The Editor,
Well, the time of year is upon us once again when local sports teams have to battle with lazy and uncaring dog owners who let their mutts run loose to crap all over the ball diamonds and soccer pitches.
How is this fair? Dog owners have dog parks for your pets. The city of Port Coquitlam, in its infinite wisdom, chose to put a garden in at Central Park and fence it in but continues to let the area residents' pooches run wild. This area should have been a dog park. This jewel of a ball diamond was there long before any of the folks now living there - in fact, I can remember when all of the surrounding area was farm land.
Kids should not have to play in fear, as was the case last night when two beer-drinking chaps decided to let their pit bull off leash as a group of nine- and 10-year-olds tried to practise. It's the same situation at Thompson Park, Cedar Park, etc.
City bylaw enforcement needs to get off its duff and start fining such people before another kid has to slide through dog poop or, worse, gets bit. That's when the lawyers get involved, Mr. Mayor.
Dave Sheppard, Port Coquitlam
