Meter Readers Hoping for New Law
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Feb. 2, 2002
Sandy Hernandez is armed with a 24-inch "doggie wand," a mini-telescope and a tiny can of pepper spray clipped to her vest pocket.
With a deep breath, she heads into a crumbling neighborhood near Bay Point that sports more "beware of dog" signs than welcome mats.
The veteran meter reader, whose left arm is crisscrossed with scars from a dog attack four months ago, faces fear every day in a job that some consider perfunctory.
Hernandez is one of 127 Pacific Gas & Electric meter readers who scour East Bay communities to inspect more than 1.7 million utility units a month.
But the job is made more difficult and dangerous by the estimated 225,000 canines that utility workers must face or elude.
Many dogs, snarling and defensive, lie in wait behind rickety wooden fences or bark and growl while trying to chew holes through garage doors.
"We get into the property and the back yards, and for a dog, that's the biggest affront. We're trespassing, in their minds," said Jason Alderman, a PG&E spokesman.
The company is launching a publicity campaign to educate pet owners about a strengthened state law that widens criminal liability against those whose animals seriously injure or kill.
Pet owners are being asked to keep their dogs secured when meter readers arrive on scheduled inspection dates.
The new measure, sponsored by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, alters a law that had restricted felony charges to the animal's owner.
Now, felony charges can be lodged against any person owning or having custody or control of an animal involved in a severe attack, such as the mauling that killed St. Mary's College coach Diane Whipple a year ago.
Many meter readers and dog-bite victims hope the revised law will have enough teeth to protect them.
"We don't get extra hazard pay," said Hernandez, who said she is preparing to sue the owner of the dogs that bit her left arm in September. "People need to know that they are responsible."
While it's widely known that canines and letter carriers have had a troubled relationship for years, utility workers venture into the same communities and face similar dangers.
Dogs have bitten and seriously injured about 800 PG&E employees, particularly meter readers, over the past decade in Northern California, Alderman said.
Some workers are permanently disabled, including a Livermore meter reader whose ear was partially ripped off by a golden retriever.
In Contra Costa County, 48 meter readers inspect 681,000 meters every month.
They are required to carry "doggie wands," wooden batons with a tennis ball stuck to one end that are used to divert an aggressive animal.
Readers use telescopes to peer over a fence to read meters guarded by miffed mutts.
But workers are required to be inventive, and safety is never guaranteed.
In her 11-year career as a meter reader, Hernandez has used a blast of pepper spray to ward off a wily rooster in Bethel Island and her own quick instincts to elude a charging horse in Byron.
A dog bit Patricia Lewis, a PG&E customer service representative, while she was reading meters in Richmond in September 2000.
She approached a house that company records did not indicate was home to a dog. There were no obvious warning signs, not even a food bowl on the ground.
So Lewis, holding a can of pepper spray for backup, opened the gate to the back door to inspect the meter.
Seconds later, a pit bull mix bounded toward her from behind.
"I just started screaming and spraying in the direction of his face, and he bit down on my thumb," said Lewis, whose left thumb ultimately became infected and required surgery. She spent about a month away from work.
Lewis, however, could not persuade an attorney to take the case because it proved too difficult.
The revised law remains flawed, said Los Angeles lawyer Kenneth Phillips[CJL7], who represents dog-bite victims across the country.
The law, he said, does not clarify what constitutes a "dangerous" animal, nor does it make it a crime for pet owners to stand and watch their animals maul someone, he said.
"Everybody in California will have to look at the final outcome of the Whipple case to get a sense of what a dog owner can be convicted of," said Phillips, who operates an educational Web site, www.dogbitelaw.com.
"And that case presents such extreme facts that I'm not sure it will be that helpful."
Contra Costa Newspapers
Feb. 2, 2002
Sandy Hernandez is armed with a 24-inch "doggie wand," a mini-telescope and a tiny can of pepper spray clipped to her vest pocket.
With a deep breath, she heads into a crumbling neighborhood near Bay Point that sports more "beware of dog" signs than welcome mats.
The veteran meter reader, whose left arm is crisscrossed with scars from a dog attack four months ago, faces fear every day in a job that some consider perfunctory.
Hernandez is one of 127 Pacific Gas & Electric meter readers who scour East Bay communities to inspect more than 1.7 million utility units a month.
But the job is made more difficult and dangerous by the estimated 225,000 canines that utility workers must face or elude.
Many dogs, snarling and defensive, lie in wait behind rickety wooden fences or bark and growl while trying to chew holes through garage doors.
"We get into the property and the back yards, and for a dog, that's the biggest affront. We're trespassing, in their minds," said Jason Alderman, a PG&E spokesman.
The company is launching a publicity campaign to educate pet owners about a strengthened state law that widens criminal liability against those whose animals seriously injure or kill.
Pet owners are being asked to keep their dogs secured when meter readers arrive on scheduled inspection dates.
The new measure, sponsored by Assemblywoman Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, alters a law that had restricted felony charges to the animal's owner.
Now, felony charges can be lodged against any person owning or having custody or control of an animal involved in a severe attack, such as the mauling that killed St. Mary's College coach Diane Whipple a year ago.
Many meter readers and dog-bite victims hope the revised law will have enough teeth to protect them.
"We don't get extra hazard pay," said Hernandez, who said she is preparing to sue the owner of the dogs that bit her left arm in September. "People need to know that they are responsible."
While it's widely known that canines and letter carriers have had a troubled relationship for years, utility workers venture into the same communities and face similar dangers.
Dogs have bitten and seriously injured about 800 PG&E employees, particularly meter readers, over the past decade in Northern California, Alderman said.
Some workers are permanently disabled, including a Livermore meter reader whose ear was partially ripped off by a golden retriever.
In Contra Costa County, 48 meter readers inspect 681,000 meters every month.
They are required to carry "doggie wands," wooden batons with a tennis ball stuck to one end that are used to divert an aggressive animal.
Readers use telescopes to peer over a fence to read meters guarded by miffed mutts.
But workers are required to be inventive, and safety is never guaranteed.
In her 11-year career as a meter reader, Hernandez has used a blast of pepper spray to ward off a wily rooster in Bethel Island and her own quick instincts to elude a charging horse in Byron.
A dog bit Patricia Lewis, a PG&E customer service representative, while she was reading meters in Richmond in September 2000.
She approached a house that company records did not indicate was home to a dog. There were no obvious warning signs, not even a food bowl on the ground.
So Lewis, holding a can of pepper spray for backup, opened the gate to the back door to inspect the meter.
Seconds later, a pit bull mix bounded toward her from behind.
"I just started screaming and spraying in the direction of his face, and he bit down on my thumb," said Lewis, whose left thumb ultimately became infected and required surgery. She spent about a month away from work.
Lewis, however, could not persuade an attorney to take the case because it proved too difficult.
The revised law remains flawed, said Los Angeles lawyer Kenneth Phillips[CJL7], who represents dog-bite victims across the country.
The law, he said, does not clarify what constitutes a "dangerous" animal, nor does it make it a crime for pet owners to stand and watch their animals maul someone, he said.
"Everybody in California will have to look at the final outcome of the Whipple case to get a sense of what a dog owner can be convicted of," said Phillips, who operates an educational Web site, www.dogbitelaw.com.
"And that case presents such extreme facts that I'm not sure it will be that helpful."
posted by Corey at 10:08 AM
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