Radcliff family wants dog back, Weimeraner adopted to new family

The News Enterprise ^ | 8 July 2010 | Bob White

[Politicalmom]

Any dog with a collar should be presumed lost. The base didn’t even attempt to find an owner. The dog should be returned immediately.

[Valpal1]

A thieff would leave the tags because they identify the dog, that’s obvious. They kept the collar to clip a leash to. Stolen dogs often run away, trying to get home and then end up lost and without ID, which may be how it ended up on the base. It’s also possible it was stolen by a soldier.

Statute of limitations on recovering stolen property is unlikely to be less than one year. A custom built show saddle stolen her in Oregon in the mid 60’s was recovered after being offered for sale on ebay 35 years later. There is no statute of limitations on some categories of property like art, historical or cultural artifacts.

The behavior of the military officials in this story is disgraceful and dishonorable. They are duty bound to provide the names of the adopting family so the property can be reclaimed by the legal owner, period.

They appear to be shielding or protecting somebody on the base and that is douibly dispicable and unacceptable.

[cquiggy]

No matter how the dog came to be in possession of the military family it is still property of the original owner. This now becomes an issue of honesty and character. I certainly wouldn’t want to drop my wallet on Fort Knox. Two phone numbers are available to express your thoughts with Fort Knox personnel. They are 502-613-3164 and 502-624-2749
Please take the time to call them and ask why stolen property should not be returned. What Fort Knox officials decide to do will surely say a lot about the state of today’s military.

[tacticalogic]

I had some neighbors that had a weimeraner, or I think more properly, it had them. It actually belonged to some people who lived about a quarter mile down the road. My neighbor had a young daughter (adopted) and this dog would come to their yard and play with that little girl. Every day. When she started school, it soon learned to come to the bus stop every morning, and meet the bus in the afternoon every day.

Then the people that owned the dog moved (about 15 miles away). They took the dog with them. Two days later the dog was back. They came and picked it up, took it home and penned it up. As soon as it got a chance it got loose and came back. They gave up and let the dog stay where it wanted.

[M1928A1 Thompson]

The pound on post is run by the Veterinairan, so it does come under the MEDDAC, Still using HIPPA as a dodge is a real stretch. I wonder which JAG came up with that one?

But since the post is now commanded by the ultimate in staff weenies, U.S. Army Accessions Command, I don't hold much hope for an honorable solution. But the Army did pull a similar stunt with a 1904 Maxim gun stolen from a New Jersey VFW. When it turned up years later in the museum at West Point, the Army refused to return it. Look up Wheaton v. Caldera. The ATF testified that the NFTR was never intended to reunite stolen property to the owner.

[Tom D.]

My take is that someone wanted this dog; stole it; dropped it off at the base, knowing that it would be picked up; and, then went to the base pound and “adopted” it. This would give the thief cover if the dog was ever identified.

This is based on the assertion that the owner told the truth about the tags. It is bolstered by the refusal to return the dog by the adopter. If the article misstated the facts, the all bets are off, but the original owner had little incentive to ditch the tags.

The base pound is a government run entity. The 5th Amendment provides that the government cannot deprive me of my life, liberty or property without due process of law. a super short statute of limitations would do just that.

[super7man]

OK, your scenario is as good as any. Maybe we will find out the full story later.

Regarding statute of limitations, I scouted the local Calif Animal Ordinances and all they will guarantee is that the animal will not be “dispositioned” for 72hrs from the time of pick-up.

I do not know if dispositioned means given away or killed.

It does not appear to address the situation of a person showing up to get their dog after 72 hrs. and the dog is gone. Pretty short statute of limitiation on holding one’s property.

[SLB]

But since the post is now commanded by the ultimate in staff weenies, U.S. Army Accessions Command

Did you notice there is no longer an American flag flying over Brooks Field? I have been associated with Ft Knox for 40 years and this is the first time there has not been a flag there.

[M1928A1 Thompson]

It’s gone downhill since they painted over the Armor insignia on the water tank! Brooks Field is no longer the parade field and Post Headquarters is no longer across the way. The names on Knox will have no meaning to those folks. They won’t know, or much care who Skidgel, Sadowski, Wickham, or Yano were or how those places came to bear those names.

I am not even sure that Quarters Six was good enough for the new CG.

