Being Railroaded, Part II

First and foremost, here's a hoist of the bourbon glass and a tip of the old fedora to Bud Love, owner of Power Recruiting in Toledo, Ohio.  Should you have need of his services, you'll find him at:

Bud Love
Power Recruiting
6029 Renaissance Place
Toledo, OH 43623
(419) 720-8708

Reading through the local bird cage liner, what should my bleary, red-rimmed eyes fall upon but a local dog story.  Well now, would you look at this. I wrote about this last month here, in Being Railroaded. Tickets can be a bit expensive.


From The Blade on Friday, April 25: Dogs Accused in Death of Pigs Released to Owner

The highlight: Two Toledo dogs are finally home after nearly a year being held in a Michigan kennel while their owners fought to save them.

From The Blade on Saturday, April 26:Toledo Family Reunited With Dogs Held 1 Year In Mich.

Their owners, Janni Juhasz and her daughter Katalin Juhasz, had been entrenched in legal battles since to save their furry family members and were finally able to bring them home Thursday, after a $9,000 settlement was reached between the Juhaszes and the pigs’ owner.

Stephanie Sonnenberg got a big, fat payday. What Sonnenberg really deserves is a couple years in the slammer for lying her ass off perjury.

Philip Goldsmith, attorney for Bedford Township that was a party in the case because of the Michigan law, said he prepared the settlement documents and a court order to release the dogs. Under the settlement, Ms. Sonnenberg was paid $9,000.

I wonder how much Goldsmith got out of the deal?

“The consolidated dog law of 1919 required the township to take certain actions,” Mr. Goldsmith said. “The township did that and fulfilled its statutory obligation. There was no choice in the matter for the township.”

Which is a blatant falsehood. Enforcement of the law is always discretionary.

As agreed in the settlement, the Juhaszes paid $5,000 out of their own pockets to bring their dogs home. A donor — Bud Love, owner of Power Recruiting in Toledo — chipped in $4,000 to buy the dogs’ freedom.

Sergeant Berman said the reason the Juhaszes were not allowed to visit Nala and Bugger was that after the dogs were sentenced, they became wards of the state. The department had an obligation to protect the dogs against any possible harm, theft, or other mischief, as well as to protect people from the dogs.

“It wasn’t based on how we felt personally, but it’s what we were obligated to do to protect the dogs,” the sergeant said.

“My job is to enforce the law. I don’t necessarily agree with all of them, but I have to enforce them until such time as I am ordered not to or they are changed by the Legislature.”

Again, blatant lies. Berman knows the enforcement is at his own discretion. He could have allowed the owners to visit the dogs, but he chose not to do so. I'm convinced that Berman's choice to prohibit visitation was done out of malice. I'm not surprised at his behavior.

So the dogs are back home, Stephanie Sonnenberg got paid off for telling lies and the government officials who were involved in this are all uniformly in a jejune denial of responsibility.

I just love happy endings.