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Dog bites man; did man bite first?
By THOMAS LAKE
Published January 4, 2007
SHADY HILLS - Gerald Smith loves dogs. Gerald Smith wears dentures. Gerald Smith has been known to show dogs his love by nipping them on the nose. You can see where this is going. On Monday, a very large dog bit Smith, sending him to the emergency room for stitches. He denied biting the dog first. But his daughter told authorities she had evidence to the contrary. Smith is 77. He lives with his daughter, Lisa Leto, her husband, Jim, and more than one dog, including a male English mastiff, according to a sheriff's incident report. He was playing with the mastiff on New Year's Day when it lunged at him and lacerated his lower lip. Before Leto took Smith to the hospital, she said she noticed something strange on the bridge of the mastiff's nose: apparent tooth marks. Leto told a deputy that her father had been previously spotted biting dogs' noses. He never tried to hurt the dogs, she said, but maybe this time he did. By accident. Because the dentures would make it hard to judge the pressure. No, Smith said, insisting he didn't bite. It was only a kiss. Thomas Lake can be reached at tlake@sptimes.com or 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245.
[Last modified January 3, 2007, 21:20:57]
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by Kel
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01/04/07 11:06 AM
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hmm if the man was a pit he'd be quarantined.
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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