Southern California Club Xterra
Southern California Club Xterra => Off Topic => Topic started by: Paul on November 16, 2008, 04:16:06 PM
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About 10:00 today Noon was doing a bit of gardening in the backyard near our east fence. She hears someone discharging a paint marker gun (paint ball gun) and looks over the fence to see the 50-something year old neighbor chasing his dog around the backyard shooting at it. Pop-pop-pop-YIKES. The dog runs towards our house and cowards under the neighbor's water softener. My wife said that the chase lasted long enough to wind the dog.
My wife comes in and tells me what she saw. I went out and didn't see anything. She pointed out where the dog was now hiding and all I see is a bit of hair - four inches maybe - and it's not moving. I'm not certain what to do nor am I certain what my wife saw. I go in and start to prepare lunch and think about the consequences of starting a war with the neighbor. I have the windows open - it's sunny and 85 degrees here. I hear pop-pop about twenty feet away in the side yards so I walk out the back patio door and see the neighbor disappearing into his back patio door.
I asked my wife "again?" and she said yes, she just saw the guy walk toward the dog and shoot it point blank. I walk into my side yard which is about 18" taller than his and look down to neighbor's water softener. The dog is now visible and has a lime-green paintball spot on it's side. I stand their in disbelief.
The neighbor comes around the side of his home again, I assume that he's going to shoot the dog again, and I catch him eye-ball to eye-ball at a distance of about 15 feet. He's holding his right arm behind his back and I see a barrel sticking out from behind his thigh.
I say to him "do you have a firearm?"
He says back "do you have a firearm?" and brings his paint ball marker out where I can see it.
I ask him "Did you just shoot that dog? That's illegal?"
He starts to answer another question.
I ask him again "did you just shoot that dog?"
He starts to argue with me.
Me "I'm going to call the police"
Him: "Go ahead". My limit for disrespect from stupid people is a wee bit short - too many military years as a Chief and later Master Chief.
I come in and look up the non-emergency number for the sheriff and sit there and think for a bit. I still don't know if it's worth starting a war with the renter next door over his shooting his own dog. While I'm sitting there I hear pop-pop-pop again as the guy continues to torture his dog. That was enough so I dial the police.
The sheriff comes to the house in about 30 minutes. The officer interviews Noon who saw the shot and me who confronted him. The sheriff is going to make contact but calls for back up. "If I go to the door and he points a paint ball gun at me ...".
Two more deputies arrive and they make contact. About 20-minutes later the guy comes out in handcuffs. 50-year old black male, 5'9" medium build wearing a light green shirt and off white pants, small hoop earring in the left ear, shaved head and a goatee. About ten minutes later animal control arrives. The police take pictures of the dog which hasn't moved in the hour or so since getting shot. Animal control reaches in and grabs the dog, it's alive but after being shot a handful of times it's in serious trauma.
Animal control seizes the guys dog. Police take shooter and his marker gun away. I assume that I'll get a call from the DA come business hours tomorrow. I'm also assuming that this will get prosecuted as a felony. In California animal abuse is a wobbler and can go misdemeanor or felony. I got involved with a felony case after a couple of stupid sailors who were aboard my ship kicked a cat to death. I was the command's do-process witness to make sure that the idiots got what they deserved and to represent the USN to the DA.
I'm a dog lover and shooting one for fun with a paint-ball gun at 15-20' is torture. If it was a stupid kid who didn't know what he was doing I can see possibly overlooking it after chewing the kid out but after confronting the guy face-to-face and him continuing to shoot the animal it was too much. I'm sitting here awaiting the guy's wife to come over and confront me now.
So most of you here have good a good head on your shoulders - what would you do? Do you think I went too far?
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Paul, I think you did 100% the right thing. Nowadays too many people will just look the other way, because they don't want to deal with whatever may come out of it. I would have done exactly what you did; in fact, I may have just called the local police department without even confronting the neighbor and possibly putting myself in harms way. Now, I'm all for hunting and fishing, etc. as what gets hunted is usually then put on the table for food, but shooting any animal without reason is just plain wrong. You did the right thing.
ETA - as for the wife, I think it would be best to just let her know that her husband is accountable for his actions and just leave it at that.
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Rest most assuredly you the right thing - absolutely. Sorry you and Noon had to be a witness to senseless human cruelty. Terrible
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I'm with you on this one Paul. The guy's a jerk and hopefully he will get what he deserves.
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You did the right thing. The guy's not right, obviously.
Have you had problems with them before? Is this something totally out of left field or have they been whack-jobs all along?
