Council dismissive of scientific data

To the Editor,

     For several months, a group of citizens (along with some out-of-town animal experts) have been speaking with the Monticello City Council about its current animal ordinance that bans specific types of animals. Despite what many would consider to be an exhausting number of scientific and date-filled reports, the council has ignored our efforts and focused only on what Mayor Wolken calls “popular opinion.” The council urged our group to educate the public, so we have begun doing that.

     In an effort to let the city know what types of information we have presented to the council, we have been posting exact quotes from those studies, as well as quotes from city council members in response to them. Unfortunately, not all city council members seem to be happy that we have taken their advice to engage the public.

     On Oct. 18, Rob Paulson, who represents Monticello’s Ward 1, posted several public comments on Facebook in which he said that he himself thinks pitbulls are beautiful and would love to have one… but is afraid that if the ban were lifted they would fall into the hands of “bad people.” Surely he does not think the citizens of his ward are “bad people?”

     To take it one step further, Rob Paulson then commented, “Well my mind is made up and I’m growing tired of this pissing match although it has been entertaining.”

     The behavior Rob Paulson has exhibited is dismissive of his constituents and of hard scientific data. We deserve better.

Jo Provencher

Monticello, Iowa