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The Riverfront Ramble 2004,
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
From The Daily Times
Dog fight goes beyond the bite
By MARLENE DiGIACOMO , mdigiacomo@delcotimes 09/13/2004
MEDIA COURTHOUSE --- Warren Clein and his wife Carolyn have remained
dogged about getting their day in court. And they’re adamant that they
want action regarding an October 2002 attack on Clein and his
mixed-breed terrier, Daisy, by a neighbor’s rottweiler.
Attorney Gerard Schrom, who represents Clein, said his client was hoping
to recoup about $5,200 in damages that had to be paid out for injuries
to the Clein’s pet.
However, under Pennsylvania law dogs are considered personal property
--- similar to a coat lost in a restaurant. So all that may legally be
reclaimed is the amount for replacement. In the case of Daisy, it’s
about $50. The dog was adopted from a shelter.
"He (Clein) is trying to drum up support for ‘Daisy’s Law’ to require
that a dog, who is attacked by another dog, be able to be compensated
for the harm that was done to the animal," said Schrom. "We’re beyond
that time when dog should be considered as chattel."
Clein said the law isn’t fair.
"I know the dog is not a person, but to get good medical service it
comes with a price," said the 69-year-old Marple retiree. "The dog was
ripped up by the rottweiler and it cost us a lot of money to bring her
back to good health. She’s fine now."
He described Daisy as a bundle of "fun and enjoyment. I would just hope
to have her as long as we can. She was a stray when we got her. She’s
just a wonderful, She’s definitely a part of the family. She’s just a
very warm, friendly dog."
He also hailed "the wonderful work" by the staff at the University of
Pennsylvania Veterinary Hospital who brought ‘‘Daisy" back to health.
But he said a major concern, is to make certain that nobody else is
hurt. "That’s the reason we’re pursuing this."
The Cleins will be in court Oct. 6 at 9 a.m. before Marple District
Justice Robert R. Burke to argue their case that the rottweiler,
belonging to James and Linda Graf of Broomall, should be classified as
"dangerous."
Schrom has filed litigation on two fronts. One suit is seeking damages
because Clein was also injured by the Grafs' dog, as well as damages to
Daisy. And the second is seeking to have the rottweiler declared "a
dangerous animal."
To get before the district court, Schrom appealed the matter to the
state Superior Court after his claim was first rejected. According to a
legal filing, they were told to first obtain permission from the
District Attorney’s office. However, they were then instructed to see
the dog warden, "who took no action," according to court papers.
The appeal court, however, said the case met the criteria to go before a
district justice as Schrom wanted.
"Thus according to the plain language of this law, five classes of
people may file ‘a complaint before a district justice, charging the
owner or keeper of such a dog with harboring a dangerous dog.’ These
classes are: (1) any person who has been attacked by the dog" the court
wrote.
"This is exactly what we were seeking," said Schrom. He said if the dog
is declared"dangerous," there are certain steps that must be followed to
maintain that others would be safe from the animal.
"If the dog does bite anybody else it would then be at risk of being put
down because it would already have two strikes against it," said the
attorney.
The suit charges that the rottweiler was able to run loose through a
"breach" in a fence surrounding the Grafs' property, which is about 300
yards from Clein’s home.
"I had just taken her (Daisy) for a walk and were on our way to the
front door," said Clein about the attack. "The rottweiler was out from
her pen. She saw us and came running. She ripped Daisy up like she was a
tennis ball and just mauled her. She had her in her teeth. I was trying
to intervene to save her."
He said as he was attempting to protect his dog, he was pushed backward
and he fell. A person driving by came to their aid and managed to chase
the rottweiler.
"He came to our rescue," said Clein.
The suit charges that the Rottweiler "without provocation or warning
attacked and repeatedly and savagely bit and mauled plaintiffs’ dog and
knocked, Warren Clein to the ground."
Attorney George Noel, who represents the Grafs in only the personal
injury suit, declined comment. "We’ll let it (the litigation) play out
in court." He said he doesn’t represent them in the other action before
the D.J., but added that his clients do not want to comment on the case.
Clein said he’s more worried about others because he now carries mace
for his protection.
"The dog is not adequately secured. And if the dog gets out, the average
person isn’t going to be able to stop it," he said.
ŠThe Daily Times 2004
Priceless Photos
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Delaware County Here's the
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<a href="http://www.totallydelco.com">Delaware County</a>
Your links will show Google that this is clearly the most important
Delaware County related site on the Web, far more relevant, entertaining
and useful
than those other web sites.
"....the Commission in its report holds no one accountable,
stating instead 'our aim has not been to assign individual blame.' That
is to play the political game, and it shows that the goal of achieving
unanimity overrode one of the primary purposes of this Commission’s
establishment."
