I have just finished reading the comments of Dee Strom in a letter to the editor at:
http://aa.mlive.com/columns/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000907astrom.frm

Number one I am appalled that the Ann Arbor News is so short sited that they do not allow anyone but people from their own city to make comments ... of course allowing people not brainwashed by their reporting to comment might be to the detriment of the case they are trying to present.

Number two I was stunned to read what Ms. Strom had to say.
She is either badly informed or a plant.
Her comment "Unfortunately, 'bad' dogs really do exist" is true ... however what she clearly misses or chooses to ignore in the whole of this mess IS ... ATO IS NOT A BAD OR VICIOUS DOG.

"This case has nothing to do with animal rights or a nice dog being wrongly prosecuted."

Clearly Ms. Strom has taken leave of her 18 year veteran animal rescue senses ... if she thinks this case is not about a dog being wrongly prosecuted. (The question is why is he being prosecuted and persecuted?)
This woman claims to be an investigator.
With that comment Ms. Strom blew her investigator credibility.
If indeed there is a Ms. Strom who really has the credentials she claims.
Ato was not a product of poor genetics or bad upbringing as Ms. Strom suggests. And Ms. Strom jumping to that conclusion lessens her credibility as an investigator even further.
True investigators do not jump to conclusions they carefully search them out.

"This dog was not taught that humans are "alpha " animals, and therefore has no respect for them. He feels he is the alpha animal, and if a human does something he doesn't like, he will attack. Dog mentality is totally connected to the "pack-ethic," (as in wolf pack.)"

With this comment I am laughing my rear off ... I hate to inform the clueless Ms. Strom that to teach a wolf that humans are their "alpha" is virtually impossible. And any intruder into its territory would be torn to shreds in a heart beat.

So if we want to liken Ato to a pack animal a human "not his alpha human" would be considered an intruder to his territory. And should be!

The cold hard facts of this case are:
1. A very foolish young man saw what he considered "a guard dog sleeping" inside a glass and metal framed latched storm door.
2. He decided to open it anyway.
3. He dropped a 3 pound pager inside the door.
4. That paper was found several feet inside the door in a neat stack which indicates the paperboy walked inside the house and dropped the paper there.

That folks is trespassing! No ifs ands or buts! Plain and simple and this child and his guardians should be sued in this matter for damages on those grounds.
This family has spent over $30,000 trying to save this pet.
Roger Newton who has insisted this dog be destroyed because of his dereliction of duty as a teaching parent whose child blatantly disregarded what the paper who hired him told him about not opening front doors to peoples homes.
The Newton should be ordered to at least reimburse Ato's family for their out of pocket expenses in this matter.
He could not afford to pay (with all of his money) for the stress, strain, humiliation and illness brought to this family over this situation.

5. The dog awoke and perused and captured the intruder. Rendering "multiple SUPERFICIAL bites that are suprafascial in his left buttock region." (according to James Holmes M.D.)
6. The boys father hearing the commotion said he had to thwart the vicious attack by choking the dog and throwing him to the ground.

Miraculously the boys father came through this vicious dog attack without a scratch.

At the same moment Ato's owner showed up to observe the dog sitting serenely gazing into the sky.

I would ask Ms. Strom with her 18 years of expertise how likely is this?

If this dog were so vicious why was the elder Newton not ripped to shreds by this "genetically bad dog"?

Bottom line folks is Ato was simply protecting his territory.

Most of us hope our dogs will do just that. Personally I expect my Doberman to do as much damage as possible to an intruder in my home.

I like Ms. Strom am outraged over this case. But by people like her who claim to be experts and literally know nothing about this case and have no ability to apply common sense to boot. By a wealthy doctor who owns a multi-million dollar business and is very influential in the community ... pressing an issue when clearly his child was at fault. By the authorities who are pandering to the nonsense presented as fact by this man who has literally ripped off the insurance company for $40,000 dollars for superficial wounds that suddenly turned life threatening in the court room.

I am disgusted by the people in the city of Ann Arbor who have not come out in support of the owners of this dog. You should all be outraged at what has happened to this family and their pet and you should be ashamed for standing idol and allowing this travesty to happen. I have received a letter from Robert West who is prosecuting this case ... the same Robert West who so callously and foolishly commented that Ato "the prize" had escaped his grasp and the killers needle.
Mr. West stated emphatically that I was a victim of a misleading website ... Ato's:
https://www.angelfire.com/pe/otto/index.html
but what Mr. West did not know was that in my hands I have the actual records of this case and I know that he is the one misleading the public.

What he did not count on was that I know the truth!

What can I say but he is an incredibly foolish man!

I have posted this to the Ann Arbor forum at:

http://aa.mlive.com/forums/aatowntalk/aatowntalk.ssf
message number 831 if anyone else would like to make public comment.
 

Taken from Ato's guestbook:
Name: Linda 
Website: Wall of Shame
Referred by: Just Surfed On In
From: Calif
Time: 2000-09-15 11:24:19

I am outraged that Michigan Live has deleted messages from this board.

I have sent them the following letter.
I will be contacting all of the news media I can cram into the next few days.

I hope the citizens of Ann Arbor will do the same. It is your city. Allowing this business to thwart your right to free speech on an open forum should not be tolerated.
If you stand for anything it better be your right to free speech. Without that you might as well purchase a one way ticket Russia NOW.

I have set up a Free Speech message board for the good citizens of Ann Arbor. You can be assure it will not be censored as long as the language is not "R rated":
http://www.wall-of-shame.com/offenders/politics/Ann-Arbor-BBS/

------------

To Whom it may concern,

I posted an entry on your open forum.
Apparently Michigan Live did not like it and for whatever reason deleted it.

I find the thwarting of free speech on your forum despicable.
What happened to the first Amendment?
Apparently it does not exist on Michigan Live the Ann Arbor Edition.

It is unfortunate that whoever has the heavy delete hand has been so foolish.
What you have started is a campaign by myself and I would imagine others will join to expose your establishment for what it is ... CORRUPT!
You can be assured I will be spending the next several days contacting all of the mainstream media about your unethical practice.

Save your time and energy about writing back about the posted message being lewd and lascivious. I always make copies of everything I write.

You can also be assured I will be contacting your sponsors and starting a boycott online of each and everyone of them.

I have already set up a free-speech protected area for the citizens of Ann Arbor where they are assured they can utilize the right this great country was founded upon.

Your organization should be ashamed of itself.

Linda Porasso