On Monday, in Part Five of this editorial series, I quoted a court transcript that had Deputy District Attorney Eric Simonton addressing District Judge Jim Denvir, in the 2012-2013 case of “The People of the State of Colorado vs. Goodman, Warren Douglas.”
The Deputy DA was asking that the case be dismissed.
“Animal control officers who went to that property shot up numerous dogs, killed numerous dogs… and took numerous dogs to the the Humane Society where they are impounded, and I think adopted out… if not euthanized.
Judge Denvir did, indeed, dismiss the case. But, as far as I can tell, Warren Goodman never saw his dogs again. Talking with Mr. Goodman, I got the impression that all of the dogs had been shot or euthanized. Apparently not.
Since publishing that quote, I received clarifications from Mike Stoll, Executive Director of the Humane Society of Pagosa Springs:
Read your article about Warren Goodman this morning. Regarding the incident in 2012 that you reference, “His dogs had been confiscated by the County government, and apparently, most of them had been shot or euthanized.” A couple of points of clarification:
1. Our animal shelter records indicate that nine dogs were brought to us alive by County law enforcement on October 3, 2012.
2. Three deceased dogs were also brought to the shelter for cremation. To my knowledge, this is the total number of dogs that were shot during the incident, but law enforcement that was present during the incident might be the best source of that information.
3. Of the nine dogs that entered the shelter, one was pregnant and gave birth to seven puppies while in the shelter. We had a local veterinarian attendant at the birth. Unfortunately, one of the puppies failed to thrive and died shortly after birth from internal abnormalities.
4. During Court proceedings, Judge Denvir ruled the dogs abandoned for failure to pay attendant fines and fees, and the dogs were declared to be the property of the Humane Society.
5. Of those fifteen dogs (nine adults and six remaining puppies) all were ultimately adopted locally or transferred out of the area to partner shelters for adoption elsewhere.
6. None of the dogs were euthanized.
Warren and I have had conversations in the past about what happened in 2012, and I assured him that we did not euthanize any of the dogs that were seized. He has expressed appreciation to me for the care that was given to the dogs while in our shelter. If he told you that a number of the dogs had been euthanized, he may have forgotten our conversations or perhaps misspoken.
One other note: Regarding your observation that Warren’s dogs currently in the shelter appeared to be “well fed,” please keep in mind that they have been in the shelter since August 22 and, indeed, they have been well fed and well cared for during the past twenty-five days by our shelter staff.
Mike Stoll
I imagine, if Mr. Stoll’s story is accurate, that Warren Goodman was grateful to learn that most of his dogs, and the newborn puppies, were not euthanized, and were ultimately adopted out or transferred to other shelters — even if he was denied the return of his own animals for “failure to pay attendant fines and fees.”
But the keeping of animals in questionable conditions is only one of the complaints voiced by folks living in the neighborhood of 187 Bill’s Place. We’ve also heard complaints about dogs running loose and attacking neighboring pets, and uncontrolled barking. We’ve heard complaints about apparent drug trafficking.
We’ve heard complaints about unsightly junk stored on the property. Here’s a photo of the property at 187 Bill’s Place, taken last week:
And we’ve heard about unsanitary disposal of human waste. I’ve verified with Mr. Goodman’s wife, Joanne, that the property presently has no septic system installed.
As we’ve mentioned, the Aspen Springs subdivision was approved for development by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners — many decades ago — without any requirement that the subdivision provide decent roads, or a central drinking water system, or a municipal waste treatment system. What the developers provided, if you wanted to purchase one of their parcels, was essentially a campsite.
People did purchase those campsites, and many camped happily on their property, for decades.
In 2018, however, the Archuleta County government no longer allows camping on your own property. To live in Aspen Springs, legally, you must now build a permanent home. And to build a permanent home, legally, you must install a septic system.
We’re going to take a moment to discuss septic systems, in connection with the people living in poverty, and with the problem of human waste. We’ll begin that discussion with an email I received yesterday, from a long-time resident of Archuleta County:
In the 1950s, we lived on a ranch on the lower Blanco without running water. We used an old fashion outdoor toilet for about 10 years. Most, if not all of the surrounding ranchers also used outdoor toilets. A hole in the ground with a wooden structure over the top of it offering a couple seats and equipped with old Montgomery Wards and Sears catalogues for paper.
Clearly, our friend is talking about an ‘outhouse.’
Then in the late 1980s or early 1990s there was a big stink about a family in Aspen Springs (not us) who was using an old fashion outdoor toilet. The letter writing campaign to the Pagosa Springs SUN was ferocious. It was the consensus of the surrounding neighbors that this outdoor toilet was going to pollute the ground waters, and besides, it just didn’t look cool.
The email continues:
The thought occurred to me that underground, approved, septic systems with water constantly percolating through them loaded with human waste, bath and dish washing chemicals and whatever other contaminates one might flush down the drain, would pose a much larger threat to the underground water and the surrounding environment.
Human waste can be dangerous, if left untreated. What is the best way to “treat” the waste? Are flush toilets really the best choice? Or are they merely the most expensive choice?
Or are they, in fact, the worst choice possible?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.