The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-03-23
NUMEROUS KINKS IN LAWS.
Continued from Page H.

enough laws on her statute books at
the present time, if they were enforced,
to reduce her canine population to a
wee small minimum. Dogs are of such
general interest, being so conspicuous
~ in the public eve at all seasons of
the year, that brief outline of some
of the laws governing their existence
may be Of interest.
The new license law, or at least the
money part of it, is still matter of
| lively conjecture to dog owners. new
interpretations continually developing.
/ The writer is constrained to pass light
~ over that part of the dog laws and
| let town officials and owners of can
ines, assisted by personal friends and
a few lawyers, figure out for them.
selves how much it is going to cost TO
get Major and sGyp' licensed this
year.
Dog owners and town clerks are not
| however, the only people who are, OF
ought to he, interested in dogs-not BY
a long shot.
Section 6,723 of the General Laws oil
Vermont obliges the listers to take
list. and that means a correct list, OF
all dogs owned or kept in their rcspec
tive towns. Some listers tally up lone
dog if by chance they see canine
sleeping on the front doorstep. but
dogs and their owners are always ex
pecting the listers around about tha
time of year anyhow, and if the dol
happens to get shut into dark clos
ct, or crawls under the bed Just befor
the listers arrive nobody takes an,
1nf !
and Introduce him to the officials, il
fact they are likely to forget all abou
him until after the listers depart. Som
listers ask at an occasional residence i
a dog is sheltered within the bosom 0
that family, but some of them neye
ask any questions that are as rude a
that, so don I find out much abou
dogs at. some places. Some lister
please note, and probably most of them
are right on their job and perform
their duties without fear or favor
The list of dogs secured by the list
ers has to be turned over to the tow
clerk, and section 67l9 of the Genera
Laws says he should compare it Wit
the list of dog licenses he has issue
and notify the selectmen of discrepan
cies between the two lists Seetio
612i, General Laws, SAYS the select
men must annually issue warrant iii
recting the constable, or police officer
to kill all dogs not licensed and collar
ed according to law. the warrant to b
issued within ten days after Nav /.
Probably the town clerks all do thi
part and report to the selectmen; lie
Us hope they do, anyhow, but no,
many boards of seleetmen ever issu
a dog warrant to the constablcs Som
do, but not many, and whole lot Q
them don t ever know that they ar
supposed to do so.
1t is the duty of the officer who get
one of those rare documents known a
a dog warrant wished onto him to sery
it as conscientiouslv as he woul
any other warrant and make h
| return thereon to the selectmen, q
provided in Section 672S. How man
unlicensed dogs are killed and prose
cution brought against the owners b
these officers9 Search the records an
ye shall find many cases-not. tt
dog officer has hard row to hoe. an
many people rejoice in making it hare
er, but the law says such and sue
things shall be done
Another section of the General Law
6729. orders the selectmen to certif
to the states attorney relative to the
dog warrants within ten days frol
July 25. How many such warrant
ever get through the source prescribe
by law? Some years as many as oil
or two towns in a county get as far
sending a certificate to the states a
torney. ANY penalties? Wait unit