We recently learned that the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School Trustees met this month to discuss public access to Smith Farm Fields on Burts Pit Road. We were unable to attend the meeting and were not aware it would address that topic.
We direct the Northampton 5 km. Cross-Country race series held every Tuesday evening from April through August and now in its 30th year, so we are naturally very interested in the question of public access. For that reason, we decided to speak out minds on this subjects.
In brief, we urge trustees vote at their May meeting for a better solution than the one put forward by Judith Fine’s committee. They want the school to do nothing to interefere with people bringing their dogs to the property and letting them run loose there. This policy makes them happy but it creates a threat to everyone else there.
It has already led to people being jumped on, scratched and bitten by unleashed dogs. Two of our runners were attacked there last summer. The school could, instead of allowing continued uncontrolled access by dog-walkers, either vote to exclude all dogs from the property, or vote to post signs that request dog-walkers to leash their pets.
Excluding dogs entirely would prevent any more attacks by dogs, but it would anger a lot of dog-walkers. The best solution thus is to merely request that dog-walkers on the property obey the city’s leash law while there.
Such a changed policy would protect farm woekers, runners, hikers and disc-golfers from unwanted dog attacks. We have people as young as age 5 and as old as age 87 who take part in our weekly races, so you can see why we are deeply concerned to protect them against dog attacks.
Such a changed policy would also protect Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. In the long run, the present set-up is bound to lead to serious injury to innocent bystanders from unleashed dogs. An event of that sort would be followed by a lawsuit with the potential for serious financial injury to the school (and the city).
We urge trustees to vote to post signs to remind visitors of the city’s leash law and request that they obey it.
Fine’s committee has proposed that an outside agency pay for the placement of “humorous” signs suggesting that dog-walkers pick up pet waste.
That approach totally fails to address the serious danger created by unleashed dogs on the property. Such signs would seem much less humorous after someone is seriously bitten by an unleashed dog there. Trustees must protect farm workers, hikers and runners, and to protect their school.
Don GranT
Sue Grant
The writers are director and assistant director of the Northampton 5-k Cross-Country Race.