[SLB]

On the way to work this morning I was wondering to myself when they will start changing the names of streets. Old Ironsides will be Stapler Ave. Hell on Wheels could be Paper Clip Way.

My father-in-law spent his entire 27 years as a tanker or tank destroyer. I am sure he is rolling in his grave right now at what is happening.

[M1928A1 Thompson]

I believe it! The housing area at 9th & Wilson will be changed from Littlefield Loop to Lying Lips Loop to honor recruiters. During PT in the morning you will hear clerks chanting, “I wanna be a chairborne ranger......”

First aid training on paper cuts instead of sucking chest wounds. Fobbits and REMFS!!!!

Any news if the dog has been returned?

[SLB]

Dog returned after month-long adventure
Adopted owner yields to original family

By BOB WHITE

bwhite@thenewsenterprise.com

Since disappearing from her Radcliff home last month, 2-year-old Riley has been picked up, dropped off, impounded, injected, micro-chipped, adopted by a Fort Knox soldier, pictured on television and now returned to her original owners.

Riley’s reunion came Friday afternoon after pleading by her owners spurred Fort Knox leaders to arrange a meeting that led to the Weimeraner’s return. Fort Knox officials say the dog was returned with consent from its adopted owner.

The short-haired gray dog went missing in mid-June from James and Kim Church’s Kentucky Circle home.

Shortly thereafter, a soldier found the dog near the U.S. Army post and brought it to Fort Knox and handed it over to military police, who, in turn, gave it to the Fort Knox Stray Animal Facility.

The shelter asks people to deliver strays to MPs, rather than bringing animals directly to the shelter.

Riley arrived at the pound with no tags, so no one knew her name or home address.

The Churches, meanwhile, were calling every pound, veterinarian and shelter for which they could find a phone number. They had no knowledge of the stray facility on Fort Knox, which has not been considered a public facility in recent years.

A “lost dog” Internet ad helped the Churches discover a dog matching Riley’s description at Fort Knox. But the dog was adopted June 26 by a Knox soldier.

Fort Knox officials told the Churches and reporters last week that the adopted owner, a soldier, didn’t want to return the dog. The soldier legally adopted the pet and paid the shelter $85 for shots and microchip tags.

Fort Knox public affairs officials say the adopted owner decided to hand the dog over a day after learning of the Churches’ efforts to find and reclaim their pet.

James Church said post leadership was present, along with Riley and the adopted owner during the handoff.

“Honestly, I don’t know why they gave it back. I’m just glad they did,” James Church said. “I kinda’ felt sorry for that family, since they’d gone through the right channels to get the dog.”

Church said the biggest problem in regaining custody of Riley was misinformation.

“First they said the dog was picked up on Knox and we saw paperwork that said the dog was pickup up on Wilson Road,” Church said. “They told us she had no collar when she came in, but we know she had the collar coming in…”

Church said lack of information bout the Fort Knox Stray Animal Facility complicated the search. Church said he found no number listed for the pound on post. He said no other shelters he phoned provided him information about the facility.

“If you’re not affiliated with Fort Knox, you don’t have any way to know about the (stray facility there),” Church said.

Fort Knox Public Affairs Officer Connie Shaffery said the stray animal facility has revised its hold-time policy, extending the length of mandatory stay prior to adoption to five days, from three.

The five-day delay is the same amount of time Kentucky mandates a facility hold an animal prior to adoption.

Despite complications retrieving the dog, James Church said he was grateful for post leadership’s effort in bringing a happy ending to Riley’s story.

[SLB]

See post 32. I can just picture LTG Freakley handing over the leash with a very concerned look and making a “dogmatic” comment to all involved. Still have to figure out the HIPPA angle.

[M1928A1 Thompson]

Fort Knox Veterinary Treatment Facility is staffed by Army Veterinary Corps personnel with the primary mission of providing complete veterinary care for all government owned animals. They are part of Medical Department.

Mortuary services also come under the Medical Department although those patients rarely come back to bitch about anything, much less violations of their privacy.

I think a very creative JAG officer stretched the HIPPA definition of patient and health care provider to be as “lawyerly” accurate as possible so some Public Information Officer had a dodge to hide behind while someone else tried to figure out how bad it was all going to look and apply enough ‘command influence’ to keep the shit from splashing too high.