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One bad dog puts out the whole neighborhood

The post office has stopped delivering to the entire area.

By TOM MARSHALL
Published March 28, 2007

Leah McCray with her pitbull Masa behind her Shore Acres home where she put up a privacy fence to contain her dogs. Poll: Is stopping the mail the right solution?
	[Times photo: Martha Rial]

ADVERTISEMENT The area surrounding the home of the pit bull.

ST. PETERSBURG - Heard the one about the bad dog that got his whole neighborhood on the post office's do-not-deliver list?

It's no joke.

On March 14, U.S. Postal Service branch manager E. Carol Jones told residents in the blocks near the intersection of Mississippi Avenue and Huntington Street NE in Shore Acres that a neighborhood dog "threatened your letter carrier" on at least three occasions.

"This customer has even signed an agreement to restrain their dog, but has not lived up to this agreement," Jones wrote in a letter. "As of now, delivery service to the entire neighborhood has been stopped."

Residents, who were told they had to install a curbside mailbox or rent a post office box until the "dog hazard" was eliminated, are up in arms.

There has been a neighborhood petition to the dog owners, an "answer to the petition," and a rumored threat of poisoned meat if the dog doesn't keep to his yard.

"They let the dog run wild," said neighbor Justin Young. "Now all of a sudden, we don't get mail because you've got a dog you can't lock up?"

Owners of the accused, a 5-year-old pit bull named Masa, say it's a case of mistaken identity.

"Not our dog," said Leah McCray, who said she and her housemate Leissan Brooks have seen plenty of other dogs at large in the neighborhood.

"He's never bitten anyone," said McCray, as Masa and a 4-year-old mutt named Hank jumped up to greet and lick a visiting reporter. "I've raised him since he was a puppy. He sleeps in the bed with me."

But a spokesman said the Postal Service knew all about Masa and had received promises but no action from the dog's owners.

"In one case the door was opened and the dog came charging out after our letter carrier," said media specialist Gary Sawtelle. "Until we're satisfied the dog threat is solved, we're not going to put our carrier on the ground in that neighborhood. We're not going to put him in harm's way."

He said the suspension of door-to-door service was a routine step for the Postal Service when residents repeatedly fail to restrain problem dogs.

In this case, the suspension will continue until Masa is prevented from roaming, he said.

Neighbors say it was a snapping Masa who chased one carrier over a backyard fence earlier this month and prompted another one to swing his mailbag in self-defense last year.

"It was that white pit bull," said Alexa Maney, who recalled the earlier episode - the mailman swinging the bag, letters flying, as Maney fled into her house and a cat raced up a palm tree.

Neighbor Karen Krampitz said she scooped up her two toddlers when the dog "came running into our yard" on March 12, with its owners close behind.

Masa's outlaw reputation, earned or not, is growing fast.

"I'll see a white dog at midnight," said a worried Cindy Thompson. "It killed a cat. It chased a woman down the street into her home."

The dog's owners are upset that no one in the neighborhood came to them with their concerns until the petition arrived. Brooks said she checks their yard for the threatened bad meat every time she lets the dogs out.

They have promised to pay up to $20 to each neighbor who needs help buying a curbside mailbox and help them set it up.

"I want to resolve this," McCray said. "I want to be able to wave at my neighbors again."

Tom Marshall can be reached at tmarshall@sptimes.com or 352 584-5537.

[Last modified March 27, 2007, 23:15:15]