Ashlynn Browning, the 4-year old daughter of Jesse Browning from the TV show “Ax Men” was recently killed in a vicious dog attack at the family home in Oregon.

According to the authorities, Jesse himself reported the attack when one of the family’s pet Rottweilers mauled his daughter. Although Ashlynn was airlifted to the Oregon Health and Science University Hospital in Portland, she was pronounced dead on the scene.

Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin claimed that four months ago, a family member was also attacked by another one of their Rottweiler pets. The dog was euthanized following the attack.
The Rottweilers involved in Ashlynn’s death are currently under the custody of a local animal shelter. The Browning family may choose to put down the dogs, set it up for adoption or take them back to the house.

While dogs are often considered to be man’s best friend, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, every year around 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs. As much as 31,000 people underwent reconstructive surgery because of dog bite injuries while 885,000 needed medical attention.

Most fatal dog attacks however, involve babies and young children. Senior citizens also account for the second highest number of dog bite injuries and fatalities.

While some dog breeds are inherently dangerous (i.e. pitbulls), the owner’s negligence is often the proximate cause of dog attacks. For one, as the owner of the dog, it is the owner’s responsibility to train and socialize his/her pet as well as ensure that it is kept under control.

The owner has the duty to keep the dog leashed especially in public and if at home, properly fenced in. Sometimes, aggressive breeds are also required to be spayed and neutered in order to reduce its aggressive tendencies.

As important as it is to love and take care of pets, human life is no less important. Children, especially those at the curious stage could easily wander into an unsecured area with a territorial dog. Pedestrians and guests could also unwittingly stumble into situations where an unleashed dog can easily attack them.

Under the law, dog owners are civilly and in some states, criminally liable for the injuries their pets would inflict on other people. In a previous case in California, it was held that “The owner is virtually an insurer of the dog’s conduct” and in the event that the owner’s negligence results to injuries, the victim of the dog attack can recover damages from the owner.

There will be no jail time for Deborah Gibney.

The 47-year-old Fallbrook mother dodged a bullet as she was only slapped with 3 years probation, a $300-fine, parenting class, and sessions with Mother’s Against Drunk Driving (MADD) victim panel after pleading guilty to violating the county ordinance against underage drinking parties.

The incident happened last June after Gibney threw an end of the school year party for her teenage children.

Most of those in attendance were students from Cathedral Catholic High School.

Gibney was arrested after driving an overly drunk girl to Fallbrook Hospital where the staff got suspicious and called the deputies.
Gibney tried to give a false story but the officers did not buy it. She was arrested as she was trying to leave.
When the investigators got to Gibney’s house, they found that many of the guests were underage.

Investigators were even told by some partygoers that Gibney was hesitant to call 911 after the girl felt ill.

As parents, we should be more responsible about the message we give to our children.

Not only are Gibney’s actions a bad example, it is also against the law and she was lucky that she only got a slap in the wrist as penalties.

Under the county law, if you will be serving alcohol to guests, you have to verify the age of the guests, supervise minors and control access to alcohol.

This is to prevent any more DUI related car accidents that is actually one of the leading cause of death, not only in California, but the whole US.

Alexandra Kerry is finally free of any DUI charges.This came after prosecutors declined to pursue charges against her for insufficient evidence.

The incident in question started when Alexandra was stopped by an officer for an expired registration.

Earlier, Kerry was arrested for suspicion of DUI but the breathalyzer showed that she only had .06 BAC. It is well under the .08 BAC limit in California.

Many would raise an uproar that she probably got off the hook for being the daughter of John Kerry.

However being the daughter of a senator and a former presidential aspirant was not really what cleared her.

It was her BAC.

It is routine in California for prosecutors to stop pursuing DUI charges against drivers who passed a breathalyzer test.

Since Alexandra registered a .06, under the law even if she did have a few drinks, she was technically not under the influence of alcohol.

The exception would probably be for drivers aged 21 and below where a BAC of .01 % can already result to an automatic 1 year suspension of driver’s license.

Anyway Alexandra is far from being a minor and the prosecutors found insufficient evidence that she was under the influence.

That should serve as a conclusion on this issue.

As the saying goes, “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime”.

East county residents (or at least, those with outstanding traffic warrants) got a rude awakening when the Sheriff’s Department assisted by officers from the El Cajon and La Mesa police and the California Highway Patrol conducted a sweeping arrest.

The sweep targeted 750 people with outstanding warrants for driving under the influence and misdemeanor violations such as driving under a suspended license and reckless driving. Majority of the warrants were for DUI.

The operation which started at a very early 6 o’clock in the morning, was dubbed as Highway 67 Arrive Alive Campaign. However, only 67 arrests were made from the original target.

Several of those arrested also had more than one warrant of arrest issued against them and according to the Sheriff’s Department, 105 warrants were taken off the books. The 67 people arrested were booked into county jail and will likely face enhanced penalties.

While drunk drivers are obviously road hazards, drivers who operate their vehicles recklessly and pay no heed to traffic rules are just as dangerous.

A lot of the times, while people seem to think DUI is harmless or that speeding isn’t dangerous at all, these drivers often learn their lessons too late because of a tragic car crash they have triggered because of their driving behavior.

For a lot of motorists and pedestrians, every minute these drivers are allowed to drive is a threat to their security and safety. Enforcing the law through warranted arrests is one way of pre-empting drunken car crashes or motor vehicle accidents caused by the reckless driving.

Some lessons are learned through tragedy and some are learned through the enforcement of laws as they should be.

With the holiday season fast approaching, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department got an early Christmas gift when they received a three-year, $874,852 state grant as an aid to their efforts to curb drunk driving.

The grant couldn’t have come at a better time as the holiday’s festivities also bring about parties and events with an unlimited supply of booze – after all, alcohol is most certainly a staple in office Christmas parties.

As a pre-emptive move against the increased number of drunk drivers this season, the grant money will be used to pay overtime compensation for deputies to staff checkpoints, extra patrols, warrant searches, and court stings.

This will largely be implemented in the Sheriff Department’s 12 contract cities which are mostly in South County.
Aside from a 17-day winter holiday enforcement campaign from Dec. 18 to Jan. 3, DUI enforcements will be held on the following holidays:

•    Super Bowl Sunday
•    St. Patrick’s Day
•    Cinco de Mayo
•    Independence Day
•    Memorial Day weekends

An estimated number of 36 people are killed every day by drunk drivers and according to the National Highway and Safety Administration’s (NHTSA), more than 30 percent of 35,000 people killed in car accidents were alcohol-related deaths.

California has seen a 9 percent decrease in the number of DUI fatalities but keeping the numbers down is always a challenge.

The increased presence of law enforcement this holiday, aside from California’s strict DUI laws certainly sheds a whole new meaning to the Christmas jingle which goes, “He knows when you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness’ sake.”