Woman kept 246 dogs, 16 cage birds and 7 cats in her home

(Filed: 19/05/2005)

An obsessive collector of animals kept a menagerie of 246 dogs, 16 birds and seven cats in her four-bedroom house, a court heard yesterday.

Rosalind Gregson, 55, confined most of her pets to cages, often in pairs and often piled on top of each other in conditions so cramped they could not stand to their full height.

Many of the dogs were flea-ridden, emaciated and stricken with eye infections. Others had ulcers. Nine were in such a poor state that RSPCA officers had to put them down.

A district judge at Preston magistrates' court heard that when the RSPCA team raided Gregson's £500,000 detached house at Silverdale, near Carnforth, Lancs, they were initially "overwhelmed" by the stench of ammonia and faeces. They found the animals living in virtually unlit, rat-infested rooms with little water and food. Most of the water they did have was contaminated with cat litter.

District judge Peter Ward was shown an RSPCA video which showed officers viewing the "dismal and depressing conditions". The camera pans from cage to cage, showing dogs barely able to sit up. One RSPCA officer is heard to say: "How can they live in this? This is appalling."

Some of the dogs are lifted out of their cages and held up in view of the camera. One, a Maltese terrier, is shown with her fur matted with what appears to be excrement. An officer says: "She's in a terrible state."

Another, a Shih-tzu, has matted fur and appears emaciated. Its weakness and reluctance to stand is attributed by a vet to the muscle wasting in its hind legs. The animal was later put down.

An emaciated Yorkshire terrier had a discharge coming from both eyes. Few of its teeth remained, its nails were overgrown and it had a severe skin infection. It, too, had to be put down. Tim Bergin, prosecuting, said: "It is not the prosecution case that she maliciously caused cruelty to the animals in her home; simply that she allowed her obsession to collect animals to overwhelm her.

"She lost complete control to properly care for the animals in her charge. The net result was that the animals were living and surviving in what can only be described as dismal and depressing conditions where their needs were simply not met." He said the animals' poor health was solely the result of Gregson's "obsessional behaviour in collecting a large number of animals".

RSPCA officers, who raided Well Bank Cottage with environmental health officers from Lancashire county council, had never seen such a large number of animals in a single house.

"Not in their wildest dreams did they expect to be confronted with what they saw," said Mr Bergin.

Gregson denies 49 counts of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal in September 2003.

The trial is expected to last 12 days.


RSPCA officers found dogs in cages piled on top of each other

They Really Are Watching You
Ready for your own all-new, sinister ID card, courtesy of Homeland Security?

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, now we've done it.

Congress just passed it and Dubya has promised to sign it and the Homeland Security Department is giddier than Mel Gibson in a nail factory over it and marketers nationwide are salivating at the groin at the prospect of it, and the next big step toward America becoming an even more delightfully paranoid and draconian Big Brother wonderland has now officially been taken.

It's called Real ID. It is, in short, a new and genetically mutated type of driver's license for all Americans, replacing your current license and replacing your Social Security card and replacing your sense of well being and privacy and humanity and part of a new, uniform, deeply sinister, national uniform card system whereby every person living and breathing in these paranoid and tense times shall henceforth be much more traceable and watchable given how we will all soon be required by law to carry this super-deluxe computerized ID card with us at all times, packed as it will be with more personal, digitized info about you than even your mother knows.

Real ID is coming very soon. The legislation was passed with little outcry and zero debate by both House and Senate just last week because lawmakers snuck it into a massive $82 billion military spending bill, and therefore no one was really paying much attention and this is the way you get thorny disturbing culturally demeaning bills to pass without resistance from smart people who should know better.

The new law will, according to the Wired News story linked above, require everyone to hand over not one, not two, but fully four types of documentation to renew their driver's license, such as a photo ID, a birth certificate, proof that their Social Security number is legit and something that validates their home address, like a phone bill. DMV employees will then have to verify the documents against giant teeming federal databases and store the documents and a digital photo of you in a database. Isn't that fun? Doesn't that sound gratifying?

