by Matt Andres, Sleepy Eye Chief of Police
I want to start off by thanking the citizens who have helped with keeping the grass off the streets. We have spoken to some, and overall, the conversations have been positive. I feel the results are good and we are not seeing as much grass on the streets. Please don’t stop what you are doing — again, if this helps keep our lake healthy it is worth the little extra work. Thank you all that are doing your part.
I have a couple of other subjects I wish to discuss this month. One of our Officers was bumped by a motor vehicle at an accident scene recently. The Officer was directing traffic, with flashing squad lights on, standing on the street pointing at cars, in broad daylight and was still hit by a car. The car was not moving fast, and the officer was not injured but how easily it could have been a disaster.
When people driving come upon an accident, I understand human nature is to want to see what is happening. I am asking everyone to deny that nature and realize that this is the time to slow down and look for objects in the roadway. You won’t see much looking at a crashed car, so focus and look for people in the roadway.
If an Officer is directing traffic lock your eyes on that Officer. The Officer will direct you, so people are safe. These scenes are chaotic and passerby traffic not paying attention only makes them worse and more dangerous. If you want to see crashed cars that badly the Brown County Fair Demo night is always great.
The other subject is dogs. Every spring and summer the number of dogs getting loose from their property climbs quite a bit. Please be a responsible dog owner and keep your pet on your property. Not only is it dangerous for the dogs, we have lost one to traffic this year, it can be dangerous to people.
I understand that your dog loves you, but it may not love the stranger it comes across. We try to be a very friendly Police Department; we write few citations to citizens in these situations. As we keep catching the same citizen’s dogs over and over it feels like they don’t care for their pet or for other citizens. We understand that this can happen once to anyone that owns a dog. We don’t have an issue with that, it is the citizens who continually have this issue.
The pound fee in Sleepy Eye is $20 the first day. There is a city ordinance that can be charged. If your dog is off your property, it does need to be on a leash.
This is my 21st summer in Sleepy Eye, maybe I am just getting old and tired of the same dog issue. Please take care of your dogs and have respect for the other members of our community. We don’t want to write tickets, but it feels like it is coming. People are taking advantage of our kindness, and the situation is not getting better.