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Keith McCord reporting We have an update about the big drawing in the town of Alta for the one available dog license. If you don’t have a dog license in Alta, you can’t have a dog.
Because Little Cottonwood Creek provides water to the Salt Lake valley, dogs are banned in the canyon. Alta residents can have one, as long as they have a license. But, there is only a handful of licenses available.
There were 42 licenses available this year, and 41 dog owners renewed. To decide on who got the remaining one, the town held a drawing today at the town hall. Sheriff's Deputy Eric Coe did the honors of drawing the name out of a large can!
Dep. Eric Coe "NUMBER 1... ROBIN CHOPUS..."
There wasn’t a lot of fanfare for the event-- just the officer, our TV camera, and a crew from the Deseret News. But, we found the winner, Robin Chopus just up the road. Her license will go on the collar of her new Jack Russell Terrier, "Oliver". This is the 4th time Robin has been in the drawing.
Robin Chopus/Dog License Winner "IT'S REALLY EXCITING. IT'S A GREAT DAY." There were seven people who applied for the license that "Oliver" here will now wear. Each year, there's always debate about whether or not to allow more licenses, but the town sticks with its long time ordinance, to limit the tags to 12 percent of the population.
A quirky law, perhaps.
Robin Chopus/Dog License Winner "I DON'T KOW WHETHER ITS UNIQUE IN THE COUNTRY EITHER…IT'S WATERSHED THAT'S THE REASON WHY THERE ARE A LIMITED NUMBER OF DOGS ALLOWED IN THE CANYON, WHICH IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME."
So, as of today, Alta has now officially "gone to the dogs," all 42 of them!
The woman who won today has applied for a license four times, but another woman has been trying for five straight years!
