'Dog Named Muhammad' Comment Irks Councilman - Patch.com
If an elected official names his dog Muhammad, San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Larry Kramer doesn't want to hear about it during a public meeting.
So he is asking his council colleagues to set some ground rules on decorum.
The move comes after City Councilman Derek Reeve's recent announcement that he named one of his family's new basset hounds Muhammad.
Kramer, in a letter to the council, labeled Reeve's comment "offensive." (In the Arab world, dogs are traditionally considered unclean.)
It's unclear whether Reeve, who didn't return messages seeking comment for this story, intended the pet's name as an insult. His other basset hound is named America.
Reeve mentioned both dogs' names Sept. 6, as the council voted to authorize staffers to draw up plans for a dog park in the Northwest Open Space. His remark drew laughter from some in the audience. But others were not amused.
"Words spoken from the dais should be appropriate," Kramer wrote in his letter, which was included with next Tuesday's council agenda packet.
Kramer asked the City Council to discuss "appropriate decorum" at its next meeting.
In an article published Wednesday in the Voice of OC, Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, called Reeve's dog-name announcement "childish."
"I'm sure the dog is more useful to the city than the city councilman [Reeve]," Al-Marayati told the online, nonprofit news outlet.
Reeve did not return an email request for comment for this story. On his Facebook page, he posted a link to the Voice of OC article with the comment, "Are you kidding me!"
The pet's full name, according to another Facebook post by Reeve, is Muhammad Winchester Boone.
Fellow councilman Kramer said he "supports" free speech but expects council members to observe common courtesy.
"I was brought up to be respectful to others and to not insult or demean them," he wrote in his letter. The council, he said, must decide "what action can be taken to ensure the decorum of the City Council."
16 Sep, 2011--
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