Re: [at-l] Rotties in TN

[hopefl@juno.com]

I would like to see all these bad encounter with the dogs in the DMZ
reported to the sheriff. The owner has been warned about keeping his dogs
up. I fear it is only a matter of time before some one is seriously hurt
along that road walk.

Now, as many of you already know, I am a hillbilly in good standing, a
son of a long line of hillbilly stock. I say this by way of authorizing
my own self to make some judgements and give some advice:

1) White trash is white trash, no matter what state your in.
2) When in the rural south, don't cuss a man's kids and don't rock his
dogs. You're just asking for it.
3) Report all bad encounter with mean dogs to the sheriff, let him deal
with the owner.
4) I ain't teasing. Any man that would put his dogs on a hiker,
especially a woman, is trouble     waiting to happen. 
5) All rural sheriffs that I even knew could be good as gold, or meaner
than a snake, all in the same     day, your choice.

So, if the authorities are made aware that bubba is turning his dogs
loose when he's been told to abide by the state leash law, then the dogs
and the owner will be attended to. Bob Peoples at the Kincora hostel
tells me that bubba has been warned and that for awhile he kept his dogs
up. When I hiked through there in March, the dogs were chained. The road
walk is on a public right of way so the TN leash law is broken if the
dogs leave the man's yard.

I hear that the TN/Eastman hiking club is working on a reroute to pass
the DMZ to the east towards Elk Park. There have been too many problems
with the dogs and too many beer busts at the Applehouse shelter. The
shelter is just half a mile or so, over easy trail, from US19E. The
reroute will be a long time in the works so for now I'd like to see the
dog issue handled by the sheriff.

 Hopeful
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