Comments on: WTOL Editorial: Tom Skeldon deserves to keep his job

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:14:24 +0000

Thanks for the background information micki. This city is interesting…Fritz Byer is quite the back room operator for the daily and their evil vendettas. Fritz, Jerry and Ben have sold their souls to the devil and there is a special place in hell for all of them. I for one will rejoice when they are well on their way down there. God doesn’t like ugly.

By: selwyn marock

selwyn marock — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:44:16 +0000

Good News Tom Skeldon is gone and all the poor animals that are alive are now safe from this Monster,and thousands of dogs(family pets) and puppies that he murdered also safe from him,where he is going one day advise him not to bother with taking a heater or any other warm clothing with him,it will be hot enough.Good Riddance.

smarock10@yahoo.com

By: micki

micki — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:22:34 +0000

Mike, Esplin’s attorney is Fritz Byers, The Blade’s lawyer. Esplin loves publicity, and is always on tv or in The Blade for free advertising. Either Byers called The Blade to get his buddy free publicity, or vice versa. Either way, Esplin jumped the gun by promoting a reckless proposal to stop paying for dog tags. He didn’t expect to get the flack he got the following day. Now he says his proposal was “a knee jerk reaction.” For Esplin to urge the public to stop paying for dog tags to get back at the commissioners and Skeldon was truly reckless since it would have only increased the number of unlicensed dogs being euthanized if they were picked up by the warden and their owners didn’t claim them within three days. The guy should be ashamed of himself for urging such a stupid thing.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:17:03 +0000

And btw, Dr. Bob Esplin recanted his suggestion on 13ABC news last night. Without the Blah putting words in his mouth he is no longer suggesting dog owners should stop paying for dog licenses in protest of Skeldon. Perhaps he has realized he’s been had and used in his professional standing?

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:00:14 +0000

I don’t recall the advisory committee stating Skeldon must “shape up” Sujay. And I didn’t waste my time looking for it. If it’s a quote used by any of committee members please reference it.

In today’s hit and run report the daily tells the story of Mr. Good and his dog Annie. Instead of taking Annie to the Humane Society he takes poor Annie to the pound knowing and stating he knew his dog “could be put down once he surrendered her”.

Mr. Good realized he didn’t have enough time himself to properly care for the animal and allowed the poor dog to develop health issues, it walked with a limp due to a lame hip and had hair loss on her rear and skin rashes. Nice guy.

He dumps the poor sick dog at the pound and he thought what?? They were going to call in a specialist and have a party for Annie?? Or maybe he thought potential owners would be lining up to take her home??? Whatever helps you sleep at night, Mr. Good.

I guess eight days of the poor dog suffering with all those ailments wasn’t enough for Konop or the daily rag.

And this is the fault of the dog warden…

The more they report, the more they prove Skeldon’s difficult position with all the Mr. Good’s who can’t or won’t provide good, healthy environments for their animals. What else is Mr. Skeldon to do with all those sick and dangerous animals????

And Benny boy, get yourself down to the pound and adopt a dog or six or ten, you’ve obviously got a lot of time on your hands these days!

By: LisaRenee

LisaRenee — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:42:17 +0000

We could debate off base comparisons versus off base comparisons and then re-hash the points we have already made to each other on this issue, Sujay.

Or? Leave it as is. The circular discussions are getting tiresome.

By: Sujay

Sujay — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:44:22 +0000

Your police officer analogy is off base. Individual police officers have no broad policy discretion to do more than is required. The dog warden, like any office holder, however, does have this discretion. That is why a police chief who does not use, say, community policing strategies, should probably be fired, even though those strategies are specifically outlined in his statutory duties. Another example: state attorney generals have statutorily set minimum duties. But since they run the show, they are free to go above and beyond those duties. This is why, for example, one would hire the pre-prostitution Eliot Spitzer (who broke all kinds of ground getting settlements from large Wall Street schemers). And it is why one would fire someone like Betty Montgomery (who, for example, instead of being the first state AG to sign the tobacco settlement, was the 40th, thus costing Ohio millions in settlement dollars) .

And, yes, the Commissioners, as Skeldon’s boss, can heighten his duties. The RC section on dog wardens provides only a floor of what he must do; it is silent on what additional duties the Commissioners may place on him. You continue to look at this from completely the wrong angle.

By: LisaRenee

LisaRenee — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:51:01 +0000

The Commissioners did not change his duties, hence? He did the job the way they required and according to the ORC…

By: Sujay

Sujay — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:48:23 +0000

Lisa’s analogy about Skeldon’s doing the bare minimum (#20): “It’d be like you blaming police officers for not helping the elderly across the street, it’d be nice if they did, but they aren’t required to.”

Guess what? The Commmissioners, as is their prerogative, are about to require Skeldon to do more tahn the bare statutory minimum. And it’s about freakin’ time. And like WTOL says, give him a chance to lve up to these new standards. If he can do it, fine. But if he can’t, …

By: Sujay

Sujay — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:43:10 +0000

Mike (#21) – No, it’s not my estimation that Skeldon needs to shape up. It’s the unanimous “estimation” of the advisory committee, duly appointed by the county commissioners – you know, the people who sign Skeldon’s paycheck. And the committee, far from beign stacked with a bunch of inner-city pit bull trainers, consists of, among others, a police officer, a land developer, and lawyer Dale Emch, whose letter defending Skeldon to the hilt was printed in the Blade several months ago. Even these guys voted for the list of recommendations presented to the commissioners.