What's more, the card's design plan includes multiple openings for the Homeland Security Department to add on whatever features they deem necessary, with or without your knowledge, consent or who the hell cares what you think because we do what we want now please shut the hell up and quit asking questions.

Computer (RFID) microchip? Likely. Digital fingerprint? Sure. Political affiliation? You bet. Web-site-visit log and religious affiliation and recent sperm count and arrest record and drug addictions and medical history and blood type and gender orientation and parent's/children's home address and number of personal blog posts calling Dr. Phil a "slug-licking ego-bitch charlatan" and your recent purchase history on shotathome.com? One guess.

Make no mistake: Real ID, in short, takes us one happy step closer to a total surveillance state, where everyone is stamped and everyone is watchable and everyone is traceable and unless you live way, way off the grid out in the increasingly nonexistent hinterlands, you cannot escape the spazzy and twitchy and paranoid eye of Homeland Security.

Remember the scenes in that surprisingly not-awful Tom Cruise flick "Minority Report" with the ubiquitous eye scanners, installed all over the near-future city? And as poor Tommy ran around like a maniac, little scanner machines installed by the 'gummint' would read the eye pattern of every citizen as they walked around and the system could track anyone at any time no matter where they might wander and all the info was dumped into a huge database that was studied and cross-checked and manipulated by the CIA and FBI and Banana Republic?

Real ID feels much like that, only not nearly as cool.

Real ID is, as you might expect, giving civil liberties groups and immigrant-support groups the hives. State governors across the nation are none too happy, either, as implementation of the new law will cost each state hundreds of millions of dollars, but, of course, the bill provides zero federal funds to help. Such is the BushCo (or for that matter it could've been KerryCo) way.

This is the funny thing. This is the sad thing. This is the terrifying thing. We have suffered one major debilitating act of terrorism in this nation and we have recoiled so violently, so rabidly, so desperately that we are still more than willing to give up whatever freedoms necessary in a vain and silly attempt to control chaos and plug every hole, when of course the nation is basically one giant hole to begin with.

Of course, any good conspiracy theorist worth his secret underground bootleg Area 51 videos will tell you this sort of citizen-surveillance thing has been going on for years, decades, from spy satellites to GPS to all manner of phone tracking and e-mail snooping and behavior watching and this Real ID thing only takes it a little more public, national, makes it part of the cultural lexicon because we have finally weakened so much we just don't seem to give a damn what they do to us anymore.

Don't think it's all that bad? Think BushCo's flying monkeys in the CIA and FBI and Homeland Security really have your best interests at heart and are genuinely trying to protect you from scary swarthy 'furriners' who want to sneak into our country and poison our Cheerios and paint our flag orange and cover our 'wimmin' in burlap sacks? Have at it. The GOP would love to have you. Oh, and while you're at it, enjoy that tiny grain-of-rice-size bar-coded implant RFID microchip the FDA just approved, which they can permanently slip under your skin in just a few minutes, with nary a peep.

This is what's happening now. With Real ID (and who knows what else), the government is cracking down and creating a new and improved and far more devious and exploitable system to monitor its citizens because, well, because we let them. Because millions of us have been pummeled so successfully by the fear-mongering Right. Because we have never been so lax, so blinded by warmongering and dread, so numbed to what might become of us.

Ah, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is just rampant paranoia talking and it's just a silly piece of harmless legislation and Real ID is overall a genuinely good and useful idea that will ultimately make us safer and more secure. You think?

Because hasn't BushCo proven to be reliable and honest and just reeking with integrity about privacy and security issues so far? Hasn't the USA Patriot Act been just a wondrous boon to police and CIA and our sense that we are trusted and cared for by our government? Aren't we all feeling just so much safer with this most secretive, least accountable administration at the helm?

