Dear Editor,

I live in the Fish Park neighborhood and I am dismayed at the attitude of some of my neighbors who exhibit little concern for those who live around them. On my morning walks with my dog I carefully pick up and dispose of her droppings. But I have to step around huge piles others have allowed their dogs to drop. Many children play in this park and yet these “poop piles” are everywhere. I was sitting in my kitchen one day and watched a man walk by with two large dogs. One of the dogs dumped a huge pile in the crosswalk in front of our house and the dog owner just looked back and kept walking.

If you walk around the neighborhood surrounding Fish Park you will find piles from large dogs on many lawns and even scattered on sidewalks. I read of a gated community where DNA samples of the resident’s dogs are on file to compare to dog droppings which have not been picked up. Those dog owners who are identified then have to pay a substantial fine along with the DNA test cost. Is that what we need to do in Oakdale? I hope not. I hope we can be a city where we clean up after our dogs, not out of fear of fines, but because we are good neighbors.

Larry Koch