Yep—but the cops can’t patrol every day of the week or even every weekend, what with all the other mayhem in town. Dog owners are a narcissistic bunch–“my dog or else” is their motto. I’m in the north end and poop deposits are not found only in parks. Recently I discovered a large one in my flower bed, almost stepped on it, dang it. Some scofflaws in the north end also let their dogs roam free on the streets when they’re too stoned to go out and fetch them home. Next time I see one roaming I’m calling dog control. Of course, if it’s on a weekend, I’ll be stuck–no dog control on weekends?

Meanwhile, there is poop of another kind buried under INL and infiltrating into the Snake River aquifer. Today KBSU (and last night the TV media) were trumpeting that “at last after 50 years ALL that nasty waste will be taken away.” NOT.

Only some of the waste at INL can be shipped to the only open nuke waste repository in the US–the one in New Mexico, WIPP. ALL means only 1/6th of the total undeground waste that was supposed to have been removed.
Once again the DOE and Idaho officials are telling fairy stories.

Given that we have a hard time justifying having police officers patrolling parks looking for “poop violaters”, and I can only assume that the officers would rather be doing something else as well. Is it possible to give P&R staff citation powers, or a group of volunteers (ala greenbelt patrol) that could monitor this situation?

The last time I called the humane society about a stray.. admittedly years ago… they told me they wouldn’t respond unless I caught it first.

As for the weekend thing, their web site says

“Animal Control officers investigate abuse and neglect cases, rescue stray and injured animals, respond to citizen complaints, educate the public about responsible pet ownership and enforce animal ordinances. Officers are on the road seven days a week and available after hours for emergencies.”

I guess it depends on how you read that last sentence. I read it as on the road 7 days… and also after hours for emergencies.

The police should be handing out tickets for doggy law breakers, leave the cleanup to Parks and Rec.

As long as they are taking request, how about some enforcement on bicyclist that are breaking the law.

8 cops and only 4 tickets in two hours now that is a waste. On a slow day my pa (a retired officer back east) could write 6 tickets an hour. That is 96 speeding tickets at what $75 a crack not including court cost. And who knows one of those speeding tickets may have kept someone from undergoing the pain and hassle of being injured in an accident.

Quick test for police officers:

Which of the following presents the most danger to the public and should be cause for special patrols, quick police action and other major attention (pick only one):

A. Drunken drivers speeding and weaving in traffic.
B. Armed robbers holding up a store or gas station.
C. People being assaulted, beaten, stabbed, kidnapped, etc.
D. People drinking beer while floating on the river.
E. Homicides.
F. “Bikini dancers” letting too much show.
G. Bar failing to stop serving at 2 a.m.
H. Doggy do-do on or near a trail or in someone’s yard.
I. Vicious-appearing dog threatening children and/or other people and/or pets.
D. None of the above is really worth dealing with except once in a while for publicity purposes.

Are the cops going to keep the cruisers idling while out on poop patrol? If the cops focus on dog poop maybe a few more people will get killed or maimed by cars and trucks running red lights.
Those folks won’t be able to have a dog therefore eliminating one more source of poop.

Folks if you think dog poop is offensive and a health hazard, try finding a campsite in the National Forest after the mushroom buyers leave camp. Human feces everywhere and piles of trash. The county sheriffs need to patrol and write tickets to these miscreants. Campsites north of Ola in the Payette Forest are disgusting. I spent an hour cleaning one up.

I’d let the poop lie and go after some real lawbreakers. Surveys have consistently listed the number one complaint in cities across America as NOISE.

I little pile of doggy doo is way down on my list of annoying things compared to the jet aircraft racing around town disguised as motorcycles.

I called the Boise Police Department a year or so ago to ask if they EVER do anything to stop illegally muffled vehicles and the desk sergeant said they don’t keep records of that sort.

Then I found out that the off-road exhaust system lobby gives huge amounts of money to law enforcement.

Maybe if the doggie owners bought off the cops like the exhaust manufacturers, they would back off and find more pressing things to do.

Bob, I would be very interested what information you uncovered with regard to the cops and their direct relationship with motorcycle exhaust mfrs.
Would you share that information?

Regarding motorcycle mufflers and cops, here is what I remember.

