SC Attorney General to Deal with 'Ruff' Issue

Hilton Head Island officials want an opinion on whether dogs may run unleashed on the state's beaches.

By: Associated Press, Island Packet | WSAV News 3
Published: April 09, 2009

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) - South Carolina's attorney general is being asked to deal with a "ruff" issue.

Hilton Head Island officials want an opinion on whether dogs may run unleashed on the state's beaches. Dogs may frolic on the town's beaches at certain times during the slow season. But after a woman was bitten in January, a resident complained the rule violates a state law banning unleashed dogs on public property.

The Island Packet of Hilton Head reports Mayor Tom Peeples, a dog owner himself, wants Attorney General Henry McMaster's opinion. The issue has caused a dogfight, with people on both sides packing town meetings and flooding council members with phone calls.

The attorney general has never issued an opinion on the 1962 state leash law.

--- Information from: The Island Packet, http://www.islandpacket.com

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)