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Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Orono Weekly Times - 7 Online mistake adds to grief over chained Newcastle dogs by Sue Weigand Note: Exact locations as well as the names of some of the people involved in this story are being withheld for safety and security reasons. If the proverbial road to hell is paved with good intentions, a group of animal welfare activists is trying to navigate a way back. In an effort to draw attention to nine dogs that members of the group said they believed were being neglected on a property in the Newcastle area, an online petition was created which mistakenly identified a neighbouring property. The family on that property was then targeted by vandals bent on sending a message to the owners of the dogs. Now the spokeswoman for the group that put up the online petition has said she wants to build some bridges, to try to repair the damage she admits she unintentionally helped to create. It all started when Sonya Common, of Cobourg, heard that there was a group of neglected dogs on a property in the vicinity of Newcastle. Common said she contacted all of the proper authorities -from the Humane Society of Durham Region (HSDR), to the Ganaraska Conservation Authority to the Municipality of Clarington -- and even a local media outlet. But after going through all of the proper channels, Common said, "We got nowhere." The group decided to create an online petition, appealing to the Municipality of Clarington for action (see petition on page 6). Unfortunately for the group, and for an innocent Newcastle family, the wrong address was inadvertently listed on the online petition. The group in no way advocated that readers of the petition take any action on the property owner, or on the owner of the dogs. However, somebody decided to make their displeasure known by dumping garbage on the property. As the petition listed the wrong address, the vandals ended up targeting the wrong property. Garbage was dumped on a neighbouring property where a family lives that has no connection to the dogs. "It was a super huge glitch, a terrible error," says Common, about the wrong address being listed on the petition. "This property has no number on it. There is no fire number unless there is a house. So when we set the petition up, unbeknownst to us, we gave the wrong address." "I felt absolutely terrible because of the neighbours." -- animal welfare activist "Cassie" Common says she went to apologize to a member of the victimized family, and was told that a young child was subjected to taunts at school due to the mistaken information about whose property the dogs were on. "As soon as I realized [the mistake], I went to apologize," says Common, who once taught school children. She says the correct name of the owner of the dogs was listed on the petition, but that didn't stop the vandals. "I met the man [who lives at the neighbouring, vandalized property]. This was a huge mistake. Some loony tunes came and put garbage on his property, shot a picture of the house, and put it on Facebook. I was mortified. I understand his concern." A member of Common's group who lives in Newcastle, and who wants to remain anonymous due to the unexpected turn of events, says she is heartsick over what has happened to the family neighbouring the dogs. "I was traumatized by the whole thing," said the woman, henceforth referred to as "Cassie." "I felt absolutely terrible because of the neighbours. It had never occurred to me that people would start throwing garbage on their lawn. I couldn't eat or sleep, I felt so bad for that family," she said. It was Cassie who put the petition online for the group. She said she used an American internet site to post the petition, and had difficulty getting the petition withdrawn once she learned of the error. "We put the petition up on a Sunday night, and found out on the Wednesday that it was the wrong address," said Cassie. She said it took almost five days for the site to be deactivated. The site now reads, "Petition deactivated at author's request." "Altogether, it was up less than a week. But I couldn't get it off the internet, that's why I was so upset. I felt horrible," said Cassie. Before the petition came down, approximately 1,300 signatures were collected. Cassie said the group was stunned by the response it got. "It was crazy how fast the petition went around. Never in a million years did we think we'd get that many signatures. We thought we'd be lucky if we got a hundred." But both Cassie and Common were shocked at how some people responded to the petition. "We're not the loony tunes," said Common. "But there are a few on Facebook, spreading myths, just like the Swine Flu myths. The internet can be crazy. I've learned from this. I was distraught over this, but now I've come to grips with it." Common said she is writing a letter of apology to the affected family, and she is now fundraising to collect money for the Humane Society. "It's my only recourse for atonement: giving some money to the Humane Society to be earmarked for those dogs. I'm raising money so I can get out of it gracefully," she said. Cassie, too, said she has "learned a huge lesson." She said she hopes the dogs get "the proper attention" instead of the attention of vandals. "I'm just going to stay out of it, although I'd like to be kept informed about what's going on with the dogs."