Grumpy Editor

Judge jails great grandmother after two dogs run loose

Lost in the week’s heavy news, ranging from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to some key Senate Democrats babbling in an overnight talkathon on climate change (ignoring the coldest U.S. six-month period since 1912) to growing approval of marijuana smoking, was a lack-of-common-sense development reported mainly in the Baltimore area, notes Grumpy Editor.

It was a teeth grinder and a slap to a money-squeezed, cancer-fighting widowed great grandmother with a clean record over her 81 years who was tossed into jail this month by a judge mainly for letting her two small dogs run loose a year ago from her home of 44 years. 

Civil citations were issued to Mary Magdalene Root --- following a neighbor’s photos showing a dog running loose --- that listed dog-at-large, dog license and license violations.  Exercising around Root’s home, on more than 1.5 acres, were her Chihuahua and terrier mix.

Bringing the case to light were the Baltimore Sun and WJZ, CBS’s Channel 13 in Baltimore.  The Drudge Report also noted the action.

The Sun pointed out Root was charged “with failing to pay seven $75 civil citations for three incidents” involving her dogs in 2013. 

The minor pet violations resulted in Root getting slapped with a $7,000 fine or spending nearly a year in jail, reported WJZ. 

“She was booked, fingerprinted and issued a striped jumpsuit… a cell without her cancer medication,” the TV report added.

Root spent two nights in Harford County Detention Center before being released after a person family members characterized as a "stranger" paid $250, the required 10 percent of her bail. 

Vantina Gifford, Root’s daughter, said her mother is resting at home and plans to return to court to fight the charges, according to the Sun.

 

In case you missed these… 

ATTKISSON BIDS FAREWELL TO CBS.  Emmy award winning investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson announced she is leaving CBS.  “It’s not a matter of ‘me’ being on the air, it’s the idea that so few of the incredibly interesting and important original and investigative topics I brought to the table, often exclusively, could find no home at CBS in the past three years or so,” Attkisson told Fox News’ Howard Kurtz.

 

L.A. TIMES FACES COMPETITION.  The Los Angeles Times will get daily print competition starting April 16 with the launch of the Los Angeles Register.  It marks the continued expansion by Freedom Communications Inc., that includes the Orange County Register, Long Beach Register and Riverside’s Press-Enterprise.

 

BEST D.C.-TO-GOTHAM ROUTE.  President Barack Obama hopped aboard Air Force One to New York that included a visit Tuesday to the Gap to pick up sweaters for his two daughters.  He stopped by the retailer because it recently announced it would voluntarily increase wages for employees.

 

WELLS FARGO DEBUTS ONLINE STORIES.  San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. unveiled an online magazine, “Wells Fargo Stories,” with features, photos and videos about employees, customers and communities the bank serves around the U.S.

 

CHICAGO CUBS’ NEW BROADCAST HOME LOOMS.  The rumble in Chicago is the Cubs baseball team could leave TV station WGN, home of play-by-play action since 1925, after the current season and that CBS has expressed interest in rights to carry the games.

 

SEASONED CHINESE FORTUNE COOKIE WRITERS NEEDED?  A message in a fortune cookie had the flavor of "Yogi" Berra, the long-time New York Yankees catcher noted for his quotes, such as the simplistic observation, "It ain't over till it's over.”  Over the weekend, a diner opened a fortune cookie that offered this advice:  “Always remember where you are going and never forget where you’ve been.”

Look for drop in recruits as 2 Marines slated for trial

Marine Corps brass soon will be wondering why enlistments have dropped off, following word that courts-martial are ahead for two Marines charged with urinating on corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan after posing for photos in the incident, predicts Grumpy Editor. 

Charges were made against Staff Sgt. Joseph W. Chamblin and Staff Sgt. Edward W. Deptola.  Administrative punishments for three other Marines for their role in the urination episode were announced earlier.

What the brass --- and non-question-asking media --- failed to consider is that the deceased bad guys in Afghanistan belonged to no official military force, represented no country, wore no uniforms or dog tags, held no rank and possessed no serial numbers.

What triggered the military inquiry was a video that surfaced in January showing Marines allegedly urinating on three dead Taliban fighters.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) jumped in with a criminal investigation. 

