In the Dog House
On Monday, police removed the belongings of Lawrence Rhone from 458 Fulton Street. Rhone had intentions to purchase the house from John Nugent, who lives across the street from the house in question.
Rhone was living in the house with his family of 7 and 14 rottweilers according to city chief inspector, Lou Petrucci. The house, according to both Nugent and Petrucci, was without plumbing or electricity, in addition to having large holes in the ceiling. Additionally, Nugent is two years behind on property tax payments for 458.
"My daughter was living there until a couple of years ago," Nugent said. "It got to the point where I couldn't keep up with it, and then the kids came through the woods back there and stripped it. It's got no sinks, tubs, toilets. We run a hose over there."
Nugent with two generations of his family and a recently abandoned house in the background.
Nugent comes from California and said he works locally in a coal mine. "I did my own electricity and plumbing back in California, and I could do it here but I'd have to have a license and a permit to work on my own property. Don't that seem funny?" he asked. "Anyway, I didn't have the time or the money, and I couldn't keep up with the vandals, so Rhone was going to take it over for a dollar. The city put it up for auction already, but it didn't go, so my back taxes keep building up." Nugent said he believes the back taxes are less than $10,000.
"This house next to me? The people just abandoned it, so the kids go in there now. I don't let my kids and grandkids out. There was a house down the street they did that to, but then they burned it," Nugent said. This is one of those fringe streets of a few owner-occupied homes that are kept up, mingled with abandoned houses and empty lots where houses have been demolished or burned to the ground by vandals.
Rhone has taken his belongings and gone God knows where in the meantime. According to Petrucci, "We had to take him out of there. It's a decision that the police officers made based on a warrant of habitability."
Petrucci shared that Rhone alleged that used to work for NFL Europe (which is where three of his 14 rottweilers came from) has a son in St. John Fisher College, and was more than willing to stay and rehabilitate the house. "I told him that I can show him houses that at least have plumbing that he could move into. And if he wants to keep the dogs, he'll have to move into an area that is zoned commercially for a kennel."
In addition, Petrucci put Rhone in touch with two agencies (The Office of Strategic Planning and the Homefront, Inc.) that, depending on his income, age and target area, could help him find and secure a home.
The more immediate issue seems to lie in the lot of the dogs. In the pound at present, they could be euthanized as early as tomorrow if not adopted. "I sure hope this resolves," Petrucci said.
Nugent said he had a co-worker at the mine ready to take a dog,"But the wife said no. She don't know what's going to happen. Those are her babies."
Bill Vivian, dog control officer for the City of Buffalo said that these are not fighting dogs, adding, "But they're not trained either. They may be trained to the family, but they're not socialized animals."
Director of Animal Control Kelly McCartney agreed, saying that she hopes the dog rescue groups that are coming to see the animals tonight will have a good feel for whether or not these dogs are even adoptable. "The dogs are usually kept 72 hours, and we're crowded here. 14 rotties are a lot of dogs. I'd have a hard time adopting them out before the rescue groups assess them." Both Vivian and McCartney said that they don't want to see the dogs put down and that they hope someone will be able to take care of them in the long run.
"No one wants to put a dog down," Vivian said. "That gets real old, real fast. But you can't have them living in those conditions either. There was no water and there were orange electrical cords running all over."
Vivian also said, "The youngest dogs were three years old, and he said he hadn't gotten around to training them yet. I wondered what he'd been waiting for." Adding that the dogs have no licenses and no shots, Vivian said that Rhone claimed he was a dog trainer. "He showed me a passport when I asked for his license and he gave me a card saying that he was a branch manager for a life insurance company. He also said he was in the army and with NFL Europe."
McCartney is doing her best to contact agencies to find out where Mr. Rhone is and whether the city has been able to help him. If Rhone doesn't surface on his own soon, these are questions we may never have answers to. For Vivian and McCartney, it's a matter of what to do with the dogs that have been left behind.
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Einstein
We have coal mines in Buffalo?
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NSphere
Its a shame people are living like that. Everyone goes through hard times, but they clearly should not be owning multiple properties. They cannot pay taxes or keep up on maintenance (let alone be mindful of local laws and zoning regulations) and should be living within their means.
