GEARY COUNTY — City commissioners removed the more than two decades old ban on pit bulls in Junction City Tuesday night with a narrow 3-2 vote.
Commissioner Tim Brown voted against removing the ban. He is a former police chief, and he referred to cases he saw people injured in pit bull attacks. "This has always been a public safety issue to me. If you fault me for that so be it. This has always been about public safety."
Commissioner Nate Butler noted that he had talked with many people and six months to one year ago he was against lifting the ban. However, after doing research on the topic he changed his mind. He said, "you have to look at the statistics, and when you look at the population and citizens of the community a specific ban ordinance was the problem."
The city will still impose some restrictions on the breed including a limit of two pit bulls per owner or dwelling, a requirement to have the dog micro chipped, the dogs must be spayed or neutered and the owner cannot have had a felony drug conviction.