Court Today!

So today, at 2 pm, was court for our 5 animal citations.  We got there early, about 1:30, and checked in.  We were told to sit out in the lobby and the animal control officers (ACOs) would be out to talk to us.

Sue (the ACO handling my case) and another ACO came out and made their rounds and talked to everyone, wanting to see what the status of the cases were.  When Sue came and sat down next to me, she asked if I had all the animals out of the house, and I said yes.  I explained that I only had my two dogs and a hamster left, and I said that everything else had been moved out, since I am moving.  She remembered that I told her that (about myself moving), and she said that she had talked to code enforcement -- apparently in Hammond, you need a business license to run a business out of your house, and she said that had I not been moving, code enforcement would have issued me a ticket / fined me for this, but with me moving, it's sort of a moot point (glad they think so).  I mentioned to her that I have never needed a business license when I have lived anywhere else, and she said well, that's fine, but in Hammond, you do. 

Sidenote (hence why it's in italics) -- I looked this up (about business licenses) on Hammond's City Ordinances, once I got home from court... this would be a mess if I was staying.  The businesses have to have set hours, they have to be open for inspection by the health department, police department, fire department, etc etc.  If the building where the business is located doesn't meet fire codes, safety codes, etc... it may not be granted a license.... and this goes on to say that a pet related business falls under the category of "other businesses," which requires an additional special permit to operate ($50 fee for permit).  It is possible that the location may not be correctly zoned, and if not, sorry, no permit for the animal business.  I could go on, but here's a fun zinger -- 

Each and every operator of a pet shop or cattery must give a bill of sale with each dog.  The bill of sale must reflect the approximate breed, color, sex and age, together with a statement as to special conditions regarding sterilization operations and inoculations, if any, and must further show from whom the animal was procured by the dealer, whether by purchase, by his or her own breeding thereof, or otherwise, giving the name and address of the person from whom he or she procured the animal in his or her possession.  Each bill of sale must be numbered consecutively and made up in triplicate, 1 copy shall be given to the purchaser, 1 copy shall be given to the Police Department, and 1 copy shall be retained by the seller.  On the back of each bill of sale there shall be a diagram showing special markings on the pet sold.

I bet this all would have been my "next steps," if somehow I was trying to stay here.  How about... no?  

Sue and the ACO continued to make their rounds, and we all thought we were ready to go into court, and then Sue came and sat down next to us again.  She asked if we rescheduled the court date to August 20th, would I have all the animals gone by then?  I think there was a misunderstanding somewhere here, because we went over this same thing about 3 times in a row, but eventually I got across that the only animals here at the moment are the two dogs and a hamster.  She made the comment that she would need to come to the house and verify that the other animals were no longer here, and then upon doing that, she would talk to the judge and see if I need to come back to court or not (possibly it could be resolved outside of court?).  She said that if the animals are gone, she thought there might be a possibility that there wouldn't be any fines, though she mentioned that that is up to the judge to make that decision.  So we shall see. 

She said to call her (and I will Monday) and we'll set up a time for her to come out and see the, well, lack of animals, and we will go from there.

So, kind of an uneventful day.  Never actually "went" to court, just talked to Sue in the lobby of the complex...  Until next week when Sue comes to visit!