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Seated next to his tidy flower garden at an umbrella-shaded picnic table Sunday morning, Kemp Olson Park groundskeeper Ric Kindle detailed the Friday night altercation that left him bleeding and shaken when an assailant pursued him back to his dwelling
Around 11:30 p.m., Kindle's newly-adopted dog Yodie Coyote, a small mixed-breed stray, alerted him to a noise outside the window. Kindle got up and surveilled the grounds from his dining nook, and spotted a silhouette near the bathrooms.
Approaching the form, Kindle loudly announced the park was closed and the man would have to leave. Receiving a loud expletive in return, Kindle returned to his residence to call authorities, unaware the man was on Kindle’s heels.
As Kindle climbed the stairs to his doorway, the man grabbed his arm, repeatedly slamming it in the trailer door while yelling threats to kill him. Off balance, Kindle began to genuinely fear his assailant would make good on his threat when the man abruptly reached down to the steps and grabbed Pyewacket, a tiny kitten not 12 weeks old, around the neck, flinging the feline away from him.
That callous move by his attacker granted Kindle the seconds needed to regain his equilibrium, lock his door and grab his cell phone while the man outside hammered on the walls with his fists and repeated his threats.
"I've only had to call 9-1-1 three times in the eight years I've been here," explained Kindle, "but nothing like this has ever happened before. There's still blood everywhere inside (his home), and I'm afraid to close my eyes to sleep. It's not just a park, it's my home."
According to Kindle, ongoing requests for a land line and stepped-up security measures have gone unheeded by Toledo officials, as his presence on the premises often proves an effective deterrent to would-be thieves and vandals. While there was once at least a phone on the wall in the kitchen area, only an empty plastic mounting plate remains. Kindle pointed out an underground utility cover outside the structure as evidence of available phone and DSL hook-up.
"The boat launch has cameras and lighting, and the park needs them too," he asserted.
Kindle’s sentry Yodie was adopted just recently after he lost Sammy, his canine companion of 15 years. Pyewacket was then dropped off by neighboring children who asked Kindle to find a good home for her. The two animals formed a fast bond, and Kindle decided
to keep both.
Thinking back over the Friday night incident, Kindle realized Pyewacket probably saved him from further injury by providing the momentary distraction necessary for him to get inside, lock the door and summon help.
"I'm glad she's OK," he said, his voice and hand trembling, "but she might have saved my life," adding "She's getting tuna – no, salmon – tonight!"
Unfazed by the camera, Pyewacket played with a plastic bottle cap during out interview, then resumed her favored perch on Kindle's shoulders. Her moniker derives from the Siamese cat/spirit in the 1958 film "Bell, Book and Candle."
The assailant, who authorities declined to name Sunday, was being held and expected to be arraigned Monday on charges of fourth-degree assault and animal cruelty. They did state he is known to authorities in the area.
