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HOMECOMING: Charlie, Norman McDonald together again Was there a connection between a possible dog snatching and an armed intrusion four days later? Possibly. Charlie, aka "Brillo," and heartbroken master realized happy ending when the little dog reached home and made a wild leap into the air, landing squarely in the lap of his waiting friend, Norman McDonald. The matter of the shotgun attack is in the hands of the law. Seven photos accompany this story By Geniece Marcum Charlie Is home and a whole community rejoices as news of his near miraculous return spread quickly among residents of the Atchley Road and Gentry Mill Road vicinities of Adair County this week. Charlie had been missing for more than a week after his owner Norman McDonald opened the door to let him outside at about 3am. When Charlie didnt return, a check around the neighborhood revealed that no one had seen the little dog that day, and everyone began to worry. This wasnt like the Charlie they knew and a search for him began. Norman McDonald has been in a wheelchair for the past 14 years, since an accident at work left him paralyzed from his waist down. He has learned to take care of himself for the most part, but he has friends and close neighbors who come in and help whenever he needs them to -- and until last week, he had Charlie. Charlie had been only a tiny puppy, just weaned from his mother when he was given to Norman almost three years ago. He was a comical little fellow, part Jack Russell terrier and part wire hair terrier, with the short legs of a Jack Russell and the coarse hair of a wire hair, along with a little beard, a mark of the wire hair terrier. Charlie required quite a bit of time and attention when he first came to live with Norman. He learned that this new person was always patient and gentle and enjoyed playing tug of war with him so Charlie soon settled in and made himself at home. A bond formed between man and pup. It became evident to all that the scruffy little dog was the bright spot in the long days of his new masters confinement. In all of his life Charlie had never been out of sight for more than a few minutes at a time. When not with his master, Charlie was visiting at one of the houses nearby or just hanging out with the neighborhood children. If the kids were out playing youd usually find the little dog on their heels. Recently, Norman says he looked out the window to see two of the local young girls riding up outside on a 4-wheeler, and who was with them but Charlie, riding along looking just like an old pro! He was totally happy. The dog had the run of the neighborhood. Charlie is known, loved and petted by all the neighbors. In turn he loved and trusted the people in his small world. Having never experienced harm nor ill will at the hand of human, why would he not trust them? Charlie had been one of the lucky animals, to have known only kindness in his life. Had he become so trusting as to climb into a car that morning with someone who took him away with malicious intent? That was the question haunting everyone concerned as they tried their best to still hold out hope of finding him for his grieving owner. The use of a scooter gave Norman the mobility to get outside and to a neighbors home in an emergency. That fact proved to be invaluable after Chalie disappeared. Four days after Charlie vanished, something happened to cause a stunned community to momentarily forget Charlies plight. According to the local Sheriffs office, on Tuesday evening, August 7, at about 10:00pm, an intruder (or intruders) forcibly entered the McDonald home and fired a weapon several times inside the house before the home owner, Norman McDonald returned their fire, causing the intruder (or intruders) to flee. "If theyre going to shoot at me," Norman says, "Im going to shoot back at them." In the exchange of fire, the attackers got off four .12 gauge shotgun rounds. The blasts were all about three feet off the floor, "about wheelchair high." Norman said, showing how he maneuvered himself into position and returned fire in a western barroom style shootout. "They got off four shots and I got off four shots." He said. One of the shotgun blasts ripped sizable holes in the wall of the hallway. Pellets hit the bathroom door at the other end of the house, and the doors and walls along the hallway are penetrated with shotgun pellet holes. "Whoever it was," Norman said, "knew my routines and knew I was in a wheelchair, the way they fired. He thinks he knows who the assailants are, he said. When the shooting ended, Norman tried to call the sheriff, only to find the phone dead he realized the line had been cut. He had no choice left but to get himself and his scooter outside and make it through the night to a neighbors home to use their phone. A crowbar and a roll of duct tape were discovered on the carport of the McDonald home after the assailants had fled. At home later as he contemplated the happenings of the night it occurred to Norman that the disappearance of his little dog four days before the attack at his home, was tied to the crime; that the dog was taken so it would not alert Norman to the fact that something was going on outside their house on the night of August 7. That was probably about the same date that one kind lady whose name we didnt get, came upon Charlie on Knox Street in Columbia, so lost and so frightened that her heart went out to the little animal. She had no way of knowing where he came from or that somehow he had gotten a good 10 miles from his home. All she knew was that he was frightened and very sad. He had to be hungry, too. This angel-in-disguise, whatever her name, couldnt walk away and leave him there on the street alone. So she took him to Green River Animal Shelter where she knew he would be cared for. If he was lost maybe his owners would look for him there. Charlies collar and tag with identification had been removed by someone, and at the shelter for lack of his real name he was dubbed "Brillo," probably for his spiky hair. Thats the name the shelter posted under a photo of the little terrier which appeared August, 14th on ColumbiaMagazine.com, offering him for adoption. Things began to happen fast in Charlies favor after that. Thanks to the powerful combination of Green River Animal Shelter, Columbia Magazine.com classifieds and observant CM readers, Brillo was soon unmasked as Norman's missing friend Charlie.Just twelve hours after Brillos picture appeared on CM, Bryan Baker an Adair County native now living 136 miles away in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky happened to look for hometown news on ColumbiaMagazine.com. There, looking back at Bryan was a little dog he immediately identified as Charlie, his father-in-law's companion. Phone lines between the two counties began to hum as Bryan and his wife Misty hurriedly placed calls to Green River Animal Shelter and to McDonald. It was late but employees at the shelter readily agreed to keep the place open until someone could arrive to pick up Charlie. Bobby England, a neighbor and friend of both McDonald and Charlie, raced at 70mph to the shelter and retrieved the waiting Charlie. It was a happy ending to a great day for everyone at the shelter who said they were happy to see Charlie going home to welcoming arms. Not every little dog they get is so lucky. Maybe it wasnt luck though, maybe Charlie really does have a guardian Angel. It was said that the little dog looked a bit traumatized by the trying ordeal until he reached home and made a wild leap into the air landing squarely in the lap of his waiting friend Norman McDonald. This story was posted on 2007-08-19 13:46:09
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