Great society

What this story says about the state of civil society in America I can only speculate.

A few weeks back, the board of Northgate Commons, a 26-unit complex in Rockland County, told Mrs. Kling that she had a problem: She was violating the association's rules by allowing her guide dog, a yellow Lab named Frances, to relieve herself on the street within the complex, instead of on the roads outside.

Forget that Mrs. Kling has no vision at all and stopped walking her dog alone outside the complex after her previous dog led her astray a few years back. Forget that she usually walks the dog inside the complex only once a day at 6 a.m. (Her husband walks with them outside in the afternoon.) And forget the fact that blind owners of dogs are taught to pick up after them, so they can remove solid waste pretty much the way sighted people do.

Nevertheless, a neighbor's contention that his car had to roll over the dog's urine, fouling his tires in the process, has precipitated one of those neighbors-behaving-badly tales that's a pleasant backdrop to this season of good cheer. So far, Mrs. Kling, a diminutive 76-year-old, is winning the public relations battle - an article in the local newspaper, The Journal News, first brought attention to her cause, generating other publicity and offers to help her out. But pending the results of a board meeting tomorrow, it's unclear if she is any closer to a satisfactory resolution.

More on the story here.

However, a newly elected board asked her to stop walking her dog in the complex after a neighbor complained that he found dog urine near his driveway.

The neighbor, Peter Nash, who also is a board member, said Kling picked up after her dog but wasn't always successful in cleaning up. He said he found the dog urine especially offensive because it got onto to his tires and came into his garage.

"She is using her disability to affect my quality of life," said Nash who recused himself from the board meeting when the Kling case was discussed. "I have rights, too. If she is not able to (walk her dog in accordance with housing rules), then her husband should."

Something tells me Peter Nash -- a man who apparently searches the end of his driveway looking for puddles of dog urine -- is going to be finding a lot more befouling of his car as this story rolls on. If he finds a brown paper bag burning in front of his door, I'd suggest he not stamp it out.

Oh, and by the way, Mrs. Kling escaped Germany in 1939 when she was 10.