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LORAIN, OHIO---He took dead rodents over to show his crotchety neighbor, frequently crossed into his neighbor's yard without permission and went to the bathroom in his neighbor's garden.
His neighbor reported him to police.
Mr. Paws was only doing what a lot of cats do.
But his neighbor, Kenneth Zapolski called the police wanted the trespasser collared and locked up.
Literally.
Mr. Paws, a gray tabby cat, and his fellow housemate, Pooky, are now confined in a wireless fence in their yard and Mr. Paws' owner, Suzanne Tansey of Lorain has been arrested for allowing her cat to run at large.
Zapolski, a Lorain police officer, apparently used the power of his position to have Tansey arrested for an obscure law on the books, a provision of the city ordinance which prohibits all animals, including cats, from running "at large upon any public place or upon the premises of another".
Tansey's arrest appears to be a case of selective enforcement at the behest of a police officer neighbor as there are apparently no other such arrests of a cat owner on record.
Zapolski videotaped Mr. Paws in his yard. The police report says that he had previously caught Mr. Paws in a trap on his property and that he had warned Tansey that it was against the law to allow cats to roam without supervision.
Tansey reported told police when interviewed that she saw no problem in allowing the cat to come and go as it pleased. She said she thought the police department had better ways to spend its time.
She pleaded not guilty in Lorain Municipal Court and if found guilty after trial, faces a fine of up to $150.
According to Tansey, the cats spend about 80% of their time indoors and are confined to the house during the day when she's at work. 9-22-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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