JOHNNY DOG - THE TRUE STORY

Over the course of two weeks, one man has caused more trouble and been more of a distraction than any other I can think of. That man is known to people as Johnny Dog and I would like to clarify a few things.

It was either 2 years ago or last year during the summer (I lose track of the years they seem to fly by so fast) that Mr. Dog was causing trouble at the parkway because he was not following the rules of his peddlers permit. Contrary to what he states (that the police were picking on him because he was stopping to serve hot dogs to the local people), he was sitting on the benches talking to the fishermen. It has even been reported that he was sitting there drinking with them out of the paper bags they carry. From all I can gather, he was warned on several occasions that he needed to keep moving and was given every chance possible to follow the rules. He flaunted those rules in the police's face and on the date in question, when the photo was taken of the police officer getting in his face, he had been warned and basically was being very difficult with the police. No one ever mentioned that part. Just that poor old Johnny had the police picking on him.

He was written a citation and instead of taking responsibility for his actions, he procured an attorney and went before city council stating he would fight to the bitter end (I happened to be sitting through that meeting and have got to say, Johnny plays a very good victim). At the time the city council and everyone in that room was sympathetic and felt that poor old Johnny needed a break. Because of that, the city council instructed the police and administration that they should let him stand if he wanted to and not to bother him.

Summer of 2008 found him camped out in one spot and as the summer went along, his camp because more of mini-garage sale than a hot dog stand. In stead of the little push cart he had, he was selling the dogs out of the back of his truck. It was quite a site to see . . . the really nasty truck with sides that sit over 10' in the air and all the junk he had laying around. Apparently he wrecked the grass there as well.

Not only did he have his wonderful truck there but complaints have been filed with the city in respect to Johnny telling other vendors to get the heck out of the park cause that's his spot. Those that drive ice cream trucks have been yelled at by Johnny because he seems to have this opinion that the Thomas Edison Parkway is his property. I am missing the logic here concerning the fact that he was outright nasty to other vendors and didn't want any of them down in "his spot", but now that the tables have turned and another vendor has legally and respectfully bought the vendors permit he's ranting that more vendors should be allowed on the Parkway. Again, forgive me if I don't get that whole line of thinking.

Returning to the role of the city in helping Johnny. When Johnny showed up with his attorney and cried a major flood of tears, and when this particular city council felt for him enough to let him bend the rules a little, the city council also instructed the city administration to look into allowing one vendor to be down on the parkway. You see, as I have learned, there is a difference between a vendor and a peddler. Peddlers must keep moving. Vendors can sit. The city has not been in the business of having vendors. They prefer the peddlers because it's less complicated for them. The Lions in Pine Grove Park seem to be the exception because they've been there forever, and seem to be "grandfathered" in.

The city clerk started on the new ordinance in October of 2008 and during that time 5 meetings were set up for all the vendors to participate. Every vendor that was on file at the city offices were invited. Pretty much every one of them did except Johnny. For whatever reason, he was not motivated enough to get involved and work with the city.

By the first of the year, the ordinance was pretty well done. I believe they met one more time in January and then the ordinance was ready to put before council. The first and second reading were done at the first meeting in February. It is on record that Johnny dog was sitting the front row of that meeting and never once stood up to speak. Several other vendors were there and they did not speak either. The council passed the first and second reading and Mayor Moeller has stated that had Johnny Dog stood up and said something, he would have voted that particular version of the ordinance down. However, when no one said anything, he felt that everyone was okay with it and he voted yes on it. The third reading was done on another night. Again, no one said anything against the ordinance and it passed. It was now a law and because the owner of Just In Time Concessions had attended every meeting, he knew it was ready and he went and bought the vendors permit.

No one knew of Johnny Dog's opposition until he showed up on the Thomas Edison Parkway a couple of weekends ago, swearing he was going to take his fight to the city council. He marched up and down the parkway with a sign he made and unfortunately received a lot of media attention. People took pity on poor old Johnny because he said he was depressed and couldn't make that to the meetings.

At the city council meeting of the 23, Johnny and his band of sympathizers showed up at the city council meeting and made it clear they were going to get Johnny back on the parkway. They paraded up to the podium, saying a whole lot of nothing except they wanted Johnny back cause he was a good guy. He picked up dog-doo on the parkway, gave out doggy-doo bags and in general entertained everyone. There was only 1 guy that spoke on Johnny's behalf that had anything to say concerning letting more than one person on the parkway because of the fact that the area has a bad unemployment rate and it's a shame the city won't let someone try to make an honest living selling hot dogs.

