Joseph Girl and the Police

By Nathan Young on June 7, 2012

This story has not been in the news very much but I want to talk about how a local artist got in trouble for rescuing an abused dog around Piedmont. Artist Joseph Girl was painting a 30 ft. mural on the side of the Hardin Center in Gadsden. The artist stopped at a junkyard to see a car he was interested in but he saw something that needed immediate attention. He saw a dog chained up to a pile of rocks and had little food and dirty water in a bucket. The dog that he named Akita also had little shelter as well. So Joseph contacted animal control to tell them about the dog’s situation. Joseph left food and water for the dog and gave the dog some love. But he could tell something was wrong with the dog.

After nothing happened to help the dog; Joseph took the dog to his home. This was a really big mistake. But what would you do if you saw a dog that was suffering and nothing was being done to help the animal? Around a week later the police came to see Joseph Girl and arrest him and take the dog as well. He went on to describe what happened on his website. And he was bonded out of jail and has an upcoming court date. That should be interesting. So far I have not seen any news coverage about this story anywhere. Granted; Joseph should have not taken the dog off the property. But he knew if the dog continued to stay there it might not have lived much longer.

If you want to read the in-depth story about Joseph and Akita. And if you want to donate money to help Joseph go to http://www.josephgiri.com/akita.cfm

Now Joseph has had a run in with the law. But I had two recent experiences with local police departments but I was not arrested. The first one about a year ago; I was walking along the side of Greenbrier Dear Rd. going up the mountain.

While I was walking along the road a Anniston Police officer drove up and was wondering what I was doing. And he wanted me to ride in a back of a police car and drove me back to my apartment complex. Now I was never in trouble but I was just walking along the side of the road. If you read the blog regularly you know I am doing Shape Up! and I am walking around. But do you think this goes a little too far?

And last week I was in my car on the shoulder of the road; which is public property. I was out with my camera filming a traffic light on Leon Smith Parkway because it is broken. And yes I have contacted the City of Oxford and ALDOT and nothing has been done. While I was taking video of the light an off-duty Oxford Police officer walked up to my car and asked what I was doing. I told him I am filming the light for my website. He said that if a Oxford Police officer saw me doing this I can get in trouble. Here is the video of that light.

Now I am on a public roadway filming a light that is broken for which I have reported for a long time now. The last time I checked I am allowed to film public areas including traffic lights and trains. People always take photos and videos of things in public areas. And if a police officer decided to get me in trouble for roadgeeking. I am going to have some fun talking about it on this blog. I think most police officers are nice people and are doing their jobs. But when someone decides to talk with me for doing something that is allowed by law. Then I have a problem. Oh well; that is one of the many reasons why I can not find a job in Calhoun County.