For the second time, a dog has been labeled "dangerous" after biting someone.

Monday, December 06, 1999

For the second time, a dog has been labeled "dangerous" after biting someone.

The same dog has a history of other dog-biting incidents without being captured and euthanized, the typical punishment for a biting dog.

And while the same people have claimed the dog as a pet over the last six years, in which four verifiable biting incidents have occurred, each time the animal is accused of biting someone, the owners deny responsibility for the dog’s action.

Now, the animal is on the Austin Police Department’s equivalent to a canine "death row," awaiting the final adjudication of a case in which the animal is as much a victim as the perpetrator of the crimes of biting people.

The latest court case began, when Austin Police Officer Wayne Amazi cited Nathan Thomas Miles for failure to register a dangerous dog.

That occurred Aug. 29, when Miles, 23, of 709 6th Ave. NW was ticketed for the misdemeanor crime. The citation was issued after a dog-bite incident in northwest Austin.

Miles claimed the dog was current with its shots, but offered no proof for the record maintained by Mower County Auditor Woody Vereide.

The county auditor forward the file to the Mower County Attorney’s office for prosecution and the official declaration of the dog as a "dangerous animal," which carries with it more stringent requirements for the safe-keeping of the animal and the public.

A case was filed in 3rd Judicial District Court and a court date set.

A brother of Nathan Thomas Miles – unidentified – showed up Nov. 23 in Mower County 3rd Judicial District Court when Miles was ordered to appear and told court officials his brother was expected.

"When Miles didn’t show, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest," according to Olson.

When the defendant is apprehended and appears in court, the case can start all over again, according to Jonathan Olson, an assistant Mower County Attorney, who is attempting to bring the accused to justice and resolve the case once and for all.

Meanwhile, the dog remains in the Austin Animal Shelter, because he is considered "evidence" in the case.

The same dog bit Fayola M. Rudsenske two years ago.

At the time of the May 7, 1997, incident, the dog was in the possession of the John T. and Cheryl Bellika family, who lived in a mobile home converted to a stone-exterior residence along Mower County CSAH No. 3 at the east edge of BurrWood Addition in Windom Township.

The victim is the wife of Mower County Sheriff’s deputy, Stan Rudsenske, and the couple kept riding horses pastured on land that adjoined the Bellika family’s property.

The victim and a teenage son, as well as an adult friend, were all present at the dog-bite incident and Rudsenske was the victim.

The Bellikas’ dog was running loose on its owners’ property when the Rudsenske trio went to check on their horses. The dog charged through a fence and bit Mrs. Rudsenske on the thigh, requiring an Austin Medical Center visit and medical attention.

Charges were filed against the Bellikas, who first said the dog belonged to a "Kelly Eugene Robinson" of Minneapolis and that the animal was current on all required immunizations and rabies shots. However, no written verification of that was ever found.

Rudsenske conducted her own investigation and found that the Bellikas’ dog was accused of two other biting incidents in 1993 and 1995 and still allowed to run at-large.

After the 1997 dog biting incident, the charge was dismissed and no closure brought to the case. The Bellikas moved from their rural Windom Township location into northwest Austin and took the dog, a large part-German shepherd breed with them.

Nathan Thomas Miles is a son of Mrs. Bellika and the last known owner of the animal.

The Bellikas could not be reached for comment and Miles remains at large.