. It’s a reality here,” said Jeremy Hatfield, a resident of Taylor Drive.
Hatfield noted that dogs have used his yard both while on a leash and while running loose, which also is a violation of existing city law punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or a 90-day jail sentence.
The municipal code also deals dogs that create a nuisance by unwanted defecation.
Section 4-31 says a dog or cat will be considered a nuisance if it “damages, soils, defiles, or defecates on private property other than the owner’s or on public walks and recreation areas unless such waste is immediately removed and properly disposed of by the owner.”
It carries the same penalty as leash law violations — a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 90 days in jail.
Greenwood Mayor Carolyn McAdams is well aware of the problem.
“I hear it loud and clear. It happens in my own yard,” she said.
But the mayor said she’s only had one dog complaint come across her desk in the past seven or eight months.
“If homeowners see dogs (running loose) in their neighborhood they should call the animal control officer at the Police Department,” she said.
McAdams said animal owners need to be more considerate to their neighbors. “It’s up to the residents to abide by the law,” she said.
McAdams said she’ll bring the issue up again at the May 3 meeting of the City Council.
• Contact Bob Darden at bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
