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Lead article in the Ithaca Journal on Mon., Feb. 7, 2005

State park police dishing out tickets to Treman dog walkers

ROGER DUPUIS II Journal Staff

ITHACA -- Dog walkers weren't the only people to converge on Allen H. Treman State Marine Park Saturday.

According to eyewitness accounts, several New York State Park Police officers converged on the area during the afternoon, issuing tickets to individuals who were strolling with their dogs off leash.

Cyndy Scheibe was among those who were cited.

"They suddenly showed up, and when I was walking back from the park, my dogs were on the leash," Scheibe said.

Police approached her and issued a ticket because her dogs had, earlier, been roaming off leash.

"There were lots of people in the park, and I'm not sure what made them ticket some people instead of others," she added.

The Journal attempted to contact state park police on Sunday. A dispatcher who answered the telephone said all questions would have to be directed to a major who was not then in the office.

Why the crackdown? Only police can say for sure, but several witnesses said police indicated they had received a complaint.

"The only people who were out on the point were dog walkers," Scheibe said. "No matter how you cut it, there was nobody out at the time, I don't think, being bothered by the dog walkers and their dogs."

Seth Sicroff got two tickets.

"That's a new tactic," he said of the police maneuver, which reportedly included three cars blocking the parking lot before carrying out the ticketing. Scheibe said she saw three cars and four officers.

Sicroff said one of the tickets was for walking a dog Saturday, and another was because the officer had given Sicroff a warning a few days previously.

He and others believe the complaint may have come from a man who also is believed to have complained in the past. Sicroff was among those who said they saw that man in the park Saturday.

Scheibe said her experience has been that the park police were very polite -- almost apologetic. "He said he didn't have any choice, because someone called," Scheibe said of the officer who issued her ticket.

She estimated that, based on talking with other dog walkers, at least six, and perhaps 10 people were ticketed Saturday.

Area dog owners don't have a legally-sanctioned public venue to exercise their dogs off leash in the county. The Allen H. Treman State Marine Park has been commonly used by dog walkers, and talks in recent years have focused on lobbying state and city officials for the creation of a formal dog park in that location.

The Tompkins County SPCA is examining the feasibility of creating a dog park on 12 acres of its land in the Town of Dryden.

Contact: rdupuis@ithaca.gannett.com