Since the Triplicate has seen fit to write a very biased story about me and my troubles, I thought it appropriate to tell my side of the story. Things are not what they seem and not what’s being told. The story involves my arrest and charge of animal abuse. These charges are false and the whole incident is an effort by certain individuals to cause me harm, and to that end they succeeded.
I have lived in Crescent City in 1988 to be near my aging parents. My father and I were both diagnosed with cancer in 2000. I sold my home and moved in with him at his Pebble Beach Drive home to care for him in his final days. After his passing in 2003, I have wanted nothing more than to move from this town.
I now owned the home of my father, which I mortgaged in 2011 so that I could by a motor home. I needed the motor home so that I could stay and be with my very ill daughter when she had to be at the U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento for treatments.
I had hired people to watch over my home, mow the lawns and just care for the home. I trusted these people to care for my home while I was away. In February of 2012 I received a very upsetting and rude phone call from a code officer demanding me to return to Del Norte County. Here I was, sitting next to my daughter’s bed in ICU, crying and trying to hide my tears from my daughter. At the time we had 9 sweet Boston Terriers for family. In fact, four of the Bostons are service dogs for my daughter and me.
We returned to Del Norte County in March to find our home had been vandalized. Since my daughter’s illness had gotten worse and we needed to move closer to proper medical facilities, I put my home for sale by owner so I could pay off the house and leave this county. I had to wait for the insurance company to cover the damages and repairs before I could sell the house. They were dragging their feet so I was forced to hire an attorney to protect my rights.
I was informed by the county code officer that I could not stay in the motor home during this time of repairs, even though it was parked on my property. We ended up, dogs and all, staying in motels. During the day my daughter and I would pack up our belongings, our dogs with us. We would put them in the motor home with a doggie video playing or take them for walks on the beach.
In October I was approached by a woman who wanted to buy my house. I made two appointments with an attorney to meet with her so she could sign a contract and put money into an escrow account. She didn’t show for either meeting. She informed me she had wanted to buy the house for her son and his girlfriend, but they were no longer speaking so she backed out of the commitment.
This woman pretended a friendship with my daughter and I, making us feel sorry for her. But she became more demanding and I discovered she used drugs so I did not want to be friends with her. She became more demanding and I felt I needed to just move away as soon as possible. So we packed up enough stuff for a short trip and set off to Sacramento to look for a house to buy.
We weren’t gone long when I got a call that the burglar alarm on my motor home had gone off. We returned to Crescent City immediately. We hadn’t noticed until then that the woman who pretended to be our friend had stolen the motor home key from our key chain. She entered the motor home illegally and vandalized it by trashing it and bringing in a kennel full of dog poo. Then she wrote 3 letters of complaint about the condition of the motor home, which she would not have known about unless she had illegally entered it! One of the letters was signed by her son, the one who has not spoken to her in years and who denies writing such a letter.
On March 26, 2013, my property was raided by the Del Norte Sheriff’s Department, the Del Norte County Code Officer and Animal Control. This woman was sitting down the street watching and enjoying the trouble she caused while ruining mine and my daughter’s lives. My dogs were impounded, I was arrested, and worst of all, my daughter had passed out while the raid was in progress and one of the officers kicked her in the head while she was unconscious, claiming she was faking. She was transported to Sutter Coast Hospital by ambulance and threatened by the officer who kicked her to not report what he did.
A vet was called by animal control to come check the condition of the dogs, the very dogs we were supposed to have abused terribly. They were in good health with the exception of fleas and a flea rash, which is common for dogs in this area. No signs of abuse!
A close friend helped bail me out of jail, knowing we were in danger. I had made arrangements with a family close to us who I trust to pick my daughter up from the hospital when she was ready to be released, but instead it was the woman who had caused all this trouble who picked her up. She was even so bold as to put herself on my daughter’s emergency contact list at the hospital!
I was told to get a copy of the warrant so I did. As I was in talking to my attorney over legal matters concerning the sale of my house, my daughter read the warrant. There it was: we had proof that this woman was the one who wrote the letters to the D.A.’s office. This woman had complained about the dogs barking incessantly. Mind you, she lives 3 miles away!
Now my daughter and I face two court issues, one for the barking dogs and one for the code violations. My letter is to ask the public to stand behind me. My dogs, my daughter and I are the victims of a very mentally ill woman who confessed she hates me. She even said when she dies she’ll bring everyone down with her when she goes. How sick is that?
So many lies have been told about us. My home was not in foreclosure; I had filed Chapter 13 bankruptcy and I am making payments. I was not living in squalor; I had been packing to move. And I definitely did not abuse my dogs. I love my dogs! They are my life and my family! We take them everywhere with us and they are much loved and well cared for!
I pray for your support. Write to us or even send donations to the pound to help with the up keep of our dogs. Thank you!

Susan White

Crescent City, Ca.