His name is Bosco.
“Bosco is kind of my dad’s life,” Carisa Sexton said Thursday afternoon. “My dad and Bosco go on walks five, six, sometimes 12 times a day. I’m not kidding. That’s what they do. They spend all day together and I think they walk to get out and they walk because it’s good for both of them.”
Schofield and Bosco took a stroll Sunday night and walked into the vortex of this city’s biggest controversy. Bosco was attacked and savaged by a pit bull. A big pit bull. A pit bull, it is said, known to be mean and believed to be mistreated.
This column will tell Schofield’s side of the story. It will tell Prairieland Animal Welfare Center’s side. And the hope is readers don’t take a side.
This isn’t about who is right or wrong. It’s a plea, yet again, to find some way to put the mechanisms in place to take dangerous dogs off the streets. To have some better way of holding dog owners accountable for the actions of their pets.
Ron and Bosco were attacked just before 10:30 p.m. on North Henderson Street, not far from the Taco Bell.
“The dog is big — really big,” Schofield said. “It came right at me. Right at me. And Bosco got between us and the other dog took him down by the throat.”
The 54-year-old said he was knocked to the ground in the melee. Bosco scramble for his life, slipped off his collar and ran into the night.
“I was up all night,” Schofield said. “It was a pretty horrible thing.”
Sexton said she and her dad had visions of Bosco lying in some backyard, slowly dying of his wounds.
Bosco limped home Monday morning and Schofield went to the Prairieland Animal Welfare Center to file a complaint.
This is where the story is infused with emotion. This is where all the controversy over what course animal control will take in this city enters the picture.
Following the tragic killing of Ryan Maxwell by a family friend’s pit bull, many words have been fired at Prairieland. And many allegations have been fired back. A task force charged with evaluating animal control is this city has recommended police take over animal control duties.
Perhaps you’ve chosen a side.
What is very clear about Monday afternoon is Schofield left Prairieland with a ticket for not having Bosco registered. Schofield and Sexton claim he was registered. Prairieland’s animal control officer Chris King said the dog was registered after the ticket was issued.
Schofield admitted he became emotional and belligerent at Prairieland. He said he was exhausted and upset. When his dog became the focus and not the pit bull he did berate King.
King says Schofield verbally attacked him, uttering slurs based on sexual orientation. Schofield and his daughter deny that charge. King has witnesses who heard the slurs.
Schofield was arrested and charged with harassing an animal control officer.
“I understand Mr. Schofield being upset,” King said. “And yes, he has the right to be upset with me. He even has the right to yell at me or question my actions.
“But he didn’t have the right to use slurs against me. He doesn’t have the right to harass me.”
King made it clear that he didn’t ask for Schofield to be arrested for complaining about dog policies. Or for questioning him. King made the request because no one should be slurred.
King said the pit bull’s owner has been issued a ticket for not having the pet registered.
Stepping back from the trees of this incident to view the forest of the larger issue, it is obvious there is little or no authority exercised at the point of dog attacks.
That is not the fault of the Galesburg Police Department. Or Prairieland Animal Welfare Center.
This is an issue of granting some entity — the police or animal control — the ability to remove an animal after an attack. A ticket doesn’t take the animal off the street. It does not remove the animal from the community so the danger to the community can be assessed.
Schofield and Erin Buckmaster from Prairieland both said they think it’s just a matter of time before a child is taken down in the street by a dog. It’s just a matter of time before the ultimate horror is visited upon the parents and relatives of someone small. Someone young. Someone who can’t protect themselves.
So sides don’t really matter. The only thing that does is if we can answer one question:
Have we done everything we can, as a community, to try to prevent dog attacks?
(The Register-Mail - July 12, 2013)
