Dogs, Cats, and Snockered Jurors

In times past, this column has had fun reporting on the "The Big Apple," New York City, because it is a place so different than our average town in Montana. For starters, about eight times more people live on that relatively small section of real estate, than occupy the vast 145,000 square miles of our state.

One column here made jokes about the existence of New York's canine restaurants which cater to folks who like to dine out with their dogs. Two months ago a new magazine was published there featuring a dog psychology department, dog horoscopes and obituaries, along with articles on such topics as plastic surgery for ugly dogs, etc. According to my source in Chuck Shepard's "Weird News," this magazine, "New York Dog," averages 96 pages. It says there are an estimated 20 million canines in New York. Think about that before you take a walk in the park.

This week I read of the opening of the "Meow Mix Cafe," allowing owners to dine with their kitties and even eat similar dishes such as "Deep Sea Delight" for the cat and tuna rolls for humans. Dogs are not allowed. The story doesn't say what kind of restrooms are in the restaurant. To be an authentic cat cafe, you'd think the owners would have to use kitty litter boxes. Maybe someone from here going back to New York could check that out, and let us know.

As long as I'm stealing stuff from Chuck Shepard's columns, I can't resist throwing in a few more recent reports. In New York City, a State Supreme Court justice ruled that a criminal conviction could not be overturned just because one of the jurors was drunk while his group was deliberating. Jurors reported one of their members was steadily sipping on a water bottle which contained vodka, and he was "inappropriately forthcoming with opinions and directions." Without getting into full details, they implied "he was snockered to the gills." The judge ruled that boozing during deliberations was not illegal or grounds for appeal, because New York has no law against jurors drinking.

This Monday I went to the local District Judges' Law Library and read Montana law regarding "grounds for retrial." Guess what? Same as New York; however, it is my considered opinion that anyone who boozed it up while serving on a jury here in Flathead County might find it a very sobering experience.

You baseball fans have probably noticed there is a section of Wrigley Field in Chicago where you can see a row of buildings along the street next to the playing area. There are always people up there during the Cubs games. I had thought they were just lucky folks who were watching pro ball for free. Shepard says NOT! "Owners of those buildings . . . earned more than $15 million this year by charging people to watch from the roofs."

Remember earlier this month here in the Flathead when a young man was shot in the chest three times by two other guys who followed the victim and his wife out airport road after they all left a Kalispell bar? The day after that I saw the alleged shooter down at the sheriff's office and his left hand was heavily bandaged. The officers said that he had been shot during some kind of scuffle. As of Sunday, Nov. 7 there had been no arrest in this case. Officers are still investigating who started what over what, but they say this was not a random fight between strangers.

Law enforcement operates on taxpayer money and over the course of a year medical expenses for treating criminals can run into mighty big figures.

Please understand! I am absolutely not implying anything. I have no inside information, and I'd be the last person in the world to second guess the lawmen . . . but we citizens can honestly hope the detectives do not find enough evidence to arrest the shootor or the shootee until they are no longer running up big medical bills.

KOFI's new morning man has vast experience in broadcasting all over the west and has made changes in our format. One thing John has done is produce exhilarating musical entries to my news, extolling my years in the news business and my understanding of state and local issues. Last Wednesday as we neared the time for my important 7 a.m.. newscast. John got the listeners ready by announcing, "George Ostrom will tell you everything he knows in one minute."

G. George Ostrom is the news director for KOFI Radio and a Flathead Publishing Group columnist.