http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/12156248.htm
Refusal to have dog euthanized nets nearly $20,000 in fines
HAZLETON, Pa. - A woman is facing $600 per day in fines because her son refuses to put to sleep a dog that allegedly bit a mailman.
"Me putting my dog to sleep is like me putting my kid to sleep. I'd pay a lifetime of fines before I'd let that happen," said Traian Jovanov, 20, whose defiance has led to nearly $20,000 in fines for his mother, Elizabeth Jovanov.
The mother is being fined because she was caring for the dog named Slim on May 31, when it allegedly attacked the mailman. At the time, Traian Jovanov was jailed on a probation violation.
Slim is a 2-year-old Staffordshire terrier, a relative of the American pit bull. City health officer Mark Thompson ordered Elizabeth Jovanov to have the dog euthanized after the mailman reported being attacked. A citation Thompson filed on June 15 said the dog had attacked people without provocation twice before.
The dog was loose and off the owner's property when it bit mailman Andrew Debalko, according to Thompson.
But Jovanov disputed that, saying the dog was leashed and that Debalko put his hand near the dog's face. In a 2003 incident, someone kicked his dog in the face, and the dog jumped around the man but did not bite him, he said. And in 2004, he said, someone making a delivery was bitten after entering the back yard despite signs warning people of a dog there.
Jovanov said his mother told him she would handle the current legal situation. He said she was unavailable for comment because of recent hip surgery
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