Jun 30, 2010 Police Report: Pit Bull Bites Elgin Postal Worker

Elgin – Dog bites postal worker: A dog bit a postal worker as she delivered mail in the 400 block of Morgan Street Tuesday, police said. The dog’s owner, Terry A. Contreras-Vonahnen, 49, told police her male pit bull mix, Rosco, charged through her locked screen door after the mail was delivered. She called the dog, which didn’t respond until after biting the woman on the right forearm. Contreras-Vonahnen allowed police to take her dog to be euthanized, reports stated. The dog also had bitten a friend of her daughter earlier this month. 

The Courier-News

The Elginite  Accessed: 2012-05-24. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/67ui9lYgT)

Jun 28, 2010 No Jail in Dogfighting Case, but 3 Must Pay for Dogs' Care

CHICAGO - Three men arrested at a dog fight in 2008 have been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay for the care of the two dogs they pitted against each other, the Cook County Sheriff's office said today.

No Jail time for these fine gents because they had blood money

This case can be said to be a result of the "Vick effect." A precedent was set for the disposition of fighting dogs in the Vick case. Previously, fighting dogs from dogfighting busts, which are bred for fighting, conditioned and trained for fighting and abused in other ways, were humanely euthanized because they were rightly deemed too dangerous or mentally tortured to adopt out to the public. However, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary realized there's money in fighting dogs. Dogfighters, unlike most animal abusers, often have assets from gambling on dogfights, prostitution and drugs.

Michael Vick had a lot of money. So a deal was brokered that reduced his sentence in exchange for a forfeiture of assets for the lifetime care of the fighting dogs. Each Vick dog came with a $18,275 dowry. Best Friends received about $400,000 for the 22 dogs they took. Being a sanctuary, Best Friends can make money grabs for dogs that even the most irresponsible pit bull advocate must admit are far too violent, unstable or mentally broken to be adopted out. They have cages the dogs can live in for the rest of their lives.

Since the the Vick case, the "Vick effect" has been reported a few times. In each case, the dogfighter gets off with zero jail time, shelters walk off with some cash along with the dogs, and often, another ex-fighting dog is placed into a neighborhood with children. And the dogs that are too mentally broken get to spend years in perpetual torment and fear in an above ground coffin.

There are some corrections to the story. Best Friends did not take the dogs, Spirit Animal Sanctuary did. The defendants actually paid $10,872 to the Spirit Animal Sanctuary and $9,000 to CACC in lieu of jail time. Though Ledy VanKavage worked to create policies that kept these fine fellows out of jail, she disingenuously tells supporters that she wishes they had been jailed.

Of course the sane option would be to humanely euthanize the dogs and let these gentlemen have their well-deserved jail time.

Read more:

ChicagoBreakingNews Accessed: 2012-01-03. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/64Qp5ugjs)

Change.org

dogsbite.org
BFAS

Jun 26, 2010 Luciano: Owner is free to get another killer dog

West Peoria – Corky the mutt enjoyed 15 happy-go-lucky years.

But her last few minutes were brutal.

Slowly and painfully, her life was ripped away Monday by a pit bull gnashing at Corky's throat. Corky's owner, Jeremy Kuhn, vainly fought to save his pet, only to watch in horror at the pit bull's relentless attack.

"I'm going to have to live with that the rest of my life," Kuhn says with a slow sadness.

Peoria Journal-Star
Accessed: 2012-01-19. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/64oRONiPN)

Jun 13, 2010 Pit Bull Attacks Child in Father's Arms

JOLIET -- A 3-year-old boy was attacked Thursday night by a pit bull dog, Joliet police said.The child was with his father and in the yard of 1008 Helen Ave., Joliet police said. The black dog wearing a red collar bit the boy on the thigh while his father was holding him, police said.

The Herald News Police Blotter

Jun 09, 2010 Centralia Police Officer Attacked by Pit Bull

Centralia – A Centralia Police officer was attacked and bitten by a pit bull dog Tuesday night when trying to gain entry to a home to make an arrest in a domestic battery case. Officer Billy White was able to draw his service revolver and shoot and kill the pit bull. 

WJBD

Accessed: 2012-01-03. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/64QoXNR9N)

Jun 08, 2010 Luciano: Neighbors Dogged by Daily Fears

Peoria – Neighbors Bob Buchanan and Kristen Michaud say they live in fear for the same reason: pit bulls.

But they differ in their opinions about them.

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"Common sense would say that if I'm gonna mow (the grass), I'm gonna knock next door and say, 'I'll be out here,' " Michaud says.

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"I'm so tired of this man telling people I have a vicious dog," she says. "I feel harassed."

Meanwhile, Buchanan can't believe Michaud is allowed to keep the remaining pit bull. He thinks that if you are an irresponsible pet owner, you should not be allowed to keep animals.

by: Phil Luciano

Read more:

Peoria Journal Star  Accessed: 2012-01-03. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/64QoLE4Fr)

Jun 06, 2010 Elgin mayor fights off pit bull attack

Elgin - Mayor Schock, who initially supported a pit bull ban, but was scared off  by paid lobbyists from Utah, gets attacked by pit bulls days after a law that fails to address the Elgin pit bull problem was passed.

Elgin Mayor Ed Schock fought off a pair of pit bulls he said tried to attack him and his German shepherd Thursday night.

The incident marks the second time in as many months that a pair of pit bulls have attacked an Elgin resident.

Read More:
Daily Herald  Accessed: 2011-12-16. (Archived by WebCite^® at http://www.webcitation.org/63z0WlIdy)