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08/14/2018 12:00 AMThe debate over Simon, a mixed-breed dog currently held at the Guilford Animal Shelter and slated to be euthanized following an incident between the dog and a minor in August 2017, has made its way from social media to Town Hall and now will finally have its day in court. A hearing has been scheduled before the Department of Agriculture (DOA) on Wednesday, Aug. 15, which should bring some form of resolution to this case.
The dog’s owner, David Young, has come before the Board of Selectmen (BOS) numerous times, imploring it to reverse the decision made by the town under the previous administration. Simon bit a teenager who was trespassing on Young’s property. Young says that Simon was just protecting his property; the police report lists concerns from neighbors afraid of a dog who had previously attacked another dog and was kept in a yard not fully fenced.
The BOS had made it clear it believes it does not have the power to overturn a decision and the case would be moved up to the DOA. Young vehemently disagreed with the board, both in social media posts on his Facebook page “Save Simon” and in person at the BOS meetings, which he has attended fairly regularly since April.
Town Attorney Pam Millman previously said Connecticut General Statutes place jurisdiction of this matter with the DOA. She said the owner has a right to a hearing and will have the opportunity to “cross examine and to challenge the municipality’s evidence” of the decision. That meeting was now scheduled for Aug. 10 in Hartford.
On Aug. 12, Young took his case to the streets, encouraging people to join him in front of Town Hall for a rally encouraging the town to release Simon. Roughly 30 people turned up for the rally with signs showing the phrase “Save Simon” and a photo of the dog.
Those walking by the rally were asked to sign a petition calling on the town to release Simon back to his family. At the rally, Young reiterated his message that Simon had just been protecting his property and that the town was “setting a dangerous precedent” with the decision to kill his dog.
The BOS and town officials have largely chosen not to comment on this matter on the advice to the town attorney. However, Young has shown up at BOS meetings since April, often with a few supporters, a lawyer, or a camera crew in tow. Over the past several months, the comments to the BOS have varied in tone and civility, with Young’s public relations agent Mark Goldman telling the board at one point that “either we can settle this situation or we can just keep on putting you guys [the BOS] on the news. That’s all.”
However, at the BOS meeting on Aug. 6, the tone was calm and there was a noticeable difference in the speakers—according to records, for the first time since Young starting coming to the meeting, Guilford residents actually came to support him. Until that point, all others who had spoken in support of Simon were from various towns across the state.
Two Guilford residents spoke in favor of the town releasing Simon including Margit Kaye, who said she has lived in town for 50 years and never seen anything like this.
“It’s unprecedented that you have kept Simon hostage, but we realize that you inherited this problem or mistake from the previous administration and we are asking respectfully that you change it to let Simon go,” she said. “One year is enough for punishment.”
Guilford student Gabrielle Palumbo was the other local speaker. She said she had been reading up on the matter and believes Simon should be sent back to his family.
“This case has been blown up and become unnecessarily complicated,” she said. “Simon has served his time and belongs home with his family. He was only trying to protect his family…It also came to my attention that Simon is a rescue. Having a rescue myself, we rescue owners are not informed of the rescue’s history therefore we do not know if certain actions or objects and in this case in particular, a stick-like object, is triggering for the animal.”
Read more about the case and the controversy here.