Judge gives OK for woman to walk dog

A District Court judge has ruled that a Las Vegas woman can walk her dog around the Las Vegas Jaycees Senior Mobile Home Community although there is a rule prohibiting it.

District Judge Mark Gibbons said Tuesday that since the rule wasn't in place when Mae Sweeney began living in the residential area run by the Clark County Housing Authority, she can't now be prohibited from doing what she had done before.

Gibbons noted, however, that Sweeney could be fined if she fails to clean up after her schnauzer, Lucky.

Sweeney had been threatened with eviction a year ago if she continued to walk Lucky in defiance of the rule. She hired a lawyer and took the case to court.

Sweeney told the Sun in October 1997 that other residents were permitted to walk their dogs but she was being singled out because of her role in a dispute over how their community should be run.

At the time, Sweeney said, "I'm not letting them push me around. I had an agreement when I came here that I could walk my dog. It was signed by me and the housing authority. I don't feel a rule can supersede that."

Gibbons agreed, although he disagreed with Sweeney's claim that she should be compensated by the housing authority for its actions. The judge called the case "a bonafide dispute over a rule change."

Housing authority Executive Director Bill Cottrell said when the dispute arose that other residents of the community at 5805 W. Harmon Ave. also had been warned not to walk their dogs there. Sweeney was the only one who continued to walk her dog after repeated warnings, he said.

The community, home to about 665 low-income residents, opened five years ago through the initiative of the Jaycees Foundation. The foundation board, a spin-off of the nonprofit service organization, approved the dog rule. The housing authority, which manages the property, is charged with enforcement.

Over the past few years, some residents have bickered with one another over neighborhood issues. One set of home owners finally ousted another from the community's residents council, which oversees social functions such as parties.

Sweeney was council treasurer.

archive