The Yellow "Journalism" of Logan Neill

May 1, 2012

It isn't until recently that I have even been able to read some of the articles written by Logan Neill that appeared back in 2009 about the events between when he first set foot on my property, to some time in December when I believe he ran his last piece of drivel about how my husband and I were to be charged with 2 counts of animal cruelty because of our 2 horses which AC had lied about, something he seemed to have inside knowledge about before even we did.

It is very difficult to read his articles, but in some way they document the lies that were told in court. In his articles are great inconsistencies in the story that AC was trying to weave in order to, I believe, cover up the actions of John Tossona and the numerous things that took place all while Liana Teague was on vacation the week of October 16th. I think they committed a grave error in the euthanization of Ginger, and they had demonize my husband and me in order to make their assault seem justified. Mr. Neill viewed this opportunity which he himself had created, as a vehicle to make a name for himself.

I do not know if the original intent was to confiscate and sell the animals for profit, or if it was just a by product of what happened. Bear in mind that I was allowed to keep some of my animals in the end, and that the seizure was not about any sort of abuse or neglect, it was simply about selling my animals to cover a $5000 bill which Animal Control said that I owed them for their supposed investigation. It was the Logan Neill who turned it into something else.

By the time I returned to court on October 29th, the story that AC had made up had intensified, now it had evolved into saying that I was starving all of my animals, denying help, and not treating or vaccinating my animals. They even went as far as to say that my mare could not stand when they picked her up. They basically could say whatever they wanted to, because there would be no transcript of these proceedings; just the pitiful scrawling of a demented Logan Neill...lies and slander which may have indeed come back to haunt him, as he passed away from heart failure on September 1, 2015, at the relatively young age of 61.

Happy Murderers. Do these look like the faces of people who have just seen animals in distress?

I am compelled to constantly return to this photo of September 25th, the one you see on the home page of this blog. Here it shows a smiling Liana Teague, a smiling Patrick Pace, my husband, myself, one of my Vets, Dr Pinera, and her assistants. My backer at the time, a man named Jamie Robinson, foot the bill for the Vet to come that morning sometime before 10 AM to vaccinate all of the animals, and treat some minor skin issues with 4 or 5 of the cats, and one dog. Some had flea allergies, although we always used flea protection. Out of so many animals, this was a situation well in control. Pinera's assistants also did some grooming (clipping) of some of the dogs. It was all taped at my backer's request, and it was my idea to take a group picture at the end of that morning. I am so glad that I did.

I had not vaccinated the animals before, because most of the time we used a Homeopathic Vet who lived in the same area, and who did not recommend vaccines for any animals, especially those who were elderly or who had compromised immune systems. Since our dogs never went anywhere, and Vets would come to the house, we figured this was safe and went by her recommendation. When I had to vaccinate to comply with AC, it was done as fast as possible, and this is a well-documented fact.

Tossona had basically let himself into my home on September 16, photographing everything. If you recall from my story, I had lost my employee who had been doing the bird cages because he went back to school, but I had a new one coming in on the 26th, who would be a live-in employee. I have bad arthritis in my hands, so I was not very good at doing the cages myself. Looking back through my papers, I don't know if Tossona had any right to take pictures at my home without an inspection warrant...and looking through these articles, SOME OF THOSE PICTURES APPEARED IN THE PAPER ON OCTOBER 31, after the animals had been seized...EVEN THOUGH THE CAGES HAD BEEN CLEANED BY THE 25TH OF SEPTEMBER, AND WERE NEVER SEEN IN ANY WAY BUT CLEAN SUBSEQUENT TO TOSSONA'S VISIT OF 9/16. I cannot tell you how MAD that makes me. Where are all the pictures he took on the 25th?

Logan Neill would also publish so many inaccuracies about our place in New Port Richey. Our Animal Haus began in the late 90's in Nashville, a place where we had excellent relationships with all of the local officials in Davidson County. I would move to Palm Harbor, Florida in 2002 to take care of my mother and my aunt after my father died, leaving my husband in Nashville to care for our animals and sell our home.

Nashville 1998. We both worked day jobs, different shifts, and managed to care for the animals ourselves. We had less than 1/2 of an acre, and never had any issues with the County. All of these dogs are presumed dead.

Nashville 1998. Here is my husband cleaning the kennels. His mother visiting from Germany took these photos.

After 2 years of separation, which was so difficult for us as our son had been an infant when I left Nashville, I asked a Realtor specifically to find a property where I could have 33 cats and 25 dogs, and this was what he came up with. The compound was on 5 acres in New Port Richey, and had been an upscale boarding and training facility for whippets. It cost $300,000, and my mother and I each kicked in $150,000 (at the time I was making around $100K a year) to buy it outright. We signed the paperwork together on July 5, 2004.

View from the kitchen to what would become the bird room. This was taken after Hurricane Ivan. I would spend $7500 to enclose this room with reflective tempered glass windows, and another $3000 to install a separate Central AC/Heating system for the birds, which I would have to do all over again in Brooksville. Beyond this room, was what the info from the Realtor referred to as a "treatment room" for animals, as well as a workshop.

 The view of what would become the 40' x 60' cattery, from the bathroom window of the main house in New Port Richey, FL. It had 3 huge ceiling fans as well as 2 exhaust fans, and was plumbed for 2 bathrooms. We screened in the porch along the far side. You can see the little doors that had been for the dogs on the side of the building, as well as slots for dogs to the right. On the grass in the foreground to the right, you can see the fence posts from the workers.

