When I was first wed, I wanted to show my wife that I had manly skills outside the bedroom. I bought a bathroom vanity/sink thing from Stambaugh-Thompson in the Boardman Plaza. The salesman assured me that I could install it in about 45 minutes. Two days later I called a plumber. The main problem was I didn't have the correct tools for the job -  not unlike Ohio's legal system. Our legislators have failed to give prosecutors the proper tools to do their  job...case in point is the recent arrest of Steve Croley:

The former owner of a Youngstown kennel, convicted of two counts of animal cruelty, was arraigned today for violating the terms of his probation.

Steven S. Croley was charged with probation violation for having three dogs at his Austintown home. He was released on his own recognizance.

Croley was picked up about 10:50 p.m. Monday by Austintown police on the warrant, issued by Youngstown police after it was determined he owned dogs. Croley was held overnight in the Mahoning County jail pending his morning arraignment.

Nineteen dogs were found starving, including eight who died, at Croley’s High Caliber K-9 kennel in Youngstown in 2008. As part of his probation, he isn’t permitted to own dogs.

My listeners,Vindicator readers and news watchers know that most of our  state legislators did nothing to get Nitrto's "Law" passed. If there had been a felony provision in state law, Croley would have certainly been charged accordingly.  The saying " well done is better than well said" can also apply to proposed legislation: proposing legislation is THE BEGINNING of the  work - PASSING LEGISLATION is completing the job.

There's more 'a miss' here. Where was Croley's probation officer???I KNOW that many,MANY calls were made to the Youngstown probation office and the courts. Some calls were annonymous, some not...some from residents, some from area humane organizations.

I am told that two of the three dogs that Croley has (Hannah and Peanut) are two of the dogs he had prior to the raid.

PLUS, Croley's case is what's called a "high profile case", something I know only too well.

So the dysfunction lies, not only with our legislators, but with some one or ones in the city probation department.

On air, I often ask ' what does it take for a government  employee - one of OUR employees - to lose their job ?

We cannot forget that Steve Croley, for whatever reason or reasons, caused HORRIBLE  deaths , deaths by starvation, the deaths of family members. One would think that at the VERY LEAST, he would have been closely supervised during his light sentence.

WHAT SAY YOU, JUDGE DOUGLAS?