The ‘Specialty Equipment Market Association’, which represents muffler manufacturers, donates to the country’s police and sheriff organizations. I cannot find the article that exposed this, but I believe that was the issue.

Another thing is that most cops are military veterans and identify with the black leather clad biker set since a huge amount of vets tend to be of the biker lifestyle group.

I have attended functions where cops and sheriffs showed up off duty, …and guess what? Several showed up on LOUD black motorcycles. I think cops ignore loud motorcycles intentionally.

To expand on my conversation with the desk officer, he also told me that it was hard to tell if a muffler was stock or not. This is nonsense since legal mufflers sport an EPA label stamped on the pipe. One can often guess that it is illegal due to the earsplitting noise that reverberates between buildings.

You can find out more about this at

http://www.noiseoff.org/motorcycles.shtml

Here is what NOISEOFF says…

The Money Trail

The largest manufacturers of motorcycles are Harley-Davidson Motor Company (H-D), Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Honda, and BMW. The largest manufacturers of aftermarket exhaust systems are Samson Motorcycle Products, Vance & Hines, Yoshimura, D&D, and Kerker.

The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), and Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) are industry trade groups representing manufacturers, dealers and installers.

They have lobbied against proposed noise-pollution ordinances in communities across America. SEMA created the ‘Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus’ enlisting members of congress to support their agenda. They also enlist local motorcycle enthusiast clubs to lobby on their behalf on political issues that might affect their industry.

With increasing negative news stories and noise code legislation targeted at the motorcycle community, H-D discontinued manufacturing non street-legal exhaust pipes using the brand name ‘Screamin’ Eagle.’

Ken Schmidt, a former H-D executive once described the sound of his product in three words: “Voice of God.” He went on during a speech at a business conference, “Noise is good. Noise is the foundation of your business.” H-D had attempted to trademark the noise from its V-twin motorcycle engines.

Motorcycle riders join political action groups in an effort to combat increased legislation. These groups include the Motorcycle Riders Foundation, and American Motorcyclist Association (AMA). Another group calls itself ABATE, depending on the chapter, the acronym stands for ‘American Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education’ or ‘American Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments.’

Short answer Cyclops… I read waaay tooo muuuch, and tend to remember a lot of it.

I have a friend that saves every article he ever read on his hard drive in literally hundreds of folders. I am not writing a book, I am just curious about the world at large, so will not need a bibliography cache.

There are a lot of things I can’t find anymore because they have dissappeared behind internet news source paywalls.

My favorite vanished story came out in the LA Times when oil was about $45 per barrel. The highway folks down there said that “even if all government money was shifted to road repair, we could not maintain a minimum level of service”. The story was then echoed in the Seattle papers, and others across America.

So this makes me wonder why Butchy Boy thinks he’s going to somehow make it happen at $145 dollars per barrel, or is he lying and buying a little time for himself…

Back to the scoop on poop:

I find this all kind of amusing. I lived on a farm when I was a kid, worked on ranches in my late teens (and some beyond), and still spend a bit of time now and then around various kinds of animals.
Ya know what? The *all* poop! And that’s been true for years.
And, yep, kids have been kids for years, too; they run and play and jump and fall — sometimes landing in poop. They brush off what they can, and go back to running, playing, etc.
And us older folks walk through the corrals, barns, pastures, etc. (that’s why some call us shit-kickers), and sometimes even we can trip and fall.
Ain’t kilt me yet, I I’ve never heard of any kid or adult getting sick, let alone dead, from falling in the wrong place.
Yeah, it’s unpleasant, and stinky, but dangerous? Doesn’t seem to be.

Granted, I didn’t grow-up on a farm; but on my more-than-a-few visits to farms in Idaho, Wisconsin, California, New Jersey, Poland and Germany I don’t remember even once seeing children playing in feces or the adults purposely lounging in it either.

Additionally, dog feces contain billions of coliform bacteria. These bacteria contaminate surface water when it is carried into the Boise River, creeks, and lakes via storm drains during storms.

That’s generally not the case down on the farm.

There are alot of Apples and Oranges comparisons being made.

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Moreover, the problem of loose dogs in parks has more to do with Public Safety than just poop.

As the demographic of Boise continues to grow and shift, you’ll continue to see an increase in “macho” dogs.

Do we wait until one rips the face off of a child (literally) playing at Camel’s Back?