Deaf women's neighbors growl over dog

Miss-Delectable

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http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=480773

Greenfield police recently cited a woman whose neighbor complained that her dog had been barking and barking and barking and that she had done nothing to quiet her animal.

The woman's name is Helen Keller. She's deaf.

Helen is 76 years old and lives with her daughter, Mary Keller, who also is deaf. Both are retired postal workers, and they live at the Village Green condominium complex with their 9-year-old Chihuahua, Cheerio.

Helen's birth name, by the way, is Helen Oblanzy. She was married to Martin Keller, who died of leukemia in 1993. Martin also was deaf, as are all of his and Helen's eight children.

The Keller home is neat and cheerful, and it is very much Cheerio's crib. Helen and Mary have placed a small plastic fire hydrant on a square of paper diapers in the kitchen, which Cheerio utilizes during the day, to the Kellers' delight. There's another hydrant in Mary's bedroom, which Cheerio, who sleeps with Mary, uses at night.

The living room rug is protected by plastic sheeting, and the couch is piled with Cheerio's pillows, toys and blankets; Cheerio, who is the color of the cereal he's named after, likes to hang out on the couch, where he can keep an eye on the front window and door.

"I love him," Mary said.

But the Kellers' neighbors do not. They have repeatedly complained to their condo association about the Kellers in general and about Cheerio in particular; they say Cheerio barks too much and acts like he might bite them.

"It attacked me and my son," said one man, who refused to give his name. "(Chihuahuas') teeth are like little needles. It doesn't take much to go through cloth or skin."

The man is in his 70s and his son is in his 40s. He said Cheerio didn't actually bite them. Cheerio looked liked he was going to bite them, but they made a menacing move and the dog, which was on a leash - which the man said is too long - ran away.

The man also said the Kellers stay up way too late and that they once disregarded condo regulations by trimming the bushes outside their door.

"They don't pay attention to the rules and regulations," he said.

An unsigned letter to the Kellers from the condo association's board of directors is remarkable in its use of exclamation marks and in its persistently nagging and condescending tone. It begins:

"When are you ladies going to understand the 'Rules and Regulations' here at Village Green?"

The letter takes the Kellers to task for Cheerio's barking, for being noisy at night, for parking in the wrong spot ("How inconsiderate!!") and for leaving a trash bag on their porch for almost five hours:

"Keep your garbage out of sight, or in your garage. Better yet, walk a few steps and put it in the dumpster, where it belongs," it says.

"We are warning you to shape up and abide by the rules."

Since last summer, Wendy Budzien, who lives next door to the Kellers, has called the police to complain about the Kellers at least seven times. The complaints have resulted in three citations, all for animal disturbing the peace.

The Kellers paid $203.50 for the first citation. The second was dismissed. A hearing is pending on the third, which was issued July 23.

In the most recent incident, according to police records, Cheerio is alleged to have barked for 45 minutes. Police responded to the complaint shortly after 7 p.m.

Budzien said the Kellers scare her. They make odd gestures at her, she said, and call her "mean lady." When she told me this, she imitated Mary's irregular manner of speaking: "Meh-han laah-dee."

Mary, who was wearing a "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" T-shirt when I met her, showed me the gesture she makes at her neighbor. It involved a twirling of her index finger at the side of her head (you're crazy) followed by a waving of both arms in a dismissive manner.

"That means, 'Leave us alone,' " she said.
 
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