Dogs Get Boot From Encinitas Council : Recreation: Ordinance granting canines romping rights on Beacon’s Beach is rescinded amid howls from owners.

For Robert Davidson, the news was devastating. Darryl Kemper didn’t like it either. Nor did Camille Burks or Teresa Browning.

And, if dogs could talk, Davidson said with a pit-bull scowl, “They’d give you an earful you’d never forget.”

Come Sept. 28, Davidson, Kemper, Burks and Browning won’t be allowed to take dogs to Beacon’s Beach in Encinitas, which, until now, was North County’s answer to Dog Beach in Ocean Beach. After that date, Dog Beach will be the only beach in the county where canines can roam freely and still be within the law.

The Encinitas City Council ended a stormy session Wednesday night by voting to rescind a one-year trial ordinance that permitted dogs to roam unrestricted on a stretch of beach from the foot of Leucadia Boulevard in Encinitas to Grandview Avenue a mile to the south. Starting Sept. 28, taking dogs to the beach--even if leashed--will be prohibited. The sad news was making the rounds on Beacon’s Beach Thursday morning, where half a dozen good-sized dogs played with gentle waves while their owners sunbathed, surfed and complained--loudly.

“I think it stinks,” said Kemper, a 31-year-old construction worker from Vista whose 4-year-old Rottweiler was making his fourth beach visit of the summer. “You’ve got to have a beach area somewhere in North County for dogs. It’s so rocky, people can barely swim here. It’s meant for dogs.”

Moments later, Kemper’s dog was taking his constitutional, which Kemper promptly cleaned up with cardboard from a soft-drink carton. Dogs had been allowed at Beacon’s Beach since May of last year, provided owners kept them on a leash between the car and the beach and cleaned up after them.

Rules in effect for at least two more months permit unleashed dogs on the beach itself from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Off-season hours had permitted dogs from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. from the day after Labor Day until the Thursday before Memorial Day.

To make sure everyone got the word, lifeguards patrolling in a truck served as messengers, saying offenders would receive citations once the ban takes effect.

Robert Davidson, 24, a landscaper from Encinitas, was hurling a tennis ball into the water, so that Bear, a 1-year-old German shepherd-Labrador retriever mix, and his 4-year-old Lab playmate, Oprah, could fetch it like sea gulls after fish.

“Next thing you know,” Davidson said, “they’ll be telling 12-year-old kids they can’t play on the beach any more. Doesn’t the council have enough to do? Making stupid rules about dogs on the beach is just a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

David Wigginton, director of community services for the city of Encinitas, said there were no serious complaints--”No dog bites, no maulings, no injuries, no deaths.”

But he said, “we had complaints about dogs running into people, kicking sand on them, wrestling on top of them--that kind of thing. We had lots of complaints about the odor and people not picking up after their pets.

“At the same time, we had a lot of letters saying wouldn’t it be great to have dogs roaming freely on the beach forever.”

First-year Councilman John Davis was one of those who wanted the dogs gone. He and two other council members were the majority of a 3-0 vote, with Mayor Gail Hano and Councilwoman Pamela Slater abstaining. Davis said he saw “numerous” problems.

“I saw dogs running loose, running unleashed down pathways, doing their business on the beach and owners not picking it up,” he said. “I saw dogs, not attacking people, but barking at people and scaring them. People were afraid. You don’t have a sense of security with big dogs running around like that.”

Based on complaints from constituents, Davis said the choice came down to dogs vs. people.

“The lifeguards and the Sheriff’s Department had a lot of complaints,” he said. “Ultimately, if we were going to have them, it would have meant constant security patrols, for which we don’t have the money. We can’t afford the liability exposure in case a dog kills or injures someone.”

But dog owner Davidson sees it a different way, saying it’s one more effort to “outlaw fun” in the county’s coastal areas.

“People throughout the country are getting so uptight,” he said. “I’ve been bringing Bear here since he was a puppy, and he hasn’t hurt anybody. They try to restrict your life in so many ways. Is this really California? I don’t think it is anymore. It ain’t what it used to be.”

“That’s hogwash,” said Councilman Davis. “I’ve owned dogs for years. I have six kids, and they’ve always had a dog. If you own a dog, it’s your responsibility. You can’t let a dog impose itself on other people or other people’s property. You have to put people first--before dogs.”

Mayor Hano, who owns three large dogs, said she favors keeping the ordinance intact but abstained from voting because the council and “the mood in the room prohibited a win-win solution.”

Hano said the atmosphere during the meeting was ugly.

“It was absolutely uncalled for,” she said. “People were just yelling things out. I know this issue is emotional--people get that way about animals--but this was so disruptive, so unruly, and these people aren’t children. They’re citizens. A parent would never let a child act that way.”

One anti-dog constituent booed the mayor.

“Rowdy would be one way to describe it,” Hano said. “Other adjectives would be rude, discourteous, unpleasant. . . . I just feel Beacon’s Beach is not just for people in Encinitas. It’s for everybody, people all over the county and from elsewhere in the country. The problem came with people not obeying the few rules we have, such as keeping dogs on a leash between their car and the water and not cleaning up after them.”

Camille Burks, 32, a grade-school teacher from Poway, and her teacher friend, Teresa Browning, 28, from Encinitas, called the council vote “ridiculous,” and Burks noted how clean the beach was, despite dogs.