QUESTION: On Labor Day at Halawa District Park, a no-dogs park, my son, his friend and his friend’s dad were attacked by six pit bulls off leash. The Honolulu Police Department was called but the owner-handler was not cited. I voiced my concern to HPD via email. A week later, I was contacted by HPD and told that the owner was cited and must appear in court. However, I was told that issuing a citation is done at an officer’s discretion. So since the owner stuck around and because she was apologetic, no citation was issued. Luckily, the wounds were minor. But if people continue to bring vicious dogs to the park, next time this happens it might be more serious. Is it really left up to an officer to decide who should be cited, even after a dog bites someone? With the one-bite law, if the owner is not cited and the dog bites again, the owner gets away with it again. If a dog-bite incident is never recorded, it’ll always be the first bite.

ANSWER: First, there is no "one-bite law" in which a dog gets a bye for the first attack.

But while there is some discretion in determining whether a dog owner should be cited in a biting incident, that shouldn’t have been a factor in this case.

If nothing else, the owner could have been cited for bringing her dogs to a "no-dog" park, according to Maj. Raymond Ancheta, commander of the HPD’s District 7.

He explained that there is no discretion involved in issuing a citation if an officer determines that the owner negligently failed to control his dog and the dog injures a person. In that case, "the owner shall be cited," he said.

Where the officer’s discretion comes in is in determining if there was negligence on the part of the owner.

For example, Ancheta said, a dog breaks loose from its chain, jumps over a high fence and injures someone. In that case, the owner may not be negligent.

But if an owner allows his dog to run off leash in a public park and the dog injures someone, "he would likely be considered negligent."

Thus, after reviewing the circumstances in your son’s incident, HPD determined that the owner should have been cited. The extent of an injury — whether it was minor or major — is not a factor, Ancheta said.

QUESTION: Is it a choice for a vendor/nonprofit entity to charge the 4.712 percent general excise tax (GET)? I’m asking from a thrift shop perspective where the majority of goods are secondhand donations. Secondly, is it required that a sales receipt be given to customers and is it the customer’s option to take it? An example is swap meets where cash sales are conducted and vendors can be penalized for not providing a sales receipt.

ANSWER: The state Department of Taxation has explained to Kokua Line previously that a vendor — it doesn’t matter whether it is a nonprofit — has to pay the state the GET on items sold, but it’s up to them whether they obviously pass the tax on to customers or fold it into the price of the item.

There’s no law saying that they have to visibly charge the GET (4.166 percent on the neighbor islands and 4.712 percent on Oahu) on receipts. And despite many people calling it a sales tax, Hawaii’s GET is not a tax on consumers, but a tax on a business’s gross receipts.

For more of an explanation, see is.gd/81uOe2. Regarding receipts: Businesses are required to "offer a receipt or other record of the transaction." "Some businesses will post a sign stating ‘receipt upon request,’ which is an acceptable way to deal with the requirement, said Tax Department spokeswoman Mallory Fujitani.

MAHALO

To workers for the Board of Water Supply, for clearing the area at the end of the Makiki Heights station, which a few thoughtless people had used as their private dumping ground. Mahalo also to the Refuse Department for disposing of my bulky items on schedule. Since there are frequent complaints about city workers, I wanted to express some appreciation and praise for their hard work. — Gail Sliger, Makiki

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Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.