Bear and Rocky Find a Hazard in Their Daily Golf Course Walks

Here’s a tale of old dogs and loyalty.

Carole A. Duntley was walking her dogs the other morning at the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Course.

As a Rancho Santa Fe homeowner since 1979, Duntley has golf course privileges. She also has collie shepherds named Bear and Rocky, each 13 years old.

Duntley and her dogs make a daily ritual of walking the course, mostly in the rough. Bear and Rocky saunter, sans leashes; Duntley carries a scooper.

At about 6:30 on the fateful morning, an Animal Control officer suddenly appeared out of the mist.

Duntley was about to load Rocky into her GMC Suburban for the ride home. Rocky has two fused vertebrae and needs help.

The animal control officer said Duntley was violating the county’s leash ordinance by letting Bear and Rocky run loose. Duntley protested that Bear and Rocky were hardly running at their advanced age.

The animal control officer was not dissuaded. She began to write Duntley a citation and asked for her name, address and age.

Duntley refused: “My age was irrelevant.”

(Public records show that Duntley is of mature years but not old enough for a senior discount at the movies.)

The animal control officer called the Sheriff’s Department to inform the dispatcher that Duntley was being balky, which Duntley interpreted as intimidation.

The animal control officer finished writing the ticket and departed. Duntley was fuming; the emotions of Rocky and Bear are unknown.

Duntley called an attorney and the manager of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn., among others.

By day’s end, higher-ups at Animal Control had voided the leash-law ticket (that usually costs $75), after learning that the association allows homeowners to walk their dogs on the course before daily play begins.

Animal Control Lt. Richard Bernal says the officer was only doing her job. He says ranch residents had been complaining about leash-less dogs.

Besides, he says, there are no exceptions for old dogs:

“It’s like speeding. You don’t get to drive 80 miles per hour just because you’re 90 years old.”

Duntley is still steamed:

“Bear and Rocky weren’t hurting anyone.”

Bonus Talk

The big city.

* San Diego cops who get paid more because they can speak Spanish have to re-qualify every year.

A practical test is preferred to a paper-and-pencil exam.

This year, the Spanish speakers are being sent to the migrant camps near Rancho Bernardo and Rancho Penasquitos to tell migrants about their rights and responsibilities and how to report any crimes they see.

If the migrants can’t understand them, the cops can say bye-bye to their bonus pay.

* Rancho San Diego bumper sticker: “The Weather Is Here/Wish You Were Beautiful.”

* Joan Baez called Gov. Pete Wilson to ask for mercy for Robert Alton Harris. An aide to the governor told her to write a letter instead.

* It had to happen.

Paul Richard, who runs the San Diego-based National Center for Financial Education, made a splash a few years ago with his “Warning: Overuse Can Be Dangerous” stickers for credit cards.

Now he’s back with a new gimmick: the “Credit Card Condom,” a sheath for your plastic. To promote “safe spending.”

* How devoted are Trekkies (or Trekkers, if you prefer)?

Enough so that the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater has been swamped for requests for the life-size cardboard cutout of Captain Kirk that advertises the Laserium show.

Officials figured the only fair way was a drawing: May 10. You need not be in this universe to win.

Decoding the Navy

Inquiring minds.

A question in the Q&A; section of the April edition of NETWORK, a publication of the Naval Supply Center, San Diego:

“Why aren’t there any first line supervisors and workers on the DMRD902, Code 300, TQ Panel?”

Took the question right out of my mouth.

Tony Perry’s column also appears Monday, Wednesday and Sunday. He can be reached at 544-6032.