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We haven't said more than boo to them in the six months they've lived here. They are rarely at the house during the week and only seem to live here on weekends. They have ticked off some of the other neighbors with their vulgar rap music at early hours of the morning. One lady who I was asking to watch my back said that she got offended when she was walking her kids to school and heard a song with the "F" word in it. Yeah.
I'm three kinds of worried now. I just can't believe that someone would be so cruel - and stupid to continue the attacks after getting caught red-handed by a pair of witnesses.
Thanks for the kind words.
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Paul,
There is no question that you did the right thing. Hopefully this guy won't give you any trouble when he gets back.
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Might not be a bad idea to keep Trixie the Wonderdog inside for a while, though.
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Most of the wonder is gone from the wonder dog - she gets carried up and down the stairs. Poor thing only makes right hand turns now ... and bumps into things and stands there and wonders what happened. Poor thing is 15 years old now. We're thankful for every month left.
That kind of loser is just the sort to wrap some rat poison in bacon and toss it over the wall.
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Just a thought...have you (discreetly) run any of the neighbors you trust up to speed about the situation?
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Paul... you are a true responsible neighbor and is definitely a rarity nowadays. No one, human or not, deserve to be abused as such. Hope the guy gets what he deserves...
(http://www.aolcdn.com/channels/07/01/44ead269-00287-02d4b-400cb8e1)
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Just a thought...have you (discreetly) run any of the neighbors you trust up to speed about the situation?
Oh yeah. When I first moved here there was a "click" of eight neighbors. Four of them have moved out but four of us are still pretty tight. We don't barbecue anymore but chat around the mail boxes. The two neighbors across the street are retired and have my back. One is going to look up the home's owner from the title company and get a hold of him and say enough.
Today was peaceful. I think they work in LA or something as I never see them outside or even home during the weekdays.
I'm still in condition orange.
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everybody is right... you did the right thing and unfortunately you might have to deal with some crap in the future but that is just part of doing the right thing... you might also want to talk to the guy's landlord... there are some civil law cases that make a landlord liable for any damage a renter does if the landlord knows or should have known that the tenant was a problem... the theory is that the landlord is allowing a "public nuisance" to continue to exist unabated... if you talk to the landlord that will put him/her on notice if there are any future problems... I know of a case where the neighbors successfully took the landlord to small claims court repeatedly in order to force him to "abate" the nuisance his tenant was creating... good luck!!
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I agree, you made the right call. Abuse, even to animals, is not something you can let slide from someone who's supposed to be a mature adult. On top of that you warned and confronted him as well.
But, right ethical decisions are know for having difficult repercussions especially when someone disagrees with you. Your decision could bring some grief on you and your fam.
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I understand that you don
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I just got back in again.
Paul,
You did the right thing. Why would anybody do that to mans best friend. You know the old saying" an eye for an eye".
Some kids just do not play well with others and in this case with there pets.
Paul my hat is off to you.
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Paul,
By all means you did the right thing. No one should treat a dog or any animal like that and I actively hunt and fish. If I were in your shoes I might be in jail too as I have a paintball gun on steroids with 100 round capacity and I would have been soo incensed I would have stuck my rounds in the freezer for an hour and then go hunting neighbor a##holes just to let him know what the dog is experiencing every time he pulled the trigger. Well at least 10 or 15 years back I might of, I have since mellowed with age like a fine bourbon. Just watch your back with this jerk and use the advice about contacting the landlord and put him or her on notice. You might even consider a multi security camera system with a 1 month recorder. I got one a few years ago and mounted 6 cameras around the house (it can expand to 16 cameras total). Cost me about $600 back then but it was well worth it since it helped catch a car burglar who broke into a car across the street (a neighborhood loser) and a midnight gas siphoner (caught his license number). Mine does 1000 hours on a regular 8hour vhs tape or can be linked to a external computer harddrive unit. Made my homeowners insurance go down a little too, so it has actually paid for itself there. Cameras have night vision infrared so they work in the dark but I mounted them up with motion detecting security lights so nothing gets away unseen. Mine are cabled in but they do have some pretty good wireless systems as well. All you need for those is a place to plug in the transformer power pack. Those type are good if you are a renter.
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Thanks for the advice on the cameras.
I already have three cameras and added a forth camera covering the back patio door and the side yard next to the shooter. I bought a hard drive based recorder and I'm awaiting the 500 GB drive to arrive next week. The most secure place to mount the recorder is out in the garage but I'm afraid that the heat out there is going to kill it. I don't look forward to running all the cables inside the house. Might be easier to blow a hole in the wall an bring a bit of AC out into the garage to cool the DVR. Snorkel time.
