In Nashville, Indiana a 71 year old woman died after ignoring signs that said “Beware of Dog” and “No Trespassing”.
Dorothy Stewart was trying to count the occupants of an isolated rural home.
About 20 dogs attacked and killed her.
Surely the people who hired this woman told her to be careful.
How can one possibly ignore 20 barking dogs? Isn’t thatsomething that one should heed?
I would think so Lindsay, but these Census takers try to be very persistent. They must pay them per census, its the only reason I would think someone would put up with all the hassles and what not.
They get something like $11.75 an hour. I read that they are required to make 6 visits.
That poor woman, she must have been in great need to take that job.
There was a story in the paper about how the rich are avoiding the census because they have gates and fences, and security cameras and without an invitation no one, not even the Census Worker is allowed onto their property.
I’m a little unclear here. What, precisely, is the General Question here?
I e-mailed my own mother that news article. My mom, who is also 71 years old, worked as a census worker this year (her stint ended three or four weeks ago). My mom’s not destitute (I’d say she’s “comfortable”), but she could always use more money, and she likes to stay active.
The pay rate is around $12 to $14 per hour, which varies by location. The workers are expected to complete a certain number of census forms for each hour they work (something like 0.5 IIRC). She would work for about 25 hours per week, working some in the morning, taking the afternoon off to avoid the Texas heat, and then going back in the evenings when she could catch at home the people who weren’t there in the mornings.
My dad (64 years old) worked as a census taker in No. California this year. He is retired and fairly comfortable, but his hobby is building hot rods and a little extra money is always handy. Dad only worked for the census for a month, and is on vacation where I can’t reach him now to check what he was paid; it was certainly an hourly wage, though. I believe it was around $10ish an hour. At any rate, I DO remember that he was NOT supposed to enter a closed gate except under invitation. So it sounds like this lady was rather more persistent than authorized. Not that that means she should have been dog lunch. Poor lady.
Legally, wouldn’t the owner of the dogs face some liability for this? No matter how many warning signs you have, you’re not to supposed to have dogs around that kill humans.
Were any of the dogs put down?
This is being reported in our local newspaper as Nashville, IN is a neighboring town to Bloomington. Anyway, at first it was thought that the woman may have had a heart attack and the dogs merely started gnawing away at her after she died. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be the case now.
The area around Nashville, IN is heavily wooded and many people use this area to dump their unwanted pets. This, in addition to unenforced leash laws, has led to large packs of “wild” dogs roaming the countryside. The census taker lived in close proximity to where she was attacked, so she was aware that there may be potential problems. To make matters worse, the owner of the property was cited fairly recently for keeping large numbers of these dogs on the property without proper shelter or restraint. Apparently the owner didn’t do the right thing and continued to allow these animals to run wild.
If you want maore detailed information on the story, go to our local newspaper’s web site: http://www.hoosiertimes.com
As to the question “were any of the dogs put down,” one of the dogs attacked a cop, and that dog was shot to death. I read that in The Indianapolis Star. The local gendarmes are reportedly deciding exactly how to deal with the property owners, who reportedly fed strays along with their own dogs.