🚀 go-pugleaf

Tiny Human Ferret wrote:
> 

> > 1. Columbia, Md.
> 
> Howard County. Basically, it's very rural, and has a lot of the problems
> that you get in rural areas -- traffic is way in excess of what the roads
> were designed to handle in many places. Columbia is an exception. However,
> Howard County is IMHO going to go down in history within the next 20 years
> as having one of the more troubled police forces in Maryland, mostly due to
> exceptionally rapid growth. Their police culture is apparently still
> emerging and is in massive flux. It's sort of like a big-city police force
> without the big city. Montgomery County cops on the other hand are known for
> being very understated in most respects, but very good at dealing with
> serious crime, such as solving murders etc. Then again, I am starting to
> have my doubts as to their competence at dealing with Really Big Things,
> although that may be more a problem with leadership rather than ability.

Just be careful if you own a dog in Howard County:
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Family angered at shooting of pet dog
Howard County police say 180-pound mastiff charged an officer

By Lynn Anderson 
Sun Staff 

A Columbia family was upset with Howard County police 
yesterday, the day after an officer shot and killed its dog. 

"He was a big teddy bear," said Janet Baumann, 41, of her 
family's English mastiff, Duke, a "gentle giant" of a dog 
who weighed 180 pounds. 

Police say they killed the dog, which was running loose 
Friday afternoon, because it was attacking neighborhood 
children and charged a police officer. 

No one was hurt. 

"We tried to get a hold of the owner but were unsuccessful," 
Howard County police Lt. Nancy Yeager said yesterday. "The 
dog was growling and jumping up on people." 

Rick Baumann, who paid $1,900 for the pedigreed dog, said 
that's impossible. Duke was beloved by all the neighborhood 
children, most of whom knew him by name, he said. 

"He has played with them since he was a puppy," said Rick 
Baumann, who has contacted a lawyer regarding the incident. 
He believes police reacted too quickly. He said they should 
have waited for animal control officers. 

"I want to know how long they waited," said Rick Baumann, 
an Army sergeant serving in South Korea. "They could have 
done a hundred things before they shot him." 

Apparently, Duke broke away from his leash after Crystal 
Brill, 15, Janet Baumann's daughter, tied him to a tree near 
the family's townhouse while she visited with a friend at a 
nearby apartment complex. 

Crystal was gone for 20 minutes at most, said Janet Baumann, 
who was at work at the time. 

When the girl returned, she was horrified. Duke was dead, 
shot five times in the chest. 

Crystal was greeted by neighbors, some of whom were 
distraught, said Janet Baumann. "People were over here last 
night, and they were all crying," she said. "That dog never 
hurt anyone."

Originally published on Jun 25 2000 
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Read online at:


http://www.sunspot.net/content/news/story?section=news-maryland-sun&pagename=story&storyid=1150350213154
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This is outrageous. Police claim the dog was attacking 
children -- yet nobody was hurt!!!

(ken)
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I got robbed at the gas station - see photo at:
http://www.zyworld.com/maryland/test.htm
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