Readers share their own pit bull stories

Our story about the pit bulls that attacked City Manager Bob Deis and his 5-month-old puppy got readers going.

•One woman e-mailed me today to ask if I could identify the owner of the pit bulls. Her miniature poodle was attacked last week on Thornton road, “causing $2,870 worth of damage.” She wanted the name of the owner of the dogs that attacked Deis, because, “we are trying to find his address to prevent this from happening to anyone else.” I am hoping this was not implying some sort of vigilantism.

Regardless, because there were no arrests yesterday in the city manager’s case, I didn’t have an ID.

•Resident Jerry Bull called me and told me that just last week two pit bulls almost got to him and his own dog  while they were walking in the same neighborhood in which Deis was attacked, though Bull said he didn’t think it was the same pair.

Bull loves animals and knows dogs well. He’s a commercial pet food supplier, too. But he also said people should use more caution with pit bulls; it doesn’t make sense to let them roam free. He now carries pepper spray and a metal rod with him on his walks.

Posted in City Hall, Police Department | Tagged , , , | 0 Comments

More on EMS dispute

Recent stories on the paramedic ban on Stockton fire engines have produced more material than we can fit into the articles and more questions from readers.

•One reader e-mailed me today to ask whether firefighters certified as paramedics are still receiving their additional pay (they can receive anywhere from 6 to 11 percent on top of their salary if they are certified, according to the union contract).

Short answer: Yes, at least for now. City officials hope to have this dispute resolved within the month, restoring the ability of firefighters to work as paramedics. The city has not indicated whether it would stop paying those additional wages should the issue not be resolved by then.

•Though city officials claim firefighters get to the scenes of emergencies quicker than the county-contracted ambulances, City Hall has complained in recent days (including in their news release Tuesday) that the county won’t give up its ambulance response time data.

Dan Burch, administrator of the county’s Emergency Medical Services division, said that’s not so. He pointed to the agency’s bimonthly ambulance compliance reports (they do not list every call for service, but, rather,  the frequency that required response thresholds were met, broken down in a variety of manners). Here is the most recent report.

Posted in City Attorney, Fire Department, Second Floor, Stockton Professional Firefighters Local 456 | Tagged | 0 Comments

City manager and his dog OK after pit bull attack

City Manager Bob Deis is back in the office this afternoon after two loose pit bulls attacked him and his 5-month-old Golden Retriever puppy, Enzo, during a morning walk today near his Miracle Mile home.

During the walk, he spotted two dogs coming at them from between two nearby homes.

“My little dog thought they wanted to play,” he said. Instead, they attacked the puppy. “There was one dog on each end trying to tear him apart. The battle was on.”

When Deis tried to fight them off, they attacked him, too, before neighbors came out and scared the pit bulls off.

Deis suffered six dog bites to his hands and was treated at his doctor’s office. He went to the vet first, though. Enzo is lucky to be alive, he said, but the puppy is traumatized.

“What we thought was going to be play time between my dog and two dogs turned out to be a nightmare,” he said.

Posted in City Hall, Police Department, Second Floor | Tagged | 0 Comments

Medical pot dispensary appealing county action

Last month we reported that Pathways, the medical marijuana dispensary that Stockton shut down for operating without the proper approvals, had reopened in an unincorporated pocket of the county in another part of town.

By then, the county had sent Pathways a notice that it was out of complaince with county codes for operating without a proper business license.

The dispensary has appealed. Read how they make their case here.

The county appeals process is internal, and if the dispensary loses, it can appeal to the county Board of Supervisors.

“They’re being treated the way any other business would be treated,” said Assistant County Counsel Mark Myles.

Dispensary director Lynn Smith said the shop is still open.

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AG: nothing yet on tickets

The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said last week it would punt on the issue of whether City Council members violated the city charter by reporting free tickets to local events, instead referring the matter to the state attorney general.

So far, that office has not received anything, spokeswoman Becca MacLaren said today. Here’s what she wrote in an e-mail to The Record this afternoon:

The AG’s criminal unit received a call from the Stockton DA’s office last week and suggested the office contact the AG’s government and civil rights units. At this time, neither of those units has received a referral from the Stockton DA’s office.  If this referral comes in, either or both of those units will evaluate the matter to determine whether the Attorney General’s intervention is appropriate.

Posted in City Charter, City Council, City Hall | Tagged , | 0 Comments

Measure H ballot arguments

Click here to see the full measure language and an analysis by the city attorney.

Click here to read the ballot arguments. You’ll see some prominent signatures siding with the city, including former Democratic state Sen. Patrick Johnston and former Republican Assemblyman and prominent conservative Dean Andal. Other business interests are lining up behind Measure H, and former city and public safety officials are fighting it.

Posted in Budget crisis, Business, City Attorney, City Charter, City Clerk, City Council, City Hall, Elections, Fire Department, Labor, Stockton Professional Firefighters Local 456 | 0 Comments

Podesto on fire dispute

Former Mayor Gary Podesto wrote from his home in La Selva Beach a single-spaced, two-page letter to The Record recently in opposition to Measure H, the city ballot measure that aims to change the provisions in the city charter that dictate how the fire chief is hired and eliminates binding arbitration for labor disputes with the fire union.

We aren’t running Podesto’s lengthy piece, but here are some excerpts:

Read More »

Posted in Budget crisis, City Hall, Elections, Fire Department, Labor, Stockton Professional Firefighters Local 456 | Tagged | 0 Comments

Happy Monday

Hope you had a good weekend. A couple of quick items:

•The proposed privatization or sale of city-run golf courses is out to bid. Bids are due back by 2 p.m. Oct. 21. As noted in the RFP, one thing to work out on the city’s end if a proposal to buy the courses is accepted: both are being held as collateral for a previous city bond issue.

•Here’s the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Most of it is closed session and consent. There are a number of property negotiations on closed session, and also more discussions about the ongoing emergency services disputes with the county.

Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Closed

City Hall is closed Friday. I’m off too, so if you’ve got news, don’t tell anyone until I get back Monday. If it can’t wait call my editors Kevin Parrish at (209) 546-8264 or Barbara Zumwalt at (209) 546-8298.

Posted in Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Business leaders support fee hike

Stockton’s wastewater rates are going up (potentially as much as 75 percent in the next five years), and so might charges for its stormwater system.

Last week, the Business Council of San Joaquin County, a group of some of the area’s most prominent business leaders, voted to support the rate hikes.

Click here to see the group’s letter to City Hall.

Posted in Municipal Utilities Department | Tagged | 0 Comments
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    Daniel Thigpen

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    Reporter Daniel Thigpen has been with The Record since 2006. A North Carolina native, he's worked at newspapers in the Tar Heel state, Tacoma, Wash., and Northern California. Read Full
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