I don't understand how he can say: "I could do it here but I'd have to have a license and a permit to work on my own property. Don't that seem funny?" I don't think its funny at all. Some of us are more handy than others, but the reason for permits for our work is so that some joe shmo doesn't try to wire their house not knowing what they're doing and burn it down. If he knows what he's doing he should get licensed and get a permit and go to town. He can also use that to do work for others and earn some more money to pay off his taxes...
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RaChaCha
A hat tip to GDC for posting a comment about this situation to the Wilson Farms article. After seeing that, I gathered some information about the location of the house, etc. for BRO in case there was interest in following up. After BRO made some inquiries with the City, it was clear that there must be more to this than met the eye - literally - in the story by Channel 7, here: http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/26015049.html (video and transcript)
In light of Elena's fact-packed and solidly written story, the superficial and lightweight "journalism" practiced by Channel 7 in their coverage is disappointing, to say the least. They filmed, got some quotes, and some information that they obviously didn't check (because some of it turned out to be wrong), then went back to the studios and produced an account of the situation that was simplified and sensationalized (to be charitable). And I can find no evidence that they did any followup, either. Can you say "driveby journalism?"
Hats off to Elena and BRO for caring enough about this situation - and about our desire to be accurately informed - to invest the time and effort to track down the real story, and tell it so solidly.
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bfloghost
Now this is investigative journalism at its finest. Can you look into the rumors of corruption within city gov't?
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bfloghost
Now this is investigative journalism at its finest. Can you look into the rumors of corruption within city gov't?
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comptart_lws
I think my sister knows of a Rottie rescue organization. I will send her an email but, the pet owner may want to look into that on their own, too.
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heathersmiles
I am missing something here. Let me see if I have this right.. a man, his extended family of 7 people and 14 dogs live in a house that has no running water or plumbing fixtures, has no dedicated power despite the intact meters on the back of the house, and few windows or doors. He wants to buy the house for one dollar from the guy across the street who cannot afford to pay less than $10,000 in back taxes. At some point the city had possession of the house due to the tax lien, but then he regained possession to sell it to the guy with 7 relatives and 14 dogs, who would have to pay the remaining taxes from his NFL Europe money. That guy couldn't come up with the dollar for the house so the original guy is left holding it while the other guy lives in it.
WTF? What were the 7 humans using for sanitary facilities? Is there an outhouse? Where were the dogs living? How could a guy who can't afford a dollar to buy a house afford to raise 14 dogs that cost between $800 - $2500 a piece? What was he feeding them? So let's see $800 * 14 equals, (carry the two, add the one, move the decimal) $11,200 on the light end and $35,000 on the other extreme. He abandons the dogs and family and disappears. Leaving the original owner, who moved here from California to mine coal, without a buyer for the house.
It sounds to me like someone took a wrong turn at Appalachia and wound up in a situation that would make Jerry Springer dizzy. I really hope this doesn't make national news!
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blackrocklifer
This story is not unique, all over America people are living in conditions like this. Good thing we broke the unions, cut taxes for the richest, tilted the distribution of wealth to record disparity and safely contained all the social ills in the city. Otherwise middle and upper class citizens might have to look at such a spectacle.
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ECB
Heather, whoa, whoa, whoa...as our art director Nick Barone says. I'm pretty sure the family is together, but the dogs were taken (not exactly abandoned) to the pound. (Which might be a trifle nicer for the whole family considering the existence of electricity and water).
The dollar and a dream deal, including back taxes, has no business being made in a backyard. Once a house is in arrears, my understanding is that the sale has to be approved by the city. We don't know if Rhone has the means and just really liked the house, but word is that this is at least a $50K fixer-upper.
This entire story is curious indeed, but as recent as a year ago, Nugent was hoping that the house would go in auction so the taxes would be out of his hands. This is a story that plays over and over in a city where the aging housing stock outweighs the city's dwindling population. And the longer a house sits without selling at auction, the more it costs when and if it's purchased. Hence, the longer a house like this goes unattended to and unpaid for (tax-wise), the more expensive and less desirable it becomes. And that's why so much is spent on demolition, leaving gaping holes in once vibrant communities.
It's also why community advocates everywhere are calling for seizure and mothballing of viable housing stock in foreclosure--before it's too late.
