Roving Dogs Continue to be a Problem

The three dogs that continue to plague the neighborhood were spotted Tuesday morning, May 22, going down the 5500 block of Victor, heading east towards Beacon. They were also seen on Ridgeway Sunday, May 20. This is the description of the dogs from the neighbor on Ridgeway: all three appear to be mature but not real old. One is a German Shepard; another is a Black Lab or mix with strong Lab characteristics. The third is about the same size as the Lab with mostly black and some brown/orange swatches.

Other descriptions have been have included a medium build dog with blond hair and another dog with a pit bull face.

These dogs are vicious and should be considered dangerous, and according to this content it is important to get dog training for them. They appear to be well-fed and wear no collars. Three weeks ago, they chased a neighbor while she was riding on her bicycle, causing her to crash into one of the dogs. The incident occurred at the corner of Fulton and Eastside across from one of the Juliet Fowler buildings. The victim fractured her pelvis in the crash and is still unable to walk properly.

District 14 Representative Angela Hunt is aware of the problem and has intervened. If you see the dogs, please call 214-287-7935 (Animal Control). They will respond immediately.

May 23, 2007

A prowler was spotted in the alley, between Parkmont and Dumont Wednesday night, May 23, about 10:00. He is an Anglo man in his late 50s-early 60s, about 5’8’, slender, with stubble on his face. The police were called and responded within five minutes. As this is being written, they are looking for him.

The plant thieves continue to be active. A hanging basket was stolen from a house in the 700 block of Beacon. In an attempt to stem the theft of numerous plants from the porch, the owner attached the plant to the ceiling. The thieves damaged the ceiling while stealing the plant.

A truck parked in front of house in the 700 block of Parkmont was vandalized the night of May 18, Friday, between the hours of 9 pm and 2 am. The driver’s window was smashed and a CD player and Bible (!) were stolen.

Packs of Dogs Continue to be a Problem in East Dallas

A cat was killed by dogs on Wednesday, May 16, on Worth Street (block number unknown). Another resident just e-mailed and said her cat was killed in mid-March in the 700 block of Glasgow. On Sunday, May 20, three roving dogs followed a resident’s cat under the crawl space of a house in the 700 block of Ridgeway. The cat was able to retreat to a safe place but the dogs refused to leave. The residents lured the dogs out of the crawl space by leaving some pieces of meat at the entrance to the crawlspace. The dogs were last seen going into the alley parallel to Gaston between Ridgeway and Skillman.

911 was called but the city did not respond; the caller was told mistakenly to dial 311 which made it a much lower priority. (The caller was told the city would investigate within 40 days.) In situations like this, the 911 operators should have called a Ms. Castillo, who will dispatch a team of animal control people. In the future, please call Ms. Castillo directly. Her number is 214-287-7935. It is her cell phone and she will respond.

Ms. Castillo will soon have a team of animal control people sweeping our area looking for stray dogs. In the meantime, please keep your pets inside. This is a problem that has plagued the neighborhoods of East Dallas for some time.

Thanks to JH resident Beth Newman who called Angela Hunt’s office to straighten out the confusion. Ms. Hunt’s office met with the 911 people two weeks ago and insisted that problems about roving dogs not be forwarded to 311. The 311 receivers should also have this information.

Car Windows Smashed

On Thursday night, May 17, the windows of two cars were smashed in the 5600 block of Columbia. Both cars were parked in the driveways but nothing was stolen.