No-dogs sign taken down
HAMILTON » Shame, shame, double doggone shame.
Like a bad case of fleas, township Mayor Kelly Yaede’s illegal dog-jaunt during a Little League game at Sunnybrae Park won’t die.
The puppy controversy embroiling Yaede, who was photographed with her white Labrador puppy, Ashtyn Lynn, at the park where dogs aren’t allowed, has bred a litter of angry watchdog residents who are concerned the mayor pushed her weight around to get the sign removed from the park following an embarassing front-page spread in The Trentonian.
Sunnybrae Little League President Jean Anderson followed through on her word earlier in the week in having the “confusing” sign taken down since the league didn’t enforce the no-dogs ban.
Anderson called the newspaper Monday after she was contacted by Yaede letting her know the newspaper was working on a story about the polemic puppy issue that had township residents acting like they were bitten by a rabid dog.
The baseball big wig confirmed Friday the sign was removed following a chat with the league’s executive
board. In doing so, she admitted the league was “wrong” for keeping the sign up so long.
“We operate autonomously,” Anderson said. “We didn’t have to check in with the mayor.”
Anderson previously contended a stickler groundskeeper put up the oversized, all-capital-letter sign on his own a few years.
But the league didn’t enforce the rule even though others said they were ejected from the park for having their dogs there.
Anderson insisted dogs are considered extended family and welcome at the park.
Asked why the sign wasn’t removed until Yaede got put on blast, Anderson said it wasn’t atop her priority list. She acknowledged the bad publicity generated by the divisive dog issue contributed to her decision to act.
“It’s related to the story, but not because we were told by anyone to do it,” she said.
Once people learned the sign was gone, they accused the mayor of “strong-arming” Anderson. They pointed to Anderson’s acknowledgment that the township leases the fields to the league for free.
The president insisted Yaede didn’t influence her decision to put the matter before the board.
“If anyone else would come to the park with a dog, would those rules be changed?” said a concerned citizen who originally provided the puppy pics to The Trentonian. “[Anderson] is caving to pressure. She gets that lease for like a dollar a year. So, of course, she’s going to take the signs down for Kelly and weigh in and defend Kelly.”
Yaede denied pressuring the self-professed apolitical Little League president into taking down the sign so she wouldn’t look bad.
“I didn’t know the signs were down,” Yaede said by text Friday. “The decision on the policy is set solely by Sunnybrae Little League. Any policy will be supported. Sunnybrae is one of our community jewels.”
The issue turned into a bid doo-doo pile in the dog-eat-dog world of township politics as the photos showed the mayor, ignoring or unaware of the no-dogs-allowed sign, walking around care-free with her new leashed pooch, which she bought from Puppy Palace in Robbinsville.
Yaede hater David Henderson, who filed citizen criminal complaints against the mayor and other township officials over an alleged health crisis at the municipal building, took the pictures of the mayor and posted them publicly.
The concerned citizen got them off his Facebook and forwarded them to The Trentonian, calling it an example of Yaede’s blatant disregard of the rules.
The source once again asked to remain anonymous, convinced Yaede will retaliate after she tried to get a reporter to spill about who gave up the pics.
“This is how green she is,” the source said of Yaede. “All she had to say was. ‘I didn’t see the sign. I’m sorry. I’m not gonna bring my dog there rather than, ‘Who did this?’ But she wants to retaliate. She feels like she owns everything. She can’t accept that she’s wrong.”
The concerned citizen worried about the potential consequences of welcoming all dogs to the park where kids play.
“What happens if a little kid, god forbid, gets bit by a German Shepherd?”