[nagdu] Social Security guard faces arrest in fracas over guide dog

Thu Sep 22 01:21:58 UTC 2011

Well, folks are sure uneducated Tami!  Watch any guide dog team for only a 
minute and you know what job the dog is doing!  For this man to be that 
uneducated and also that aggressive is just unacceptable!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tami Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 2:41 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Social Security guard faces arrest in fracas over guide 
dog


> Marion and Larry,
>
> Okay, I'll admit, when I think there even might be an overdrawn
> challenge, a small and absurd part of my imagination does turn my small
> poodle guide in to a ginormous guard poodle...  with a taste for bully
> flesh! This somehow helps what I like to call my mind deal with the
> emotional responses to the challenge and my awareness of my
> vulnerability if this is the person who's going to go too far... While
> the rational and social parts of my mind are just communicating and
> educating like there is no tomorrow! /lol/ Knowing that the possibility
> exists that this will be the one I can't just talk my way through is
> very motivating for me. The fact that it is happening at all is
> absolutely infuriating, so... That overactive imagination of mine just
> hangs out in the background throwing big aggressive poodles at the
> person, generally while I am performing some pretty amazingly effective
> ninja moves of my own! /lol/ I shouldn't admit to that, should I? All
> the graciousness and courtesy I may appear to be using at the time as if
> I am just that kin of girl is nothing but facade, I assure you. So it's
> probably a good thing I was born into a middling sized female body
> instead of a big strong manly won.
> I'd get myself into trouble every time I turned around!
>
> Just kidding. If I were truly the sort to use strength and violence for
> conflict resolution with something I'm really mad at, my small poodle
> would not be the calm, happy personality and guide she is. She would be
> a neurotic, snotty poodle who would throw me under the bus the first
> chance she got, I'm sure. /smile/ Owner-training, I discovered, is very
> good practice for staying calm and cool when your scared and angry to
> within an inch of your life. Well, we all know that even the best of
> working guides can inspire that special feeling every now and then. I'm
> sure this is good for us in a deeper spiritual sense. /grin/
>
> Tami
>
> On Wed, 2011-09-21 at 10:47 -0400, Marion Gwizdala wrote:
>> Larry,
>>     Unfortunately, this power-hungry control freak had a gun! What would 
>> he
>> have done with it if the dog had attacked him?
>>
>> Fraternally yours,
>> Marion
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Larry D. Keeler" <lkeeler at comcast.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 10:36 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Social Security guard faces arrest in fracas over 
>> guide
>> dog
>>
>>
>> > Like I told the other list, its a shame are dogs don't bite!  That's 
>> > just
>> > nuts!
>> > ----- Original Message ----- 
>> > From: "Ginger Kutsch" <GingerKutsch at yahoo.com>
>> > To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> > <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> > Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:53 AM
>> > Subject: [nagdu] Social Security guard faces arrest in fracas over 
>> > guide
>> > dog
>> >
>> >
>> >> Social Security guard faces arrest in fracas over guide dog
>> >>
>> >> By David Ibata
>> >>
>> >> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
>> >>
>> >> http://www.ajc.com/news/social-security-guard-faces-1185244.html
>> >>
>> >> Melissa McMann, who is visually impaired, recalls minor incidents in
>> >> which
>> >> people challenged her about her guide dog, but nothing like what 
>> >> happened
>> >> last week with a security guard at a Social Security Administration
>> >> office
>> >> in Winder.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Usually, once we educate people and explain the purpose of the dog,
>> >> that's
>> >> all it takes to get people to understand why the dog is there and he's
>> >> not
>> >> just a regular, run-of-the-mill dog," the Winder resident said of 
>> >> Hurbie,
>> >> her 5-year-old yellow Labrador.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "We have never run into an incident like this where it escalated so
>> >> quickly," she said in a telephone interview with the AJC. "My arm is
>> >> still
>> >> bruised, and I still have pain to my shoulder, but otherwise I'm doing
>> >> OK."
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The guard, Leroy Huff, faces a charge of simple battery after he
>> >> allegedly
>> >> grabbed the 38-year-old McMann and tried to remove her from the 