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heathersmiles
ECB - What good would mothballing a structure do if vandals are going to tear it apart? I am still curious about the sanitary facilities, there aren't a lot of public facilities around that area unless they are heading to the housing authority properties or one of the local bars. Where is the family staying?
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blackrocklifer
ECB- right on, I saw vacant homes in Chicago that were SECURED, it can be done. We need to assess all of our vacant buildings and secure those that are worth renovating. Presently we are demolishing some of the best homes in Buffalo along with the worst.
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joey
We have coal mines in Buffalo?
OH YA..Didn't ya know...basement of City hall..that's where they send those people that piss off Mayor Casey!!!
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heathersmiles
Blackrock - You need to turn off CNN for awhile, it is really distorting your view of the real world. It isn't as bad as you make it out to be. The city is not the victim of a wild political conspiracy to keep the people down while the rich bask in their wealth. Unions are still very much alive and well; however membership continues to decline in almost all sectors, not because of the "companies busting the unions". You should look beyond the range of wealth (richest to poorest) and look at the GDP, even if you break it into fifths you will see that net worth of the middle class is still among the highest in the world. Visit most lower and middle class households in America and you will find luxuries that are reserved for the wealthy in the rest of the world. Poor is poor no matter where you go, but compare the poor in Buffalo to the poor in other countries (India, China, most African nations, Eastern Europe, etc). You should probably get out of Black Rock for awhile and see the world.
I can understand your perspective if you are comparing the wealth of a west side neighborhood to Spaulding Lake or Martha's Vineyard in Clarence; but this is not the real world. You talk about your kids graduating from Ivy League schools, why was this so important to you? Why is this the mark of success? Do you want them to graduate with an Ivy League education and earn the same as everyone else in America? Do you want them to take union jobs on an assembly line with their fine credentials? I would really hope that you instilled values and ethics beyond what is common of others for your area, you sacrificed to send your kids to great schools, with the hopes that they would be wealthier than their peers. This is the American dream after all, work hard to be better off than those around you and those before you, this is pretty much the antitheses of what Unions stand for.
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GDC
Well, Ch. 7 news never mentioned how many people were living in this home, including the animals. Would have been a totally different story. And where do we have Coal Mines?
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benfranklin
Channel 7 will put anything on the air. They ran a story about me once, and said during the report that after repeated attempts, I had failed to contact them. They had left one message on my parent's answering machine, at five minutes to six, and ran the story at six.
While I won a small victory in court, related to what they aired, it nearly forced me to leave the area. People believe what they see on tv, and think the local news is researched. It's not.
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blackrocklifer
Heather- Political forces have been working against cities for generations. Suburbs have used restrictive zoning and car dependant planning to contain the "undesirables" in the city. Suburban IDAs have used tax dollars to pirate business from Buffalo. Subsidized mortgages that mainly benefit upper income households and highways jammed through the middle of stable neighborhoods contributed greatly to the decline of the city. As for the poor, I have watched the redistribution of wealth upwards in the last 25 years and seen our society deteriorate as a result. On education- Its not about being wealthy but making a difference and following your passion. These values don't mesh with your materialistic view of "success" but fortunately the ivy league grads from our little corner understand this and have a better sense of reality and are that much more humble and compassionate from their experience.
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PaulBuffalo
Heathersmiles, you said that: 'This is the American dream after all, work hard to be better off than those around you....' No, the American dream is not about trying to be better off than your neighbor. It's about reaching your own ability, not competing with the Joneses.
In 1931, James Truslow Adams wrote 'The Epic of America' and coined the phrase 'American Dream'. The dream is "... that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."
I don't know what homes you've visited, but I've travelled extensively and I've seen poor. Just because someone in this country may have a television and a telephone does not mean that they're living the high life. I've known people in Buffalo who rely on food stamps, who trek to food kitchens and who could afford little for their children. If you look at recent Unicef statistics listing the percentage of children in poverty, the United States has nothing to boast.
Mexico: 26.2%; United States: 22.4%; Italy: 20.5%; United Kingdom: 19.8%; Turkey: 19.7%; Ireland: 16.8%; Canada: 15.5%; Poland: 15.4%; Australia: 12.6%; Greece: 12.3%; Spain: 12.3%; Japan: 12.2%; Germany: 10.7%; Hungary: 10.3%; France: 7.9%; Netherlands: 7.7%; Czech Republic: 5.9%; Denmark: 5.1%; Luxembourg: 4.5%; Belgium: 4.4%; Finland: 4.3%; Norway: 3.9%; Sweden: 2.6%.