National Security Experts Blast Bush and 9-11
Commission
[Ed: 9-11 FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds just sent TomFlocco.com a copy
of an open letter signed by numerous individuals who have served in
government agency positions directly related to American national
security. The open letter is specifically addressed to Senate and House
Chairmen, Ranking Members and all Members of Congress. We are reprinting
it below in the hope that the many readers of this website will contact
their own Senators and Congressmen to request that Congress re-open the
9-11 investigation and conduct it in a fully open and proper manner with
a grand jury and career prosecutors. We also hope that individuals
living in the 100+ countries who read this website will contact their
own national leaders and/or email or fax these same congressmen to ask
that they re-open the 9-11 investigation to seek justice for the many
foreign citizens who also died in the attacks. TF]
Date: September 13, 2004
To The Congress of The United States:
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States
ended its report stating that "We look forward to a national debate on
the merits of what we have recommended, and we will participate
vigorously in that debate."
In this spirit, we the undersigned wish to bring to the attention of the
Congress and the people of the United States what we believe are serious
shortcomings in the report and its recommendations.
We thus call upon Congress to refrain from narrow political
considerations and to apply brakes to the race to implement the
commission recommendations. It is not too late for Congress to break
with the practice of limiting testimony to that from politicians and
top-layer career bureaucrats-many with personal reputations to defend
and institutional equities to protect.
Instead, use this unique opportunity to introduce salutary reform, an
opportunity that must not be squandered by politically driven haste.
Omission is one of the major flaws in the Commission’s report. We are
aware of significant issues and cases that were duly reported to the
commission by those of us with direct knowledge, but somehow escaped
attention.
Serious problems and shortcomings within government agencies likewise
were reported to the Commission but were not included in the report. The
report simply does not get at key problems within the intelligence,
aviation security, and law enforcement communities. The omission of such
serious and applicable issues and information by itself renders the
report flawed, and casts doubt on the validity of many of its
recommendations.
We believe that one of the primary purposes of the Commission was to
establish accountability; that to do so is essential to understanding
the failures that led to 9/11, and to prescribe needed changes.
However, the Commission in its report holds no one accountable, stating
instead "our aim has not been to assign individual blame". That is to
play the political game, and it shows that the goal of achieving
unanimity overrode one of the primary purposes of this Commission’s
establishment.
When calling for accountability, we are referring not to quasi-innocent
mistakes caused by "lack of imagination" or brought about by ordinary
"human error". Rather, we refer to intentional actions or inaction by
individuals responsible for our national security, actions or inaction
dictated by motives other than the security of the people of the United
States.
The report deliberately ignores officials and civil servants who were,
and still are, clearly negligent and/or derelict in their duties to the
nation. If these individuals are protected rather than held accountable,
the mindset that enabled 9/11 will persist, no matter how many layers of
bureaucracy are added, and no matter how much money is poured into the
agencies. Character counts.
Personal integrity, courage, and professionalism make the difference.
Only a commission bent on holding no one responsible and reaching
unanimity could have missed that.
We understand, as do most Americans, that one of our greatest strengths
in defending against terrorism is the dedication and resourcefulness of
those individuals who work on the frontlines.
Even before the Commission began its work, many honest and patriotic
individuals from various agencies came forward with information and
warnings regarding terrorism-related issues and serious problems within
our intelligence and aviation security agencies.
If it were not for these individuals, much of what we know today of
significant issues and facts surrounding 9/11 would have remained in the
dark. These "whistleblowers" were able to put the safety of the American
people above their own careers and jobs, even though they had reason to
suspect that the deck was stacked against them. Sadly, it was.
Retaliation took many forms: some were ostracized; others were put under
formal or informal gag orders; some were fired. The commission has
neither acknowledged their contribution nor faced up to the urgent need
to protect such patriots against retaliation by the many bureaucrats who
tend to give absolute priority to saving face and protecting their own
careers.
The Commission did emphasize that barriers to the flow of information
were a primary cause for wasting opportunities to prevent the tragedy.
But it skipped a basic truth.
Secrecy enforced by repression threatens national security as much as
bureaucratic turf fights. It sustains vulnerability to terrorism caused
by government breakdowns. Reforms will be paper tigers without a safe
channel for whistleblowers to keep them honest in practice.
It is unrealistic to expect that government workers will defend the
public, if they can't defend themselves. Profiles in Courage are the
exception, not the rule.
Unfortunately, current whistleblower rights are a cruel trap and magnet
for cynicism. The Whistleblower Protection Act has turned into an
efficient way to finish whistleblowers off by endorsing termination.
No government workers have access to jury trials like Congress enacted
for corporate workers after the Enron/MCI debacles.
Government workers need genuine, enforceable rights just as much to
protect America's families, as corporate workers do to protect America's
investments. It will take congressional leadership to fill this hole in
the 9/11 Commission's recommendations.
