Great job on getting the dogs addressed, to some degree, at least.

Most people don’t realize how difficult it is to get action taken on an issue. A person can live next to a meth lab for months, be reporting activity nightly, and to the reporter’s knowledge, nothing is happening. What is actually happening is a gathering of evidence so that when the arrests occur, they’ll stick.

Child Protective services and H&W issues are particularly difficult. I have a friend who’s sister puts her children in particularly dangerous positions frequently (you name it, it is incredibly likely it’s happened to these kids), but the authorities can’t do much without enough proof, and proof of situations is difficult to come by. Moreover, the parents in such situations are often (if not always, based on law…I’m not clear on this) told 48 hours in advance of a visit…which means there’s plenty of time for clean-up.

If nothing looks like it’s changed…keep calling anyway.

Heck, if the dog situation hasn’t changed, it may take care of itself soon, with as cold as it’s gotten.

I know others on here would discourage it, but I’m a softie, and it might help with getting things moving…If it’s not too much trouble, make friends with Mariah and help her out in little ways – even if it’s just a boost to the self-esteem. In situations like she’s in, every bit of positive is soaked up and remembered. And she’s probably going to need every bit she can get.

So…update?

Marcus did tell me about the kids, but like someone mentioned in a post here, I can’t prove anything with them so I can’t really report anything about them. And I did tell animal control about the puppies. But, again, I cannot report on them because I didn’t see them when I was at the house. Animal Control did say it is illegal if they do have 3 dogs, that’s only if they don’t have a kennel license.

Anyway, I’m glad to hear about your issues/story ideas. Please keep them coming. rickm@kidk.com yourturn@kidk.com or call the tipline 523-8984. Thanks for watching!

RM

(What more evidence does any judge need that the dog and neighbors are in danger, and the owner is an idiot?) Then the owner lied and said the dog was taken in each night. But, at least by you speaking to channel 3, and this story being broadcast, the fool of an owner did take the dog in tonight. Hopefully they’ll also feed the poor dog. Hopefully also animal control will be there to check on the dog this coming Tuesday.

We’ll see…

Action was taken on my part without contacting the news station, I just didn’t report on much of it on this blog. Usually, I just don’t have the time =/.

I’ve uploaded it to YouTube, so if anybody wants to get to it in the coming days without going through archives, click the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlitw1guwYQ

On a positive note, they bathed the dog and brought it inside. Not entirely the solution I was seeking, because I know it’s just going to revert to the old situation, but it’s a step in the right direction.

The ignorance on these people’s part is appalling to me – “She’s an attack dog, she’ll always be skinny”. Being able to see ribs and non-defined muscle is not normal.

I haven’t seen the older dog for a few weeks. The most likely situation is that she wandered off and got picked up by animal control and sent to the pound. She likely did not get picked up by another family, she was in bad shape.

I’ll keep ya’ll as updated as I can.

If you see anything happening about the kids, please let us know. And keep us informed on any progress with the dogs.

Thanks again.

Also edited out was any information discussed about the children. I’m guessing that may have been too much of a liability to carry/discuss on the station’s part.

The only worry I have is that the news folks seemed more interested in the dogs than the kids (they have two puppies in addition to the two adult dogs now by the way)…but then of course the kids are a more delicate subject. This should shed some light on the entire issue.