After all, why not trust the government on this? Why not put our faith in the goodly Homeland Security Department? Maybe Real ID really is patriotic and constructive and it will be a smooth and secure and completely inviolable system, one that protects citizens while giving them a new sense of freedom to move about the country with carefree flag-waving ease, safe in the knowledge that their big, snarling gummint is watching over them like a protective mother bear -- as opposed to, say, a female praying mantis, who greedily screws her lover, and then, of course, eats him alive.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seems We lost. The terrorists won.
Ziggy

---

</blockquote>

Sheriff Baca "We lead by example"







Click on the image for a larger view....

---

THE NEW VERSION OF "THE KEYSTONE COPS" (Most of you younger folks won't know who I'm referring to here. So do a Google.) During the 20's one of our most important authority institutions, the police department, became victim through the antics of Max Sennett's Keystone Cops. Americans universally laughed at the total ineptness of these guardians of law and order. Even today, the name Keystone Cops remains a synonym for confusion.


There are literally Blind People who can shoot better than these Los Angeles area cops:

When 10 Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies opened fire early Monday on an SUV they were chasing, discharged 120 rounds in a frenzied crossfire that injured a deputy and the unarmed suspect while sending bullets into nearby homes, all I can say is, "Wow!". By my calculations, the suspect should’ve ended up as a ragged chunk of hamburger.

But, Alas, he’s fine:

Suspect Hayes was struck four times, in the toe, finger and shoulder. He was listed in stable condition at Torrance Harbor General Hospital on Monday afternoon. People can argue whether cops should fire at fleeing suspects, or debate if the amount of gunfire was excessive. I’ll leave that debate for another day.

Here’s something no one can disagree with: A 3.3% accuracy rate is just un-freakin’-acceptable. Memo to the Boys in Blue/Black: those are the taxpayers’ bullets. Everytime one of them leaves the muzzle, it needs to end up in a bad guy’s 10-ring. I mean, really, four hits out of 120 shots? And two of them barely count since they were in the suspect's digits.

Say, here's an idea, let’s turn these cops loose in a video arcade with a big ol’ sack of quarters, and tell them they can go back to work when they learn how to shoot.

Ziggy

(here's the NEWS article.)
=========================================================================================

2 Hurt in Deputies' Crossfire
At least five Compton homes were left with bullet holes as officers fire 120 rounds at SUV.

By Tonya Alanez and Monte Morin, Times Staff Writers

Ten Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies opened fire early Monday on an SUV they were chasing, discharging 120 rounds in a frenzied crossfire that injured a deputy and the unarmed suspect while sending bullets into nearby homes.

The shooting on a narrow residential street in Compton sent residents diving for cover as bullets zipped over their heads and through their windows. In the aftermath, bullet holes pocked the walls of at least five homes.

Sheriff Lee Baca pledged a full investigation into the incident, which was caught on an amateur's videotape.

"The aspect of shooting in an urban area is problematic and dangerous under all circumstances," Baca said. "There's no such thing as a safe shooting under any conditions."

Internal affairs investigators are trying to determine whether the gunfire was a case of "contagious fire," meaning that some deputies incorrectly believed their colleagues' shots were coming from the suspect, prompting them to open fire.

"There are questions about whether one deputy shooting caused the others to fire," said Michael Gennaco, head of the sheriff's Office of Independent Review.

Residents in the Butler Avenue neighborhood off Alondra Boulevard said the deputies put their lives in jeopardy.

"This is crazy, really, really crazy," said Trina Hays, 42, who dove onto her lawn when the shooting erupted 20 feet away. "They didn't have any concern for anybody's life, including their own. That's why their own police officer got hit…. They could have just sat there and waited it out, but they opened fire."

The incident began shortly after midnight, when deputies responded to a call of gunfire and were told to look for a white SUV.

Winston Hayes, the suspect, had been driving his white Chevrolet Tahoe around the neighborhood for about four hours, playing music from his stereo as neighbors celebrated Mother's Day by lounging on their front lawns.

Hayes grew up in the working-class neighborhood, a stretch of modest bungalows where many families have lived for decades. Residents knew him well, and some joked that he was going to run out of gas if he kept driving around.

