Helen Bednarski's fine for owning a "menacing" animal will be reduced once her pet is outside Pinellas Park limits.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published December 7, 2003
PINELLAS PARK - Helen Bednarski can spend one more month with her dog, but no more.
On Friday, the 76-year-old nurse's aide pleaded guilty to a charge of violating the city's vicious dog ordinance, which has been strengthened further since Bednarski's dogs attacked a mail carrier in September.
Under the terms of her plea agreement, Bednarski must get Prone, her 4-year-old shepherd mix, outside city limits by Jan. 9. If she shows proof of complying with the order, her $158 fine will be reduced to $75.
"He's such a good dog," Bednarski said after the hearing, as she fought back tears.
Police ticketed Bednarski after Pinellas Animal Control Services found insufficient evidence that Prone had injured mail carrier Rosemary Hanks and returned the dog to its owner. Bednarski's other two dogs, Prone's brother and father, bore most of the blame for the attack and were euthanized.
Still, within two weeks of Prone's return to the neighborhood, the post office switched to curbside delivery for Bednarski's stretch of 59th Street N and two additional blocks to the south, a shift postal authorities say is permanent.
In late November, the City Council amended its animal control statutes to redefine "attack" as an overly aggressive act "including but not limited to biting, scratching or clawing."
The new ordinance, which awaits only the mayor's signature, also prohibits dogs and cats from running free, establishes legal parameters for repeated barking and whining, and outlaws throwing grain or other food to attract birds.
The existing ordinance, which prohibits owning a dog that has approached a person in a "menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack," provided enough leverage to force Bednarski's guilty plea.
"Biting is not required to violate our ordinance," said city attorney Christopher Hammonds, who negotiated the plea with Bednarski and presented it to the court.
Bednarski said she is not sure what she will do with the dog, who got his name for being accident-prone and mistake-prone. Her son James might know somebody at work, she said. But even if she finds a home for Prone through a friend, she doubts it will be for long.
Hanks returned to work shortly after her attack, bearing several neat purplish scars about a quarter-inch in diameter on her shins. She said she doesn't understand why Bednarski never fixed her front gate, allowing the dogs to slip through the bottom half of it again and again.
"It's hard not to be sympathetic with (Bednarski). She's like Mrs. Santa Claus," Hanks said. "But her dogs keep getting let out."
