Family threatened
Be careful out there, friends, even with your families.
Police say 29-year-old James Dennis of Fayetteville was arrested last week and charged with five counts of aggravated assault and possessing a firearm after a female driver, with her husband and three children, claimed Dennis cut her off on a city street then brandished a firearm and threatened the family.
Reminded me of my turbulent time reporting on the mean streets of Chicago where crime runs rampant.
The preliminary police report filed with the Washington County prosecutor, reports this newspaper’s Ron Wood, described the incident: “Police were called to a report of an armed person … in Fayetteville about 12:36 a.m. Thursday … The caller and her husband told police a man in a maroon Hyundai wearing a blue hoodie had pointed a pistol at them after the Hyundai cut off her vehicle at the intersection of West Wedington Drive and North Salem Road. The man yelled, ‘I got something for you.’
“The caller was delivering food and had her husband and three children, ages 2,
10 and 12, in the vehicle with her, according to the report.”
Police made contact with Dennis, who was sitting in the Hyundai’s front passenger seat at a nearby restaurant. There, they said they also located a Glock pistol with a flashlight mounted to it.
“Dennis was arrested for purposefully displaying and pointing the pistol at the family,” reported Wood, “creating a substantial danger of death or serious physical injury to all five occupants.
He was released from the Washington County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond with arraignment set for April 17 in Washington County Circuit Court by an as-yet unnamed judge. There was no mention in the news account about Dennis’ legal history.
As of today no one has asked me to serve as fill-in judge for the case, which is just as well for Mr. Dennis.
My thinking if he’s found guilty, as the judge I’d be eager to send a maximum-sentence message that the people of Fayetteville and northwest Arkansas greatly prefer not to encourage this kind of criminal behavior in this region, especially involving families and children.
That kind of alleged action against innocent, taxpaying and voting citizens is best left to the failing big cities whose residents mysteriously choose to elect “prosecutors” that refuse to prosecute, instead leaving criminals free to rule their streets.
I’ll be sure to keep readers informed of how this case plays out.
COVERING FOR SHIH TZUS
Meanwhile back on the pit bull beat, DogsBite.org reported the following the other day: “In 2009, a writer from the British Columbia publication Surrey Leader commented on the ‘media conspiracy’ claim voiced by pit bull advocacy groups. In a charming yet biting piece titled “Belligerent Bassets?” writer Andrew Holota points out the ridiculous nature of this claim.”
His thoughts parallel my own: “Yessir, there are oodles of poodles popped by cops all the time, and the press does not report it.
“And attacks by psychotic Shih Tzus? Covered up. Muzzled, so to speak.
“Children savaged by Scottish terriers? Quashed. Hushed puppies, if you will. Oh yes, the conspiracy runs deep indeed.”
The only other difference between Holota and me is I’d add savage golden retrievers, killer collies, pouncing poodles and notoriously brutal St. Bernard bullies.
“What is true is that there is an absence of media regarding the collective damage inflicted by the pit bull breed since the early 1980s,” Dogs Bite reports. “In a recent 15-year period from 2005 to 2019, pit bulls killed 346 Americans, about one citizen every 16 days.
“By 2024, the pit bull death toll is projected to reach 512 Americans since 1998, the year the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] stopped tracking fatal dog attacks by breed, and over 590 Americans since 1980. Major news agencies are silent on this collective damage.”
Why? If these were mountain lions, would they report it?
Well, as valued readers know, I’m not about to remain silent after my wife and dog were mauled by a pit bull mix who attacked, injuring her face while almost killing our taco terrier Benji as they strolled a Harrison neighborhood.
I’d be writing the same things about these dangerous dogs if I still worked for major newsrooms in California, Chicago and Phoenix.
Our state badly needs to put some real teeth into our dangerous-dog attack law that seriously punishes pit and mix owners who fail to keep them properly restrained from innocent citizens and their nonviolent pets.
Now go out into the world and treat everyone you meet exactly like you want them to treat you.