911 official disputes Hollis claim
By JODY MURPHY, jmurphy@newsandsentinel.comPARKERSBURG -An official with the Wood County 911 center is disputing some statements made by the Humane Society concerning an incident with a vicious dog.
Randy Lowe, director of the 911 center, said the dispatcher who contacted the Parkersburg Humane Society regarding a pit bull did notify them that an officer was on scene.
"We absolutely did," Lowe said. "The dispatcher, who is a retired police officer, did tell their dispatcher that there was an officer on scene."
The News and Sentinel requested copies of the 911 calls and the calls made by the 911 dispatcher to the Humane Society. Lowe referred the request to the Wood County Prosecuting Attorney's office. Assistant Prosecutor Sean Francisco declined to release the recordings, citing there were pending warrants for the dog's owner.
The dispute stems from a call Monday regarding a vicious dog in a southside neighborhood. A Parkersburg police officer was dispatched to the scene, twice, according to Lowe, to deal with the animal. The officer made several requests for the Humane Society's animal control officer to respond, but that did not happen.
Tuesday, Mary Ann Hollis, executive director of the Parkersburg Humane Society, said her organization was told the situation was a dog at large. Hollis said they were never told there was an officer on scene.
Lowe acknowledged the 911 dispatcher told the Humane Society the incident concerned an at-large pit bull. He said an at-large pit bull should have set off some warnings to Humane Society officials.
"If I hear a pit bull running at large, I think I'm going to have a problem." he said. "I'm going to take it as mean and vicious."
Lowe said it was his understanding the dog had been an on-going issue for several days.
"The Humane Society should have been aware there is a problem dog in that vicinity," Lowe said.
The dog's owner, Ray Munson, was cited about two weeks ago for another pit bull found running loose.
Hollis said she also requested recordings of the 911 calls, but was told it could not be released.
"If it was my staff or if there was a mistake made, I will hold our feet to the fire," she said. "We can't get better unless we know we are doing something wrong."
"Obviously, communication is huge in these types of ordeals," Lowe said. "We normally work well with the police department and Humane Society. This is not the norm. It is the exception."
Lowe said the initial 911 call came in at 10:37 a.m. and advised the dispatcher of a pit bull running loose.
Less than 10 minutes later a police unit arrived on scene and requested the Humane Society be called. According to Lowe, the 911 center contacted the Humane Society and advised them there was an officer at the location.
The 911 center contacted the police officer, telling him the Humane Society was contacted and had been given the complaint's name and telephone number. Dispatch said it was unknown if or when the Humane Society would send an officer.
Around 11 a.m. police cleared the scene. According to Lowe, the officer said the dog was definitely vicious and roaming the neighborhood. Lowe said the officer reported he could not get close to the animal and had to pepper spray it.
Lowe said 911 did not relay the fact police pepper-sprayed the dog to the Humane Society.
"We strive to get information out as quickly and accurately as possible," he said. "You hope that if there is information agencies needed they would request it. ... We try to keep the air traffic short in case there other emergencies."
About 50 minutes later a second call was placed to the 911 center to the non-emergency line- regarding the dog. The caller was requesting a police officer return to the scene to take care of the problem. Lowe said the same officer was dispatched.
The officer remained at the scene for about 45 minutes. The officer said the Humane Society had not yet arrived and inquired if there was an estimated time of arrival. Animal control officers did not arrive at the scene until the following day.
"With the officer being on scene requesting the Humane Society something had to be done," Lowe said.
The officer did not issue any citations. According to Parkersburg police Capt. Delmas Barker, the officer would not have issued citations because the dog's owner could not be located. Baker said the incident was still under investigation.
Hollis said animal control issued a running at large citation to Munson on Wednesday.
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52biggestdog52
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07-03-09 11:37 AM
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Mr Smith, I only commented so that someone could learn from my mistake, and thank you Spirit for your sympathy.
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BillyDaMan
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07-02-09 10:57 PM
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release a copy of the recording and/or the transcript. what is the big deal. you hear 911 tapes on the news of murders and other crimes before court hearings. This is a stupid case of he said she said. what's the big deal. release the recordings to stop any further dispute and hard feelings. crying out loud !!!
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BillyDaMan
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07-02-09 10:32 PM
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It looks to me like the News reporter should have checked everything out, including going to 911 to listen to the recordings there. The reporter caused this uproar between the police, humane society and the 911 center when he/she only reported part of the story yesterday and then jumping at the statements made by the HS to get a response from 911 and the Police. I'm sure had the reporter had all of his eggs in one basket beforehand, he would have known what the recordings said and would have relayed that to the HS official before she made her statements. Recordings don't lie and people get confused when recalling events. Maybe everyone involved was filled with grief from all of the recent celebrity deaths some weren't thinking clearly and didn't remember word for word the exact conversation. Hey, we're all human,it's over and done with, move on with life, hash out protocol and work together. sheesh.
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RickWT
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07-02-09 10:17 PM
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911 recordings are public records. Period.
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Spirit
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07-02-09 6:12 PM
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mrSmith, with one hand you give sympathy and the next you slap a painful hurt... shame on you. I am sure 52 took good care of her pet, accidents happen, that is why they are called accidents. aimals like children are quick and curious, Yes we all try and keep a good watch on them, but things happen. 52 i am so very sorry for your loss, I am a pet parent also, I keep mine indoors and in a fenced in yard, to protect them from the dangers of the world, but I know how things can happen. Bless you.