The Commission, with its incomplete report of "facts and circumstances",
intentional avoidance of assigning accountability, and disregard for the
knowledge, expertise and experience of those who actually do the job,
has now set about pressuring our Congress and our nation to hastily
implement all its recommendations.
While we do not intend to imply that all recommendations of this report
are flawed, we assert that the Commission’s list of recommendations does
not include many urgently needed fixes, and further, we argue that some
of their recommendations, such as the creation of an ‘intelligence
czar’, and haphazard increases in intelligence budgets, will lead to
increases in the complexity and confusion of an already complex and
highly bureaucratic system.
Congress has been hearing not only from the commissioners but from a
bevy of other career politicians, very few of whom have worked in the
intelligence community, and from top-layer bureaucrats, many with vested
interests in saving face and avoiding accountability.
Congress has not included the voices of the people working within the
intelligence and broader national security communities who deal with the
real issues and problems day-after-day and who possess the needed
expertise and experience-in short, those who not only do the job but are
conscientious enough to stick their necks out in pointing to the
impediments they experience in trying to do it effectively.
We the undersigned, who have worked within various government agencies
(FBI, CIA, FAA, DIA, Customs) responsible for national security and
public safety, call upon you in Congress to include the voices of those
with first-hand knowledge and expertise in the important issues at hand.
We stand ready to do our part.
Respectfully,
1. Costello, Edward J. Jr., Former Special Agent, Counterintelligence,
FBI
2. Cole, John M., Former Veteran Intelligence Operations Specialist, FBI
3. Conrad, David "Mark", Retired Agent in Charge, Internal Affairs, U.S.
Customs
4. Dew, Rosemary N., Former Supervisory Special Agent, Counterterrorism
& Counterintelligence, FBI
5. Dzakovic, Bogdan, Former Red Team Leader, FAA
6. Edmonds, Sibel D., Former Language Specialist, FBI
7. Elson, Steve, Retired Navy Seal & Former Special Agent, FAA & US Navy
8. Forbes, David, Aviation, Logistics and Govt. Security Analysts,
BoydForbes, Inc.,
9. Goodman, Melvin A., Former Senior Analyst/ Division Manager, CIA;
Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy
10. Graf, Mark, Former Security Supervisor, Planner, & Derivative
Classifier, Department of Energy
11. Graham, Gilbert M., Retired Special Agent, Counterintelligence, FBI
12. Kleiman, Diane, Former Special Agent, US Customs
13. Kwiatkowski, Karen U., Lt. Col. USAF (ret.), Veteran Policy Analyst-DoD
14. Larkin, Lynne A., Former Operation Officer, CIA
15. MacMichael, David, Former Senior Estimates Officer, CIA
16. McGovern, Raymond L., Former Analyst, CIA
17. Pahle, Theodore J., Retired Senior Intelligence Officer, DIA
18. Sarshar, Behrooz, Retired Language Specialist, FBI
19. Sullivan, Brian F., Retired Special Agent & Risk Management
Specialist, FAA
20. Tortorich, Larry J., Retired US Naval Officer, US Navy & Dept. of
Homeland Security/TSA
21. Turner, Jane A., Retired Special Agent, FBI
22. Vincent, John B., Retired Special Agent, Counterterrorism, FBI
23. Whitehurst, Dr. Fred, Retired Supervisory Special Agent/Laboratory
Forensic Examiner, FBI
24. Wright, Ann, Col. US Army (ret.); and Former Foreign Service officer
25. Zipoli, Matthew J., Special Response Team (SRT) Officer, DOE
CC:
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Chairman Pat Roberts & Vice
Chairman John D. Rockefeller
Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Chairman Orrin G. Hatch & Ranking
Democratic Member Patrick Leahy
Senate Committee on Armed Services, Chairman John Warner & Ranking
Member Carl Levin
Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Chairman Susan Collins &
Ranking Member Joseph Lieberman
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Chairman Porter J.
Goss & Ranking Member Jane Harman
House Committee on the Judiciary, Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. &
Ranking Member John Conyers
House Armed Services Committee, Chairman Duncan Hunter & Ranking Member
Ike Skelton
House Committee on Government Reform, Chairman Tom Davis & Ranking
Member Henry A. Waxman
House Select Committee on Homeland Security, Chairman Christopher Cox &
Ranking Member Jim Turner
Senator Charles Grassley
Contact: Sibel Edmonds
Additional Information:
Government
agencies roasted for screw-ups in war on "terror"
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News from the Admin
09/05/04:
The site is slowly progressing. We have added new forums and are working on a faster loading web portal.
The directories are also coming along nicely, everything from Accountants To zoologists will be included. We like to call it" Delaware County's Yellow Pages".
Again we ask anybody interested in adding their web site to this just e mail us and we will be happy to. All that we ask in return is a text link back.
Thanks, The Admins.