Our Weasel Of The Week!!

Once again, It's time to present this week's statuette of shame, The Golden Weasel!!

Every Tuesday, the Council nominates some of the slimiest, most despicable characters in public life for some deed of evil, cowardice or corruption they’ve performed. Then we vote to single out one particular Weasel for special mention, to whom we award the statuette of shame, our special, 100% plastic Golden Weasel. This week's nominees were all disgusting but one of them stood out as an almost unanimous choice. The envelope please....




The Monster Who Tortured And Abused This Dog


Don Surber: The known-only-to-God-and-the-Devil expletive who did this. The bastard.

Ah, but he's not only known to G-d and the devil anymore, but to the world.



This man (and I use the term loosely) is William Leonard Dodson, of Charleston, South Carolina's northside Chicora Cherokee neighborhood and he's  in much better conditions than he left a helpless animal.

Caitlyn, a 15-month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix was left chained up with her muzzle taped tightly shut with electrical tape. That meant the dog was left in intense pain for what authorities estimate was 48 hours without being able to eat or drink, and her ability to cool herself was impaired.

The dog eventually broke free and was found on a neighbor's porch, who turned her into the local animal shelter for treatment. Because her teeth were clamped down by the tape on to her tongue and the blood flow was cut off, a large part of it may have to be amputated, affecting her ability to drink or cool herself normally by panting for the rest of her life.

In fact, it was one of Dodson's neighbors who turned him in:

Court documents allege Dodson purchased the dog, which was known as "Diamond" at the time, for $20 on May 25. A witness who said she sold him the dog told investigators Dodson approached the woman who sold him the dog and said he had taped the dog's face with electrical tape because she would not stop barking. The witness said Dodson was laughing about the claim, court documents state.

Dodson also reportedly told the witness he had chained the dog in his front yard but that the dog had broken free and escaped, the affidavit states.

The dog was found the following day, Wednesday morning, on someone's doorstep with electrical tape wrapped around her muzzle.

A medical report from Veterinary Emergency Care described the dog's muzzle as "markedly swollen with evidence of tape around its muzzle," and its tongue as "significantly swollen, significantly bruised, discolored (dark purple) and oozing blood," court documents state.

After this story broke, donations for Caitlyn's treatment poured in from as far away as Mexico, Ireland, Australia, Guatemala, England, Germany, New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Canada, Belgium, Scotland, Indonesia, Estonia, the Philippines, Iceland, Hungary and Japan as well as from many people in the United States. If she heals, Caitlyn has a waiting list of fifty people who have applied to adopt her.

Dodson was was issued a $50,000 surety bond Tuesday by Magistrate Priscilla Baldwin and told he had to surrender a second dog he has at his residence. He's been charged with felony animal cruelty, which carries a maximum penalty of 5 years and/or a $5,000 fine.

As one Council member remarked, Dodson isn't quite Weasel material being simply cruel and sadistic. That's true, but while it's stretching it a bit, there more than a bit of weasel in treating a dog like this and then giggling about how clever you are and how this was going to teach the dog a lesson. You see, one thing Weasels have in common..they're largely amoral.And I'd be willing to bet better than even money that Dodson doesn't even think what he did was wrong.

You see, Dodson is a career criminal, with extensive convictions for drug and weapons violations:

At the time of his arrest Monday, Dodson was on probation for a weapons conviction and out of jail on bail on a more recent drug and gun charge.

Dodson was convicted in May 2013 of possession of a firearm by a convicted violent felon, sentenced to six years and put on probation, according to a criminal background check with the State Law Enforcement Division.

Dodson was arrested again this March and charged with possession of cocaine and unlawful carrying of a weapon, according to SLED. He was released from the Charleston County jail on $110,000 bail.

I'm sure these are just the latest highlights in a long career.

There's been a lot said about how 'warehousing criminals' is both expensive for society and morally wrong. So quite a few criminals simply get released early, or plea bargain to a shocking degree and get probation or sharply reduced penalties for lesser charges.

There is a fiscal argument there, but it falls apart when you consider the high cost, human and financial of repeat offenses, which are typically more egregious and deadly than prior ones.

The reason for that is because prison time is increasingly less of a deterrent these days, and not taken overly seriously by the William Leonard Dawsons of the world. Even the death penalty is hardly a deterrent these days when it consists of a painless drug cocktail administered after decades of appeals ad delays..if the death penalty is even applied at all.

No, I'm not advocating daily whipping or drawing and quartering murderers. But making prison a lot less pleasant and a lot more of a place to stay out of and bringing back the traditional methods of executions with limits on appeals might have an amazing effect of society and even encourage the William Leonard Dawsons to think twice.

Mr. Dawson isn't here to get his Weasel, which is fine by me. I will see to it that it's delivered to The Charleston Animal Society for him to pick up there. Being that it's the South, a place where many traditional values hold forth, I have a feeling some of the members might take the opportunity to make their feelings known about this to Mr. Dawson in a personal way if he shows up to obtain it. At any rate, I would hope so.

Well, there it is! 

Check back next Tuesday to see who next week's nominees for Weasel of the Week are!

Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum, and  remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council, and the results are posted on Friday morning.

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