Leash rule postponed
By Cheryl Lecesse/ Staff Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2005
Those who went to Mt. Misery this week found dogs still allowed to walk the grounds without a leash.
Conservation Commissioner Mary Lincoln announced the regulations at Mt. Misery requiring dogs to be leashed would be postponed until after a public hearing could be held to discuss them.
The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Town Offices.
Lincoln announced the change at Town Meeting after putting a hold on the Conservation Commission's budget, which allowed her to speak. Town Moderator Jack French said he allowed the discussion to continue because of the interest in the issue.
The regulations were scheduled to go into effect Monday, but Lincoln said the commission decided to postpone them after learning a group had organized and planned to raise the issue at Town Meeting.
"We regularly receive both positive and negative input from users of the Mt. Misery area," said Lincoln at Town Meeting. "In the end, and after four years of mulling it over and discussing it, it was our judgment that in order to reduce the impact of dogs on the fragile resources and to allow for the enjoyment of other users, we needed to require that dogs be leashed. We knew this would make some people very happy, and it has, and that it would also make some people very unhappy, and it has done that, too."
At Town Meeting, Tom DeNormandie of Old Concord Road asked if the new public hearing meant the commission was open to compromise regarding the regulations. Lincoln said the commission has received a number of compromising solutions since the regulations were announced, and said the upcoming hearing would be an opportunity to discuss feasible options.
Lincoln said while the leash regulation was postponed, the commission still asks those who use Mt. Misery to pick up their pets' feces.
"We ask that people bring empty plastic bags from home and return home with the full ones," Lincoln said. "We are also asking that dog walkers continue to comply with the principles of dog-walking etiquette that we have publicized consistently over the past four years."
The town requires dogs to be under control of their owners at all times, Lincoln said.
The regulations were first announced in an article Lincoln wrote that was published in the March 10 edition of the Lincoln Journal. A public hearing was held March 16, at which dog walkers from town and from various communities in the area attended, most of whom spoke out against the leash regulation.
Opposing views
For resident and local business owner Deborah Dumaine, leash regulations would allow her to feel safe enough to walk the trails at Mt. Misery again.
"It's a public safety issue," Dumaine said of dog use on the property.
While on a walk at Mt. Misery about a year ago, Dumaine was knocked over by two golden Labradors running and playing rough with each other.
Dumaine added, "I tried to jump out of the way but I couldn't get out of the way fast enough."
Dumaine fell and hurt her leg, and her friend approached the dog owners to tell them what had happened.
"They initially showed some concern," she said. "I was sitting there in pain and they kind of looked over and they tried to call their dogs off."
Dumaine said her friend asked them for their names, but they refused and walked away.
The incident left Dumaine with a hamstring injury, which does not heal quickly, she said.
"I had to have a year of physical therapy and it still hurts," she said. "It's never been the same. I've never gone back there because I felt like I couldn't."
Dumaine said she reported the incident to the police, who were sympathetic.
"They said we're sorry, we hear this all the time and there's nothing we can do about it," she said.
"I think the Conservation Commission really has the best interest of as many people at heart as best they can," said Dumaine of the regulations. "There is another side to this story."
At Town Meeting, Lincoln acknowledged the commission has received an increased number of reports of incidents like that which happened to Dumaine. Lincoln also said many dogs at Mt. Misery are also well-behaved.
In addition, Lincoln said the commission stands by its view that overall dog use at Mt. Misery, a 200-plus acre conservation property off Route 117, is causing degradation to the land.
"While no single dog or person has a significant effect on the land and the ecosystem it supports, the cumulative impact of this number of dogs is evident," Lincoln said. "Compared with other conservation parcels in town, the trails at Mt. Misery are wider and more compacted, the underbrush more sparse, and wildlife less abundant."
Lincoln said the fact that surrounding conservation properties have enacted leash laws or have banned dogs altogether has also caused the dog population using Mt. Misery to increase.
Dog owners disagree
Following the public hearing March 16, dog owners who use Mt. Misery banded together, writing letters to the commission, the Board of Selectmen and the Lincoln Journal about their feelings on the regulations.
Dick McWalter of Concord said he decided to react by forming a Web site, www.mtmisery.org.
"The morning after the meeting the idea just popped in my head," McWalter said. "I ran home and chekced if mtmisery.org was available. I just sat down an started doing it and one thing led to another."
McWalter said he was not sure if the Web site would help, but said he was pleased with the amount of hits it has received.
"It was just to give us all a place to stay in touch to communicate and see what we could do about this problem," he said. "I just felt we had to do something."
McWalter said he regularly walks at Mt. Misery with his German shepherd Jake. He said he plans to keep the Web site up and running, no matter what happens regarding the regulations.
"Now everybody has a place to stay in touch and put our ideas together," he said. | | 
Mary Lou Cohn of Wayland (in green) and friend Joanne Sargent of Framingham with Cohn's dog Tipper, 7, a whippet/lab mix, Monday afternoon at Mt. Misery. (Staff photo by Ellen Bullock) |
|
