Six days after meeting with approximately 60 dog owners about the sudden elimination and ticketing of off-leash activity at Coindre Hall, Suffolk County Parks Commissioner Ron Foley informed us a proposal for a temporary fenced-in run in the area previously designated for off-leash activities was dead. The Commissioner said he had gotten "no support" for such a move.

    The proposal was the result of a walk around Coindre Hall on May 7th with the Commissioner and about a dozen H-DOG supporters in which the Commissioner told dog owners it would not be possible for him to get approval for an unfenced, off-leash area at Coindre Hall. Suffolk County law states that dogs are not allowed off leash anywhere in Suffolk County Parks, except in a fenced-in dog run area.

    The plan now is for the Town of Huntington to begin construction of a fenced-in dog run in the location designated by a Suffolk County law passed in June 2003. The dog run is to be located in the woods at the foot of the Coindre Hall property near the parking lot for Gold Star Battalion Beach.

    Legislator Jon Cooper also told us that the dog run authorized by the 2003 law cannot be moved or reconfigured in any way without approval from the Suffolk County Legislature and that there is no support at this time for reopening the issue.

    Our goal at this point should be to try to delay the fenced-in dog run.

• We believe that given the large increase in the number of dog owners who use Coindre Hall the fenced-in run created by the 2003 legislation is too small.
• We also fear that clearing out the brambles in the woods for the dog run will hurt wildlife that live there. As animal lovers, that would be terrible.

    In the meantime, we are continuing discussions with Commissioner Foley. Specifically, we are asking the Commissioner to put up a fence immediately between Coindre Hall and the neighbors. One neighbor who had complained about loose dogs has told us she would welcome a fence.

    We are also asking the Commissioner to not be so aggressive about ticketing dog owners for being off-leash while we are waiting for a fenced-in run to open. The County tolerates other activity in its parks that is not allowed-such as sledding-and selective enforcement against dog owners is not fair.

    In the meantime, we need to make sure that we are model park users. That means we need to:

• Keep our dogs under control at all times
• Diligently clean up after our dogs
• Don't let our dogs dig holes and fill them in immediately if they do.
• Avoid any incidents with neighbors, picnickers, runners, bikers, anyone involved with a wedding or other function at the house.

    The lesson from our meeting with Foley and its aftermath is clear: We will never, ever have a large, open dog park at Coindre Hall or on any Suffolk County parkland until the law that prohibits off-leash activity in Suffolk County parks is repealed! We will need to build a mass movement of Suffolk County dog owners to do that!

  Action Items:
Come to our next meeting to find out how you can participate! We will announce the time and location.

    Also, we need video that will document the incredible experience that Coindre Hall is on a beautiful day when the park is filled with dozens of us dog owners and our dogs playing and enjoying the great outdoors. We heard Commissioner Foley talk about the reputation of the park as "out of control", "a mess" and "crazy." Let's show the naysayers they're wrong!

    As always, keep in touch by e-mailing us at hdog_news@yahoo.com.