At that same meeting, people who supported Mike McCauley (Just In Time Concessions . . . the one who had gone through the process, done everything legally and correct and the one who was now dragged into a controversy he would rather not be in at all), spoke on Mike's behalf. Everyone wanted to let the council know that Mike was a good guy too. He donates a lot to the community, gives of his time and will employ people with his new concessions stand on the parkway. Mike, himself, was there and had a photo of the stand he will place there. It is beautiful. Mike also mentioned that he had spent a lot of money getting the concessions stand, paying for the permit, paying for water hookup. He is also placing porta-potties in that area and possibly a little portable sink so people can wash their hands. Mike is very excited to place this concessions stand there and has a contract with the city for 3 years.

I would like to give my opinion on this because I have studied it in depth and have found the city did nothing to harm Johnny Dog. Just because he was depressed is no excuse to miss any of those meetings. Many of us are small business owners in town and to be honest, if we all thought the way Johnny Dog does, we would not have any small business owners around. What Johnny and his supporters are forgetting is, bottom line, it's a business. This isn't about Johnny Dog or Mike or any other person. This is about doing business in the city limits and whether a person agrees or not, there has to be some sort of rules set up or chaos would happen. Unfortunately, when money is involved, people tend to not be on their best behavior. Oh, sure, there are a minority of people who are professional and live by the rules. Johnny Dog has proven that he cannot live by the rules and because he is "Johnny Dog" none of the rules should apply to him. If that's the case, I think all the small business owners should not have the rules apply to them either. Let's just all do what we want, when we want, however we want. Or, is that even a good idea?

The other issue at hand is the fact that Johnny has really slapped this council in the face. After speaking with several of them, I found out that not once did he call them to explain why he missed the meetings. He never approached any of them by writing a letter or having a meeting with them. He just took his war to the media right away and that is an outright attempt to make this council look bad. What a slap in the face to a council that actually supported him and felt sorry for him when the cop issue took place. Why didn't he contact the Mayor. There is no doubt he would have been listened to. The council is not that hard to get in contact with. I do it all the time whether they want to hear from me or not. I am sure sometimes they are quite sick of hearing from me on issues. They never ever convey that they are sick of me. They listen and respond with professionalism, even though what I want doesn't happen all the time. But the one thing I've found out about this council is they are open, transparent and ready to listen because every one of them really CARES about what the citizens of Port Huron think. It's been a refreshing wind blowing through Port Huron in that respect.

I heard through the grapevine today that Johnny Dog's supporters are out circulating petitions to make the council let Johnny back on the parkway. They have approached several business owners I know that have reported to me that they plan on marching on the city council at the next meeting with these petitions. Whether this happens remains to be seen, but the bottom line is that they are causing trouble and most of them don't even live in the city of Port Huron. Johnny Dog is not a resident of Port Huron.

I implore everyone who is approached by this group not to sign their petition. The main reason is that it will encourage unprofessional and bad behavior for those who don't get their way. It will set a precedent that if a person can't get what they want, all they have to do is gather every loony-toon friend they have, pitch a temper tantrum out in public and make sure they call the media before they do it. This is not good for the city of Port Huron and makes getting other things done rather difficult.

This leads me to another reason not to sign that petition. There are so many more things that need to be attended to in the city of Port Huron right now. Johnny Dog is distracting everyone from more important issues and wasting a lot of people's time with this. The more people sign this petition and the more people encourage him to do this, the longer it will go on because he appears not to be smart enough to really listen to what Brian Moeller said to him at the last city council meeting. At what point does he have to take personal responsibility for what he didn't do.

I would hope that he would not bring his group with him to the next meeting. My hope is that if he does come, he apologizes to the city council and to Mike as well. Johnny has caused a great deal of stress to Mike who is only trying to make a living too. Johnny's friends have made statements in the paper that they sure won't buy anything from the "new guy" and they are encouraging others not to as well. How do they think that makes Mike feel? They keep saying that nobody understands what Johnny feels. Well, I'd like to turn that around and ask them if they have even considered how this whole mess makes Mike feel?

Some other points that have been brought up to me (and I would like to share with you) is his picking up of dog-doo on the parkway. He picks it up and throws it away but never washes his hands. He puts on gloves but before he sticks his hands in the gloves he's handling them on the outside. If there is any bacteria on his hands from the dog-poo, it has now been transfered to the outside of the gloves and thus on the hot dog and bun he's handling. He also was seen peeing beside his truck because he didn't want to leave to go to a bathroom. How sanitary is that? Is that what we want down on the parkway. People complain a lot about the goose droppings there. How would you feel if you were walking down the parkway and happened to catch a glimpse of a grown man taking a leak on the side of his truck. YUCK!

They point fingers at certain people around here and pound their chests and claim this and that, but they turn right around and do exactly the same thing that they are criticizing others about. I would like to suggest to them that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. I don't think anyone wishes Johnny Dog ill will, but it sure would be nice if he would get on with life and business and try to remember that the Thomas Edison Parkway is not his personal property.

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#### 03/31/2009
The true story, my ass#

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