>> >> office.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The Athens man told Channel 2 Action News on Tuesday that he was aware 
>> >> a
>> >> warrant was pending for his arrest and would turn himself in. He said 
>> >> he
>> >> was
>> >> following orders and his training, but did not want to comment further
>> >> because of the continuing investigation.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Efforts were being made to reach a spokesman for Huff's employer, 
>> >> Paragon
>> >> Security Services. Paragon provides contract security to the Federal
>> >> Protective Service of the Department of Homeland Security.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Patti Patterson, regional spokeswoman for the Social Security
>> >> Administration, told Channel 2 in an email, "Service animals are 
>> >> allowed
>> >> in
>> >> Social Security field offices. We have apologized to Ms. McMann for 
>> >> the
>> >> unfortunate incident that occurred with the contract security guard in
>> >> our
>> >> Winder field office."
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The matter has been referred to the Federal Protective Service "for
>> >> appropriate action," Patterson said.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The incident began Thursday afternoon when McMann and her husband,
>> >> Christopher, went to the Social Security office at 37 S. Center St. to
>> >> complete some paperwork for their youngest daughter, who they adopted
>> >> from
>> >> Thailand.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> According to a Winder Police Department report, as the couple was 
>> >> seated
>> >> waiting to be called, Huff, an armed security guard, came up and told
>> >> them
>> >> dogs were not allowed in the facility.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> When the couple explained that the Labrador was a service dog and 
>> >> legally
>> >> allowed to there, the officer demanded to see papers to prove it - 
>> >> even
>> >> though the dog had a guide harness and a sign attached to the harness
>> >> stating it was "a working dog for the blind," the police report said.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The McManns said they did not have such paperwork and continued to
>> >> protest
>> >> that the dog was a permitted animal. At this point, the police report
>> >> says,
>> >> Huff "proceeded to grab (the woman) and attempted to forcefully remove
>> >> her
>> >> from the building." The husband objected and called the police on his
>> >> cell
>> >> phone.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Huff told a Winder police officer that the woman had failed to obey 
>> >> him.
>> >> He
>> >> admitted she had not tried to resist him physically. When asked why he
>> >> did
>> >> not call the police, "Huff informed me that he did not have to call 
>> >> the
>> >> police. He told me he was a federal officer and was not required to
>> >> involve
>> >> the police," the officer wrote in his report.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The officer contacted Paragon, which referred him to the Federal
>> >> Protective
>> >> Service. An official there said Huff was not a federal officer and in
>> >> this
>> >> situation should have called Winder police, his supervisor or the 
>> >> federal
>> >> agency.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> The McManns, meanwhile, went to their primary care physician and then 
>> >> to
>> >> a
>> >> hospital emergency room, where a doctor treated her for a bruised 
>> >> right
>> >> arm
>> >> and determined her shoulder may have been dislocated, police said.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Melissa McMann said she has retinitis pigmentosa or RP, a condition 
>> >> that
>> >> has
>> >> left her with little functional sight. Hurbie is her second service 
>> >> dog;
>> >> she's had the animals for 10 years. They're trained by the 
>> >> Florida-based
>> >> Southeastern Guide Dogs.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "It was something we were not expecting, especially in a federal
>> >> building,"
>> >> she said. "It was a frightening incident, and obviously we feel (Huff)
>> >> went
>> >> too far.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "All that we're looking for at this point is for the security company
>> >> that
>> >> has the contract with Social Security to understand the importance of
>> >> educating all of the people that work for them as to the laws 
>> >> regarding
>> >> service dogs and also with regard to not placing their hands on 
>> >> people -
>> >> you
>> >> just can't go placing your hands on people."
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> _______________________________________________
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