Article
Courtesy of The Palm Beach Post
By
Josh Mitchell
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
At 85 years of age, Bernadette
Casale lacks patience for the annoyances that other people call rules.
Her condominium's no-pets rule,
for example.
So five years ago she bought a
Chihuahua and sneaked the puppy into her suburban Delray Beach home.
The diminutive pooch, named Cha
Cha, wasn't really a pet, she told herself, because she's so tiny, and
never goes outside, and because who would be so coldhearted as to boot an
elderly widow out of her home over a furry little friend that wasn't hurting
anybody anyway?
"I took a chance,"
she admitted as Cha Cha shivered in her lap. "And nobody bothered me
until a month ago."
That's when Casale, in plain
view of her neighbors, held Cha Cha in the palm of her hand as she waited
outside for a friend. A board member of her Bridgeview condo association
spotted the 2 1/2 -pound dog.
"No pets allowed," he
said.
"I says, 'Get a life,'
" Casale recalls.
Instead, the association got an
attorney. As a result, the condo board has given Casale until Thursday to get
rid of Cha Cha -- or leave her condo of 20 years.
Casale says she's already made
up her mind. "I could never give her up."
Casale is not the only animal
lover in the neighborhood. The association says it has discovered at least six
cases of residents who sneaked pets into their homes. All six were given the
same options as Casale, the association said. The condo does not allow
children, either.
Until now, the odds have been
in Casale's favor. When she and her husband moved in 20 years ago, they had
another Chihuahua, Chico, and the no-pets rule gave them no trouble.
Casale's good fortune
emboldened her to buy Cha Cha to ease the pain of her husband's death 14 years
ago and her health problems.
"Just having her and
petting her, it's very therapeutic," she said. "For older people,
they have to have something to live for, something to take care of."
Some of Casale's neighbors want
Cha Cha exempted from the no-pets rule.
"The dog is her whole
life, her companion," said Sheila Gendreau, Casale's friend. "She
seems a much happier person."
Another neighbor said about 50
residents have signed a petition asking she be allowed to keep Cha Cha, but
the condo board is sticking to the rule book.
"I like dogs, too,"
said Chris Termini, association president. "We're not picking on her.
This is the rules. You don't change the rules for one or two people."
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