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MrSmith
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07-02-09 4:38 PM
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52biggestdog52, I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Having said that, if you had a workman at your home who was going in and out, and your dog is prone to running out the door, YOU should have taken the responsibility to secure your dog before the workman arrived.
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52biggestdog52
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07-02-09 2:52 PM
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Please, please keep your dogs and cats locked up, I had a workman working at my house last Friday, and he accidently let my dog out, and she was hit by the UPS driver, so please keep your pets close, because I really, really miss her.
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linda905
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07-02-09 1:55 PM
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...gladly take on the job of an animal control officer. Also, as for dogs running at large, sometimes when any dog gets loose, it is not always on purpose. My Chihuahua got out of our fenced in yard one day, and ran all the way over to New York Ave., where my husband finally caught her when she stopped to see a woman in her garden. We didn't mean to let her get out, but sometimes, it happens. Also, our Collie mix got loose one other time and some kind person took her to the shelter and put her in an outside pen. We got her back safe/sound. Point is, we didn't let them loose deliberately, and now we are more cautious about closing our gates. If all else fails, shoot the owner of the pitbulls, and rebah the dogs.
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linda905
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07-02-09 1:50 PM
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Most people who own pitbulls are druggies or crooks, who use the dog as a provocative device. The druggies/crooks know people are afraid of pitbulls, and in their minds, think the dogs will keep the cops/other people away from them. People make the dogs mean. My husband saw a young girl walking a pitbull puppy down by Shepherd's Auto Shop, and when the puppy didn't want to keep walking, the girl kicked it in the ribs. She is probably a moron like other ignorant people who don't know how to handle/raise dogs. People who are known keepers of pitbulls and other vicious dogs should be arrested every single time their dog is loose, and a big fat fine imposed. I don't believe any of these dogs are born vicious, unless they have some medical problem. If Ceasar Milan can "train dogs and rehabilitate people", surely someone in Pkb is smart enough to deal with this problem. Well, wait, I am talking about people in Pkb, aren't I?? If I had the proper training, I would gladly
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ANGNSCT
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07-02-09 12:26 PM
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i agree with another poster, who care if there was an officer there or not, the humane society should have someone that can deal with a disruptive animal, secondly why is this guy allowed to keep these dogs? i know not all pits are dangerous but obviously his are!
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Victor
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07-02-09 11:11 AM
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MrSmith was correct - The dog should have just been shot. If someone is being threatened on their property by a vicious dog they have every right to shoot it. All this other talk about miscommunication is just kinda nuts to me. The officer at the scene should have just solved the problem. There is probably some policy in place however....
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jasper
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07-02-09 10:26 AM
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Why does it matter if there was an officer at the scene or not? This needed to be handled by the humane society at the time the call was made. Dont wait until the dog does bite someone or come 2 days after the call was made. They need to respond when the call is made whether or not there is an officer at the scene. That is what confuses me about this article.
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Spirit
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07-02-09 9:33 AM
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Talk about a confussing article. I agree with Geezer, yesterday's reporting said something different. The point is there is a problem. Is the problem the dog? NO.. the problem is humans and the way they communicate. Does the Humane society need to fix their image .. OH YES! Does the 911 center need to fix theirs too, and the police dept. OH YES. It is so sad that something that should of been so simple got so far out of control. Now . shooting the dog as MrSmith said.. oh that would be great.. children would of seen the police killing a dog. as for it being a pitbull so that made it vicious.. ridiculous! Any animal when cornered will be come vicious, even human animals. Maybe some training on how to properly handle animals are in order for ALL.
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Rakeer
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07-02-09 9:32 AM
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So let's see, arrest the owner, make him pay the maximum fine. What is that now for letting vicious dog run loose bite people, possibly kill them? Some pit bulls have killed people, and other animals....put the s-t-i-n-k-e-n dog to sleep, if you can get someone to transport it to the HS. Some people take pride in the fact they own a pitbull, woooooooohooooooooo, some of them are mean and nasty and are natural born killers! (the pit that is, lol)
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MrSmith
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07-02-09 8:37 AM
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The officer should have just shot the dog in the first place.
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Boogitybear
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07-02-09 8:00 AM
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Just realease tthe 911 tapes. That will clear up who is right very quickly
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wvdriver
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07-02-09 7:28 AM
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That's ok that the Humane Society didn't respond. They didn't a couple of years ago when a pit bull would roam in our neighborhood. At that time they had an Animal Control Officer!
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Bandit
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07-02-09 5:44 AM
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Isn't it about time to clean house. Toss everybody at the shelter out and start fresh! Community support and donations might even pick up.
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Geezer
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07-02-09 3:08 AM
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If Mr. Murphy is going to write one sided, inflammatory articles, the least he can do is get the facts straight. Yesterday the incident was reported as a '90 minute standoff'. Today it is two separate incidents, one of 13 minutes where the officer pepper-sprayed the dog and then left it to roam the neighborhood, and one of 45 minutes where apparently no action was taken. The newspaper reported the interstate puppy 'incident' as true without any verification of the details, how are we to know this incident happened the way it's being reported since the details are starting to change?
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mauser
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07-02-09 12:34 AM
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this will not end well :-|
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