When deputies arrived, they tried to talk to Hayes. But he sped off, leading deputies on a chase that circled the block several times at speeds up to 35 mph.

Some residents said they believed he was showing off and teasing the officers.

"I saw him and the police going around and around and around, back and forth like a merry-go-round," said resident Tarae Smith, 41, who went to elementary school with Hayes.

"He'd stop and when it looked like the police were going to get out, he'd take off. He was playing a little cat-and-mouse game with them," added Terry Moore, 48, Smith's sister.

As the chase continued, some residents screamed at the officers not to shoot him.

Deputies eventually threw down a spike strip, hoping that he would run over it and puncture his tires. But the chase came to an abrupt halt before Hayes reached the strip.

Deputies used their patrol cars to block Hayes not far from where the chase began.

With nowhere else to go, Hayes swerved onto Moore's lawn and headed for her home, authorities said. Moore said she was horrified to see the headlights looming in her front window.

"It really spooked me, because when he came up in the grass I thought he was going to come up all the way into the house," Moore said.

At that point, Hayes stopped and backed into the street, toward three officers, authorities said. The officers begin firing, hitting the vehicle repeatedly. In the videotape, a deputy can be heard shouting: "Watch your crossfire! Watch your crossfire!"

Moore, who had run into her home when she saw officers draw their weapons, huddled on the floor of a back room with her daughter, sister and niece. Moore's sister, Smith, said she was scared that Hayes would try to seek refuge in their home.

"I was terrified. We were on top of one another and I was praying and hoping he wouldn't come in here," Smith said.

About 100 yards down the street, resident Pedro Mendez said he had stepped to his bedroom window when he heard the sirens, then saw the gunfire begin.

Two bullets smashed into the window over his head, through his bedroom, a closet door and a back wall before burying themselves in a kitchen cupboard

"The bullets almost grazed my head," Mendez said, adding that glass from the window landed on his scalp. "They passed like one inch above my head."

Mendez yelled to his wife and her 14-year-old daughter to take cover.

Authorities said that the deputies fired at least 120 rounds, and videotape shows them pumping rounds at Hayes' vehicle in two sustained volleys. During the second volley, Hayes' vehicle rolls slowly into a police cruiser as bullets shatter the upper windshield.

Hayes was struck four times, in the toe, finger and shoulder. He was listed in stable condition at Torrance Harbor General Hospital on Monday afternoon.

A deputy, Edward Clark, was struck in the upper part of his protective vest during the crossfire. Clark's injuries were not serious, officials said. A second deputy tripped and fell during the gunfire, and his colleagues may have assumed he had been brought down by gunfire, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.

Baca said deputies can use deadly force when they believe their lives or the lives of bystanders are in jeopardy. He said he would not speak to what was in the minds of deputies but noted they were responding to a call that they believed was "gang-related gunfire."

Authorities said they have no evidence that Hayes was involved in the shooting that brought officers to the area except that he was driving a similar vehicle to one possibly involved in that incident.

Whitmore said that Hayes told deputies after his arrest that he was high on drugs. (The 44-year-old handyman has prior convictions for resisting arrest, battery, public drunkenness and reckless driving, according to court documents.)

Baca said it is difficult to put oneself in the position of officers at the scene.

"It would certainly appear that there may be some control issues, but the reality is that when the shooters are shooting, they're not hearing the other people shooting," the sheriff said. "I think there was this intensity level that was evolving here."

Baca said one issue that investigators will examine is whether the amount of gunfire was excessive.

"We have to ask ourselves why did 10 people shoot their weapons as opposed to five," he said.

The sheriff said he would also consider possible changes to the department's pursuit policy depending on the outcome of the investigation, although he doesn't believe any changes would be needed. The Los Angeles Police Department in recent months has tightened its policy on officers firing at pursuit vehicles after two fatal shootings.

Some residents say it's a miracle that the bullets did not hit bystanders.

