Our Little Corner Of Chicago Makes The New York Times

A reader noticed that an article in Friday's Chicago edition of the New York Times seems to describe a situation awfully close to home:

"Even in our lovely neighborhood north of Wrigley Field, crime is depressingly unavoidable.  In recent days, there have been two dozen crimes, including at least three shootings, a car theft, a street assault, a narcotics arrest and an act of pet brutality as an owner apparently beat the stuffing out of his dog in full view of a passer-by."

• The article is pretty good -- it quotes an email from the 19th District on "21 Things a Burglar Won’t Tell You," from which we hardened city dwellers actually learned stuff.  If we ever entertained any thoughts of hiring the U-Haul loiterers to help us move, they are now officially gone.

• As far as pet brutality, there's a depressing update from the reader who brought the situation to our attention to start with.  We urge anyone who sees this person abusing his dog to call 911, CPD/Humane Society (800-535-7867) and/or Cook County Dogfighting Task Force (847-635-1188).

"I wrote in on July 8 about the man beating his dog on Malden. I saw him again today. He was walking the dog west on Sunnyside and turned South on Dover. He was wearing a white t-shirt and jeans. Brown hair in a ponytail. I think he is Hispanic (but I couldn't tell for sure). I again saw him being rough with this poor dog and called 911 right away. The dog is white with black and brown markings (medium size).  I am hoping that someone else will see this man and we can figure out what building he lives in so that we can notify the police (or Anti-Cruelty Society) and get that dog out of that abusive situation."

Calling the cops and/or the Humane Society is always the best route.  Let the pros do what they get paid for.