Andrea Weckerle

Rocky Mountain News (via Romenesko) reports:

"The specter of a fatal pit bull mauling prompted Kathy McIntyre, editor of the Commerce City Gateway, to print the addresses of every registered pit bull owner in the city.

‘If we have even one citizen attacked by a pit bull, that’s enough for me,’ McIntyre said.

She said she printed the 24 addresses for the ‘greater good of the community’ and deliberately withheld names or phone numbers.

‘My philosophy and my reason for doing this is if we know where the pit bulls in Commerce City live, we can take measures to protect ourselves,’ McIntyre said.

But several pit bull owners are incensed that their addresses were published in the Jan. 6 edition of the weekly paper, which is distributed to about half of the city’s 30,000 residents.

They say it’s an invasion of their privacy, subjects them to possible intimidation and paints them all as owners of vicious dogs….

McIntyre said that most of Commerce City’s pit bull owners had already thrust themselves into the public eye by writing letters to the editor or being vocal at city council meetings.

‘They lost their privacy when they registered their pit bulls,’ she said."

Kelly McBride, the Poynter Institute’s Ethics Group Leader, commented: 

"It [printing addresses] encourages vigilantism, and you aren’t providing any context. You’re not saying whether fences have been installed or whether there were complaints against that dog."

In an attempt to balance the rights of pit bull owners against the safety needs of the community, the Code of Ordinances of the City of Commerce City, ch 4, art. I, § 4-8 (2005) mandates, among other things:

• A ban on any new pit bull ownership.
• When outside, confining the pit bull to a pen with a lockable latch surrounded by at least a six feet high fence with a secure top and a concrete base.
• When away from the owner’s property, having the pit bull muzzled and on a secure and non-extendable leash no greater than six feet in length that is handled by an authorized, legal adult person who is capable of controlling the pit bull.
• Spaying or neutering of the pit bull.
• Registration of the pit bull.
• Insertion of a permanent microchip into the pit bull.
• Procuring and maintaining liability insurance in the amount of at least one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) per animal.
• The owner shall conspicuously affix a warning sign on or near the front door of the owner’ s residence which notifies a visitor to the residence that a pit bull is contained on the premises.

If you would like to write Kathy McIntyre about her decision to publish pit bull owners’ addresses, the contact information is available through the North Metro Chamber of Commerce’s online Membership Directory.