Doris Bradford, 73, said her home was one of those hit by the gunfire.

Like many in the neighborhood, she said she was angry at the deputies for unleashing such deadly force in front of her home. As she spoke, a bullet remained embedded in a wall behind her china cabinet.

"The bullet could have come straight through, and if it did, it would have come straight through my bedroom," Bradford said. "They should be more careful when they do stuff like that. They could kill an innocent person."

---

>
> > I guess those metal detectors don't work on cheese steaks, hoagies or
> > burritos.
> >
>
> Well you know in the wrong hands refried beans can be deadly....
>

Just ask Fat B. That is if he ever rejoins us here.

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr XO - L L & P _\\//
USS Vre'kasht NCC-33187
Winders 10 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

> Well you know in the wrong hands refried beans can be deadly....
>

SBD

Silent But Deadly

> I guess those metal detectors don't work on cheese steaks, hoagies or
> burritos.
>

Well you know in the wrong hands refried beans can be deadly....

2 Dollar Bills, Big Burritos...What paranoid lunacy is next. Yeah, we have a problem. Its rampant paranoia!
=============================================================================


School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon
Fri Apr 29, 4:08 PM ET

A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed
officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. All over
a giant burrito.

Someone called authorities Thursday after seeing a boy carrying something long
and wrapped into Marshall Junior High.

The drama ended two hours later when the suspicious item was identified as a
30-inch burrito filled with steak, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and jalapenos and
wrapped inside tin foil and a white T-shirt.

"I didn't know whether to laugh or cry," school Principal Diana Russell said.

State police, Clovis police and the Curry County Sheriff's Department arrived
at the school shortly after 8:30 a.m. They searched the premises and
determined there was no immediate danger.

In the meantime, more than 30 parents, alerted by a radio report, descended on
the school. Visibly shaken, they gathered around in a semi-circle, straining
their necks, awaiting news.

"There needs to be security before the kids walk through the door," said
Heather Black, whose son attends the school.

After the lockdown was lifted but before the burrito was identified as the
culprit, parents pulled 75 students out of school, Russell said.

Russell said the mystery was solved after she brought everyone in the school
together in the auditorium to explain what was going on.

"The kid was sitting there as I'm describing this (report of a student with
a suspicious package) and he's thinking, 'Oh, my gosh, they're talking about
my burrito.'"

Afterward, eighth-grader Michael Morrissey approached her.

"He said, 'I think I'm the person they saw,'" Russell said.

The burrito was part of Morrissey's extra-credit assignment to create
commercial advertising for a product.

"We had to make up a product and it could have been anything. I made up a
restaurant that specialized in oddly large burritos," Morrissey said.

After students heard the description of what police were looking for, he and
his friends began to make the connection. He then took the burrito to the
office.

"The police saw it and everyone just started laughing. It was a laughter of
relief," Morrissey said.

"Oh, and I have a new nickname now. It's Burrito Boy."
==========================================================================

I guess those metal detectors don't work on cheese steaks, hoagies or burritos.

---

I could really care less what they're worth
As I know I will just one at a time give them away
The only silver quarter I care about was found under the keys of an ancient piano I was stuffing into a fireplace a piece at a time long, long ago
A musician has to be pretty cold
To burn a piano- to keep warm
That was one cold ass night...cc

> I always thought Misfit was a female, he's sure a good looking guy (see
> avatar) LOL

If I looked like this I'd be married to a mirror. :)

> I always thought Misfit was a female, he's sure a good looking guy (see
> avatar) LOL
>

Misfit is actually a handsome guy! Or I think so, judged from the pic I've seen, but as the misfit he is, it could be a pic of someone else! [tongue in cheek!]

> >Hope your treatments go well.
> >
> They are (touch wood/knock on wood). Cancer free since Sept 3 2004, Had a
> growth last month that turned out to be benign. Thank GOD. Still required
> surgical removal. I like this house, and hate to see it go.
>

I'm so happy for you! Having family dying from cancer, I've seen what it can do, so it's great that you have recovered! And keep them growths removed, even they're benign!