Our middle class is shrinking, economic expansion was funded on an almost $10 trillion debt, over 47 million people have no health insurance, and people are losing jobs. And you think Blackrocklifer has a distorted view?
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hilaritee
this article is so badly written that it really undermines the content here. i hate to ignore the plight of the folks in this story but this artiicle is barely readable. has the author never heard of topic sentences?
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mbhxam
Seriously though, can we PLEASE get an update on the birdmen? I am totally serious. That was such an odd story and this story reminds me of them a bit...soooo...how about an update on the birdmen BRO???
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MJWorthington
I also found this story hard to follow the way it was laid out.
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icecreamsub
this article should have come with a map. I too gave up on reading it and only skimmed it over to find out what was going to happen with the dogs....
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ECB
Heather, whoa, whoa, whoa...as our art director Nick Barone says. I'm pretty sure the family is together, but the dogs were taken (not exactly abandoned) to the pound. (Which might be a trifle nicer for the whole family considering the existence of electricity and water).
The dollar and a dream deal, including back taxes, has no business being made in a backyard. Once a house is in arrears, my understanding is that the sale has to be approved by the city. We don't know if Rhone has the means and just really liked the house, but word is that this is at least a $50K fixer-upper.
This entire story is curious indeed, but as recent as a year ago, Nugent was hoping that the house would go in auction so the taxes would be out of his hands. This is a story that plays over and over in a city where the aging housing stock outweighs the city's dwindling population. And the longer a house sits without selling at auction, the more it costs when and if it's purchased. Hence, the longer a house like this goes unattended to and unpaid for (tax-wise), the more expensive and less desirable it becomes. And that's why so much is spent on demolition, leaving gaping holes in once vibrant communities.
It's also why community advocates everywhere are calling for seizure and mothballing of viable housing stock in foreclosure--before it's too late.
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Casandra
Latest update for those wondering about the dogs' fate... Heart Animal Rescue & Adoption Team had a professional trainer assess the dogs and took three of them into their rescue program. All of the dogs had potential but with each passing day, their stress only increases. Heart has no open foster homes or they would have taken more. Today those dogs were spayed and neutered and brought up to date on their shots, heartworm tested and given preventative at the new low cost Operation Pets clinic in town. All was paid for by Heart, a WNY all volunteer, no-kill, non profit animal welfare group. To save these dogs they are paying to board these dogs until a foster home opens up or these dogs are adopted. Heart also contacted other area rescue groups about these dogs' urgent need for rescue at the shelter which is at capacity. Most knew nothing of it as Channel 7 missed that part of the story. Thankfully, other groups have spoken for 3 more of the dogs today. The shelter was required to return 3 of the dogs to the owner. That leaves 5 dogs still in danger of being euthanized for space at any time. If anyone knows of any rescue groups who are interested they should contact the city shelter asap.
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peripatetic
Elena please clarify this story. Hopefully the dogs will be taken care of.
There does not appear to be a 458 Fulton except the railroad land. Mr. Nugent is sitting at 417.Next door supposedly abandoned is 415 owned by someone else. Nugent also owns 420 across the street. . A lot of this appears to involve the city homestead program, buying properties for a dollar.
Maybe Dick Kern can straighten this out. Some of this seems unfortunate; some suspicious.
Mr Nugent can do his own plumbing and electrical work up to a point at which a licensed person needs to be brought in.
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Brette
Wh Wh What??? Chanel #7 ran an unfavorable story about BenFranklin??? Outrageous. I suppose next they'll go after George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Pierogies.
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tutzauer
Update on the dogs:
I’m with Buffalo Humane, a local grass-roots no-kill all-volunteer animal rescue group. We helped by taking 5 of the 14 dogs from the City of Buffalo Animal Shelter. Although we are a small group with only a handful of foster homes, we networked with other rescues to try to get as many moved out of the shelter as possible. My understanding is that HEART took 3 dogs. And a few were returned to the owner who is looking after them at a kennel until the family’s housing situation is resolved.
