Return of the 12th Dog Association

The West Richland chapter of the 12th Dog Association had their annual barbecue on labor day weekend to celebrate the start of the football season.

Regular readers of this blog are aware that the 12th Dog Association is a group of canines - which includes mine -that are fans of the Seattle Seahawks.

There is also a cat, named Freddie, who is also a member.

The 12th Dog Association (and why there is a cat in the club) was covered in a previous blog.

It was a different type of barbecue than I like, but then it wasn't my barbecue. Most barbecues I go to there is beer involved, but since this was a dog barbecue, there was no beer. Just wieners. This may not sound like an exciting barbecue, but then you aren't a dog.

And the wieners were Oscar Meyer.

Macky  Rae making microwave popcorn

The dogs (and cat) enjoyed it though and after all it was their barbecue. After the wieners were roasted and consumed, the dogs came in side in order to watch the game and eat popcorn.



So I got an email from on of my readers, asking what ever happened to Macky and the other dogs that got arrested in February after the Super Bowl?

For those that missed it, or just forgot, Macky Rae and a few other members of the association - and Freddie - went on a rampage after Seattle lost the Super Bowl to New England - knocking over mail boxes, dumping garbage cans...

...and even tipped over a Geo Metro that had a Patriots bumpersticker.

The police responded, and the herd of rampaging pets were located. They were herded into the back of a police cruiser and were taken to the police station where they were booked, given a court date, then released into the custody of their people.

And I grounded Macky Rae for a month.

So, what happened at court:
Me, and the other people brought their little darlings to court. Court was presided over by Judge MacGregor. All the dogs were assigned a public defender (in that, being unemployed, did not have the means to hire a real lawyer). They were all assigned the same PD (public defender), a woman named Bernice Fankle.

Actually, this was their second lawyer. The dogs didn't like the first PD they were assigned - they didn't like the way he smelled. After some discussion between the assistant prosecuter, the first lawyer, and Judge MacGregor, it was agreed it would be in the best interest to all concerned that the dogs be assigned a PD whose smell the dogs approved of. This turned out to be Ms Fankle.

The charges were read (hooliganism, vandalism, and violating city leash ordinance) and the dogs (and the cat) were asked to make a plea.

And this is where it got a bit weird.

The dogs all insisted they didn't do it, and began whining despite the Judge's request for order in the court. The Bailiff attempted to calm the dogs down, but failed. After a few minutes, the Judge was force to call a recess.

Twenty minutes later, Judge MacGregor returned with with another Bailiff, Bill Walden, who prior to becoming a Bailiff for the court had spent 21 years on the police force, 12 of them as part of the K-9 corp - thus he knew how to handle dogs.

The Judge again asked how the dogs plead, and when the whining began Walden ordered the dogs to be quite in a very commanding voice, and when the dogs became silent, he rewarded each of them with a dog treat.

Ms Fankle entered a plea of "not guilty" on behalf of her clients, which was accepted by the court. The judge then requested that the prosecuter and Ms Fankle join him in his chambers. Sometime later, they returned and Ms Fankle confered with her clients (and their people). The assistant prosecuter, she told them, was offering a plea bargain deal. If the dogs (and cat) would plead guilty to hooliganism, the other charge would be dropped. In addition, there would be no jail time or fines - but the dogs (and cat) would have to do a week on work-crew.

The dogs (and cat) decided this was acceptable, and Ms Fankle amended their plea to "guilty." Judge MacGregor accepted the assistant prosecutors recommedation, and the dogs (and cat) were sentenced to one week on work crew.

Work crew began the following Monday. Every morning, us people packed a lunch for our pets, and then took our delinquents to the sheriff's department, where they all checked in and waited for the work crew officer to arrive. Deputy Sergeant Hanson was assigned to oversee the dogs (and cat) on work crew, and was assisted by Deputy Corporal Jenkins (from the k-9 corp). Each of the dogs was issued a bright orange vest, and then were loaded up in a van and taken out to pick up garbage along side of the highway. Work crew was from 10 to 3, with an hour break at noon for lunch. We would pick our pets up in the afternoon, and return the following morning.

Finally Friday came, the dogs had completed their sentence. After being warned to behave themselves in the future by Deputy Sergeant Hanson, the dogs said good-bye, loaded into their people's cars (and trucks) and went home.

Macky Rae kept all the aluminum cans they collected on work crew, and on Saturday he took them to Gus McPhersons salvage yards to be recycled.

Gus paid him $78 dollars and some change for the Aluminum.