It said there were "other pending cases related to this incident" but mentioned no specifics. 

The leathernecks were members of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines that fought in the southern Afghan province of Helmand for seven months.

PETA unhappy over California 'happy cows' TV spot

A 30-second television commercial featuring “happy cows” --- so happy, they talk --- is not making People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) happy, notes Grumpy Editor.

What’s more, a California judge tossed out a PETA lawsuit, filed last year, seeking to shelve the California Milk Advisory Board/California Department of Food and Agriculture TV spot promoting happy, healthy and well-cared-for cows. 

In the action, the animal rights group demanded that California dairy farmers prove that California cows are “happy,” as claimed in the commercials. 

PETA complained that “most California dairy cows are subjected to physical and psychological pain and stress caused by intense and uncomfortable dairying practices, have a high risk of suffering from a number of diseases and die prematurely.”

(One wondered if PETA had happy cows mixed up with some chronically unhappy taxpayers struggling around tax-filing time.) 

Actually, PETA has complained about happy cows since 2002. 

The judge ruled the California Milk Advisory Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture provided sufficient evidence to support their claim that dairy cows in the Golden State are comfortable, safe and happy. 

Few daily newspapers reported the judge's decision. 

However, the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star covered the ruling under the headline:  Judge: California dairy cows are happy. 

In the TV spot promoting California cheese, two happy cows chat in a barn as a rooster crows nearby. 

A voiceover mentions: “Great cheese comes from happy cows.  Happy cows come from California.  Real California cheese.” 

See the TV spot here.

TV slow in picking up HOA vs. Army veteran's swing set

An April 12 story in The Dallas Morning News on a homeowners association suing an Army captain --- recently back home after nine months in Afghanistan --- over a swing set for his four children, took almost three weeks before television news jumped on the development, notes Grumpy Editor. 

But it was this week’s TV coverage, ranging from Dallas-Fort Worth WFAA to ABC News --- that stirred things up, expanding coverage and illustrating weird happenings with HOAs. 

Dallas Morning News writer David Tarrant last month detailed how Candi Fry of Mineola, Texas, was being sued by Spring Lake Homeowners Association for installing a $1,200 wooden swing set while her husband, National Guard Capt. Bill Fry, was deployed in Afghanistan. He has been added as a defendant.

Candi Fry said she received verbal consent to install the swing set a year ago, Tarrant reported. 

But things changed when the HOA said a neighbor complained that the swing set could be seen from the road.  Take down the swing set or move it, she was told. 

The HOA attorney said proper documents, including architectural drawings (remember, this was a swing set for kids) were not submitted, adding the association cannot make exceptions. 

“We are in appreciation of his service,” Tarrant quoted the attorney.  “But the idea that people can set up anything on their property because their husband is deployed overseas is not something that cannot be permitted.” 

Probable next step:  court.

 

In a switch, homeowners ‘foreclose’ on Bank of America

Adding to Bank of America’s public relations problems --- and rather embarrassing for management --- is word that the banking giant had the tables turned on it when Florida homeowners dispatched sheriff’s deputies to foreclose on a B of A office to collect fees due, notes Grumpy Editor.

While the unusual switch received some play in the southeast, most national media overlooked the action.

When the bank attempted to foreclose on Warren and Maureen Nyerges’s cash-purchased single-story, 2,700-square-foot home in 2009, the couple spent weeks on the phone and in court before the case was dismissed.

The bank had wrongfully filed foreclosure papers on the Naples home.

A judge ordered the bank to pay $2,500 in attorney fees for the couple’s troubles.  After five months and additional phone calls, neither the bank nor its local counsel had paid.

So, with media in tow last Friday morning, the homeowners' attorney, Todd Allen, arrived outside a local B of A branch with deputies, a moving company's truck and the court’s permission to seize branch assets.

“I’m either leaving the building with a whole bunch of furniture, or a check or cash or something,” declared Allen.

The action came amid mounting pressure on big U.S. banks to examine sloppy foreclosure-documentation problems.

Collier County sheriff’s deputies entered the bank and presented the manager with a court writ and the choice of paying the money owed or see removal of computers, desks, copiers, file cabinets and other equipment.

In about an hour, the bank manager handed Allen a check for the legal fees.