I can happily report that all 5 dogs that we handled have now found homes. We cannot take sole credit, as we also had a great amount of help from fellow organizations with whom we networked: Owen Sound (Ontario) Animal Shelter, took in and placed two dogs (together), and Pets Alive Animal Sanctuary (downstate NY, recently reorganized with the help of Best Friends Animal Sanctuary) kept 1 dog and quickly found him a home. I must also acknowledge several people not from the Buffalo area who, upon hearing about the situation, went online to help sponsor the veterinary expenses of some of the dogs. This, combined with existing donated funds, allowed us to place the dogs fully vetted and to waive adoption fees for the right families as an incentive to take a special-needs dog.
Unfortunately, all of the 14 dogs were doomed at the city shelter. Why? Because if you aren’t a perfect pet, you just don’t have much of a chance there. Not enough space. Not enough resources. No time for exceptions or difficult cases. No behavioral rehabilitation. No sophisticated screening. No second chances. These dogs were undersocialized with people other than their immediate family. They were extremely fearful/skittish, and needed some one-on-one behavioral work if they were to be placed into adoptive homes. Sometimes that means working with them to build their confidence prior to placement; sometimes that means matching them to adopters who are sufficiently experienced to continue their rehabilitation after they are placed.
However, let me stress that at no time did our organization feel that any of the dogs in our care were dangerous within the home environment. The fear and stress that these dogs felt in the shelter, having been yanked (literally) from the only people they had known was overwhelming to them. The sense of panic and fear of seized dogs in a shelter literally permeates the shelter air, and though people don’t smell the fear, dogs do! If pushed too much, these dogs might have lashed out, so it was important to get them out of the shelter and into environments where they could de-compress. Evaluating their temperaments and behavior in the shelter environment would surely have doomed them all. Taking them out of the shelter situation and moving them into homes with comfortable confident resident dogs proved essential to their rehabilitation and eventual placement. It also helped them learn to trust strange humans.
To be sure, blame is not being placed on the city shelter. But it is an animal control facility, not a place where dogs can be made whole again. And not just anyone can adopt a dog with trauma or with socialization deficits. This takes time, people, and resources not available to municipalities. Municipal shelters and pounds find it far more expedient and cost-effective to euthanize than to find solutions or rehabilitate. Potential adopters unfortunately seek and expect the “perfect” adoptable animal. Pet owners with problem pets see them as disposable, replaceable. Laws designed to protect pets often mean their destruction, as if to “save them” from their fate.
In short, our entire community shoulders the blame collectively.
Let me now turn to the owner of the dogs, Lawrence Rhone. Obviously, he fell short with respect to his responsibilities to the dogs. They were somewhat undernourished. There were too many, given the 3-dog-limit law, and too many to really train reliably. They had not all been to see a vet to have their vaccinations updated. They had been in and out of kennels and boarding situations so much, they were confused and hadn’t learned to relate to people. And they really hadn’t been properly socialized to people and public places when they were young pups. The house didn’t have running water (though it was being supplied by a neighbor’s hose), and the living situation was certainly not the best. But, all of these things fell far short of the horrid neglect and abuse that some of us in animal welfare encounter far too often.
And, when those dogs were seized, Lawrence Rhone went to the city shelter every day where he fed, visited, and walked his own dogs. When we pulled 5 of his dogs from the shelter, he continued to work with us to make sure they could find homes. In short, Lawrence Rhone was committed to making sure his dogs didn’t die! At least if he could not keep them all, he cooperated with us to make sure the dogs would be placed into appropriate homes with people who would love them.
Luckily, in this case, enough public pressure was brought to bear to save the lives of 14 doomed dogs. Our government, in response, mobilized to help (rather than simply crack down). The city shelter was encouraged to work cooperatively with area rescue groups, rather than at cross-purposes. The dogs were given a reprieve on their 5-day stray hold. Rescue groups stepped up to the plate. Those who couldn’t take dogs provided some financial support. And a few members of the public stepped forward and offered to take dogs that weren’t perfect! In my mind, they are the true heroes.
Carol Tutzauer President, Buffalo Humane
PS: The dogs’ names are Red, Cuddles, Bandit, Heller, Butch
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