You would never have guessed from looking at this place and from the description of the property (I still have the MLS sheet), that it would not have been zoned for more than 9 domestic animals, but it wasn't. It had apparently existed as a kennel without anyone caring about the zoning. That is, until a new neighbor had moved into the neighborhood after the kennel folded, some years later. We were doomed from the start.

Of course, we wouldn't find out until we had spent tens of thousands of dollars building corral fencing for the ponies I bought my son, replacing any of the rusted or old chain link fencing, adding still more fencing, fixing the privacy fence, and then transporting all of the animals from Nashville to the tune of $6000.

I would be visited by my next door neighbor, who also told me the man who had sold us the house had known the zoning laws quite well, but never bothered to tell us. Thus began my 2-year nightmare of living here, at this beautiful, and otherwise perfect place. I would never have ANY issues with Animal Control here; just zoning. We did not act with disregard, but were in fact deceived when buying the property. It was a most unfortunate situation. Yet, Logan Neill would write on October 28, 2009:

"In 2003, an attempt to start a shelter at a house in New Port Richey was thwarted when Mas and her husband were found to be violating a city code by having 25 dogs and 33 cats living in out buildings on the property. Three years later, she bought the wooded property in Hernando County and set up Our Animal Haus.
It had a barn for larger animals, and the couple invested thousands of dollars in fencing and out buildings for their ever-growing menagerie. By the end of last year, Mas' financial woes began to deepen. Unable keep up with mortgage payments on the New Port Richey home, she turned it over to the bank."

As of this writing on November 1, 2015, I still own the New Port Richey home, by the way, although the property is now listed for a short sale.

Logan Neill knew nothing about me, showed up at my house to talk with no tape recorder, and very seldom did he stop to write down anything that I had actually said. In article after article, he deliberately defiled my character and created a very negative public impression of me, one of being a completely impoverished, irresponsible, and cruel person. He would beat the drum for the witch hunt as Animal Control prepared the chains and the stake. This cannot have been legal for him to do. Aren't there laws in place that are there to stop people from doing things like this, protecting the helpless and the innocent from slander and utter disgrace?

I was afraid to go shopping. I was afraid that if people saw my face, they would recognize me from the Hernando Times articles, which always managed to appear on the front page. I was Logan's cause célèbre, and he gloated in his self-importance, along with his sidekick and equally exploitative photographer. I was vilified repeatedly, and completely isolated. The people who had worked for me, whom I had been kind and generous with, all turned away in fear of losing their own animals or making themselves vulnerable to law enforcement officials. Looking back, I can understand the fear they felt and the reasons why they had to do what they did in order to protect themselves. If this could be done to me, it could be done to anyone with animals. Animal Control was a force to be feared by all, especially by the animals.

The lies spread, as his appeared in Hernando Today on November 13th, 2 weeks after my animals had been seized, and less than 2 months after they had all been groomed and most importantly, vaccinated.

"Come meet many of the rescued dogs from the recent Hernando County Animal Services seizure who have been cared for and are now available for adoption. The Humane Society, Pet Luv and local veterinarians, working in concert with Animal Services and the pet-loving community, donated shots and grooming for all the dogs who came into the rescue pipeline. Officers from Animal Services will be on hand at the Fur Fest to answer questions, along with volunteers from the Humane Society who will have information on adoptable pets waiting for their forever home. There are more than 40 dogs from the seizure ranging in size from about the size of a Dachshund to Lab-sized mixed breeds.

Hernando County Animal Services will bring the 40 dogs recently rescued from the Our Animal Haus sanctuary east of Brooksville. Canines of all sizes will be available for adoption, from Dachshund to Labrador mixes."They are all just sweet and loving," said Joanne Schoch, Humane Society director. "And after all they've been through, they deserve a loving home." Schoch said the dogs have all been checked and tested by a veterinarian, and local groomers have donated their services to prepare the pets for adoption."

My dogs had received 3 year rabies vaccines on September 25, 2009, administered by Dr, Marlene Pinera, and paid for by James Robinson, my backer. Animal Control was present for this. He shelled out over $1000...which included vaccines for ALL of the cats who were subsequently murdered. This means that the dogs that are still living, have been and are being treated for rabies unnecessarily, and this cannot be good for them.

In other words, what was most important to Animal Control was for me to look negligent, and for them to look like heroes. This was more important than the welfare of these poor animals. 

Reading this not only turned my stomach, but it brought such outrage to my soul because of the harm that was being done to my dogs by those who were accusing me of doing harm.

Actual text from correspondence between my backer and Dr Pinera:

From: pinerasbox@aol.com [mailto:pinerasbox@aol.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 4:49 PM
To: jr@alliancemarketingpartners.com
Subject: Re:

Hi James:

I spoke to Carolyn today, she has a head count of 37 dogs and 70 cats that need rabies vaccines per the county.

I call my sales rep. but every body has use up all the money that they had allocated for things like that (I use to work for a pharmaceutical company and by April all the money is usually gone).

My charge is $10.00 /per pet,with 107 pets it comes to $1,070.00 dollars(I usually charge a trip charge to cover my gas and a needle waste disposal,but I will wave both in this case) the vaccine is good for 3 years in all the adult animals she has;so we don't have to do these again until 2012.  Please let me know how you would like to proceed, she wants me to come out by Friday because the county will be there Friday by 10:00 am.

Thank you,sincerely,

 Marlene C. Pinera DVM

352-472-xxxx home

352-231-2389 work

954-292-xxxx cell

In the coming weeks I hope to have links to all of the articles that appeared, and let the facts speak for themselves.