>
> [edit] So Damn it, someone say "Yes, tony that was dumb" and let's move on.
> [end edit]
>


OK, "Yes, Tony, that was dumb!" and let's move on! ;-)

---

"I'm trying to maintain a shred of dignity in this world." - Me

> Don't take it personally, mmciastro, Misfit was taking a stab at ironic
> humor--pointing out something you may not have intended, with his tongue in
> cheek.

I always thought Misfit was a female, he's sure a good looking guy (see avatar) LOL

>Hope your treatments go well.
>
They are (touch wood/knock on wood). Cancer free since Sept 3 2004, Had a growth last month that turned out to be benign. Thank GOD. Still required surgical removal. I like this house, and hate to see it go.

Thanks for your reply

tony

[edit] So Damn it, someone say "Yes, tony that was dumb" and let's move on. [end edit]

> > Or the "brag if you own multiple houses" thread. :)
> >
> Not much of a brag since I'm up here to get it ready to sell. I HAVE to sell
> it to pay for some of the 8 surgeries I've had last year to get rid of my
> Cancer, and the one course of Radiation treatments. All things being equal,
> I'b rather it be something of a brag, than a necessity.
>
> I kinda thought it was dumb, and I thought I'd share my dumbness.
>
> Have a nice weekend
>
> tony

Don't take it personally, mmciastro, Misfit was taking a stab at ironic humor--pointing out something you may not have intended, with his tongue in cheek. Hope your treatments go well.

You need a third next to Timmy.

> Or the "brag if you own multiple houses" thread. :)
>
Not much of a brag since I'm up here to get it ready to sell. I HAVE to sell it to pay for some of the 8 surgeries I've had last year to get rid of my Cancer, and the one course of Radiation treatments. All things being equal, I'b rather it be something of a brag, than a necessity.

I kinda thought it was dumb, and I thought I'd share my dumbness.

Have a nice weekend

tony

> > I got up, turned the corner to my office, and then realized, "Damn, I'm
> in my
> > Michigan house, All my stuff's in my South Carolina house" Pretty dumb
> huh?
>
> Or the "brag if you own multiple houses" thread. :)
>

OK I have one in North Carolina and an a place in Maryland.

---

I'd rather speak my mind because it hurts too much to bite my tongue.

American Spirit BBQ Proudly Serving those that courageously defend freedom.

> I got up, turned the corner to my office, and then realized, "Damn, I'm in my
> Michigan house, All my stuff's in my South Carolina house" Pretty dumb huh?
>

Dumb, but not so pretty!




Tim

---

> I got up, turned the corner to my office, and then realized, "Damn, I'm in my
> Michigan house, All my stuff's in my South Carolina house" Pretty dumb huh?

Or the "brag if you own multiple houses" thread. :)

The question of this thread is "how dumb can we get". well....I just sat back down. I just did something pretty dumb. I read about Cuseos' silver quarters, and the other posts about $2 bills. I thought "hell, I got a book on US currency in my bookcase." "I'll just get it and give Carl the value of 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1964 silver quarters (64 was the last year they made them)" "I'll also list the years that $2 bills were issued"

I got up, turned the corner to my office, and then realized, "Damn, I'm in my Michigan house, All my stuff's in my South Carolina house" Pretty dumb huh?

> Tending bar in a joint recently and a guy wanted to pay a $16 tab
> With $5 worth of silver quarters
> I paid his bill- kept the silver
> And bought him a drink
> Did I get ripped?
> Maybe -
> But I've still got'em
> Oldest- 1958

Hey Carl,
I would say that you did not get ripped at all. If they are in average condition, they are worth around 3.70 each. If they are in above avererage condition they can be worth upwards of 7 dollars each. If they are in mint condition..the sky's the limit to the right person. I sold average silver half dollars for 32.50 each.

Regards,

Rocky

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www.boincsynergy.com