Newport can tighten leash

June Casagrande

The city has the right to ticket dog owners who let their animals

off the leash while they’re swimming in the ocean, a panel of

Superior Court judges decided this week.

Residents Lynn and Philip Butterfield took the city to court after

getting several citations for letting their golden retriever, the Red

Baron, swim in the ocean without someone holding on to his leash. The

Butterfields argued that city laws that require dogs on the beach to

be on a leash didn’t apply to the waters offshore. A panel of three

judges of the Orange County Superior Court who heard an appeal of a

previous ruling against the Butterfields sidestepped the question of

whether the ordinance’s description of beach as “pebbles and sand”

included the water. Instead, they focused on other wording in the

law.

“Since the ordinance requires dogs to be leashed in any ‘public

place’ as well as on the beach, and since the surf along the beach is

open to public use and therefore constitutes a public place,” the

city was within its rights to cite the Butterfields, judges Nancy

Wieben Stock, Thomas N. Thrasher Sr. and Daniel J. Didier concluded

in their judgment.

“We’re very disappointed, but I guess I should have listened to my

husband when he said you can’t fight City Hall,” Lynn Butterfield

said Wednesday.

Red Baron and his owners will respect the rules, Butterfield said.

From now on, she will take him in the water on a 6-foot-long leash.

But because Butterfield can’t swim, she will wear rubber “wader”

pants to allow her to get far enough into the water to let Baron

swim.

City officials said they are pleased with the ruling.

“This is the way we think the ruling should have gone,” City

Manager Homer Bludau said. “We took the position we did because we

felt like it served the public.”

In May, the City Council considered adding language to the leash

law to forbid off-leash dogs in ocean and bay waters and in parks.

But the majority voted to wait to hear what the court had to say

before considering whether to change the law.

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.