This last weekend we were gone for three days and two nights on the club's trip and nothing happened. Still my guard is up.
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So sometimes bad things happen to bad people.
Noon and I were sound asleep New Years morning when at 3:00 AM I see flashing lights outside house. Thinking it might be Santa making a second trip with my missing new front suspension ... I peer out the windows and see two fire trucks pulling up. Opening the window a crack I hear the neighbor's smoke detector going off. I open another blind and see that the house is pouring out smoke.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/paul1960/Misc/FireTruck.jpg)
The neighbor has managed to set their rental on fire. From the amount of smoke it would appear that someone fell asleep while smoking and set their bed on fire. California has special regulations on fire proofing in their furniture and this might have saved the clowns and their rental. There were seven adults displaced and two children.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/paul1960/Misc/Smokedout.jpg)
Someone needed to be treated and taken to a hospital with some burns and smoke inhalation. I had my police band scanner out and was listening in on the conversations. I pulled out my camera and snapped some hand-held photos. These things came out amazingly clear between the high ISO and vibration reduction lens.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y215/paul1960/Misc/Firefighters.jpg)
Since the fire we haven't seen anybody come or go from home. We're hoping that they've skipped town. :-X
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The guy was charged with this crime:
597. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section or
Section 599c, every person who maliciously and intentionally maims,
mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and
intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of an offense punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine of not more than
twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and
imprisonment, or, alternatively, by imprisonment in a county jail for
not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.
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Justice has been served! Glad to hear of the progress Paul.
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Justice has been served! Glad to hear of the progress Paul.
I agree . . . and, isn't digital just great for low light, especially with vibration reduction. Nice shots, but why blur the name of the FD on the side of the engine?
Funny thing, we were just talking about you and this situation on Saturday, and wondering if anything new had happened.
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You were right in contacting the police. After THEY determine the facts, they decide wether or not the guy goes to jail. Not you. All you did was report a suspicious activity. HE GOT HIMSELF IN THAT SITUATION BECAUSE OF WHAT HE CHOSE TO DO. He chose that path which lead to those results. Good for you and screw him...
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Justice has been served! Glad to hear of the progress Paul.
I agree . . . and, isn't digital just great for low light, especially with vibration reduction. Nice shots, but why blur the name of the FD on the side of the engine?
Funny thing, we were just talking about you and this situation on Saturday, and wondering if anything new had happened.
I've cross posted these pictures to other sites where I don't want the people to know where I live too exactly. ;D
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Justice has been served! Glad to hear of the progress Paul.
I agree . . . and, isn't digital just great for low light, especially with vibration reduction. Nice shots, but why blur the name of the FD on the side of the engine?
Funny thing, we were just talking about you and this situation on Saturday, and wondering if anything new had happened.
I've cross posted these pictures to other sites where I don't want the people to know where I live too exactly. ;D
Everyone knows you live in Springfield.
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Based on the amount of drywall, aluminum ducting, and 2x4's I've seen come out and now go in ... dude did a heck of a good job burning the place out. I'll double my original damage estimate to $50,000. It's been two weeks and we've only seen workers coming and going - no residents and there's one of those big real estate locks over the outside of their door knob. :-\
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More details. I peeked over the fence again - it looks like it was a kitchen fire. The cabinets are all gone as is some of the tile on the floor. They've got some towels hung up in the windows. Classy. They came to the house for the first time today. What got my attention is that they parked one of their cars 3 feet from the curb halfway in front of my house. We're having a hen party today so I thought it might have been one of the girls half-way lost. Nope. That's just the way we park. Wonder how high/stupid you've got to be to miss the curb by three feet?
I went to the store and was tempted to pass the parked car on the right. When I got back they were gone else I'd post pics.
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almost afraid to ask what the heck a hen party is. It this like getting the cherry from the fat mans stomack on wog day?
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almost afraid to ask what the heck a hen party is. It this like getting the cherry from the fat mans stomack on wog day?
Hens - female chickens. My wife brings over 5-8 women and they sit around and chat, eat and drink.
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I'm very afraid to ask what getting the cherry form the fat man's stomach on wog day is.
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I'm very afraid to ask what getting the cherry form the fat man's stomach on wog day is.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
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I'm very afraid to ask what getting the cherry form the fat man's stomach on wog day is.
Meh, child's play compared to CPO initiation back in the day (1989). That was something.