Pet Owner’s Heirs Growl About $105,000 Doghouse

--When Celeste Crawford died in 1984 at the age of 77, her will stipulated that Master Teddy, a white spitz, live out his life in her $105,000 home in Silver Spring, Md. It’s been a dogfight ever since. Crawford also instructed that Master Teddy, now 9 years old, should be cared for by her friend, George Schnabele, 71, a retired police officer who has rented a basement apartment in the house since 1968. The Crawford heirs are to benefit from the sale of the house after Teddy dies. But the heirs say there is no money to pay for taxes on the house and seek to have the property sold immediately. Karl Feissner, an attorney representing the dog, maintains that Master Teddy “would have to be disposed of” if the house were sold now. “Teddy shall live where he is and stand as many monuments (do) to ‘man’s best friend.’ Loyalty and love are what this stands for--it is what we should all stand for,” he said.

--He was definitely on the fast track. Hired as a teacher at age 19, Kenneth Ballard then spent three years at the 150-student Elk Valley Elementary School near Nashville, Tenn., before being forced to end his career there as principal. Ballard’s world came crashing down on him after Robert K. Sharp, an attorney for the state Department of Education, questioned whether Ballard really had a college degree. Sharp said records indicate that Ballard was graduated from Jellico High School in May, 1981, three months before he claims to have received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from DePaul University, for which he listed an address in Paris. Sharp said his letters to DePaul in France were returned with notations saying no such school existed there. Ballard, in his defense, wrote a letter to Sharp, but the grammatical errors ensured his downfall. One excerpt follows: “The school in which I attended DePaul University I have wrote several times myself. I was informed there had been a fire which destroy most if not all of it. I hope this explain why yours letters have been returned.” Supt. Kenneth Miller, who asked that Ballard be allowed to stay on, said: “Mr. Ballard was doing a very good job. He just did not have the credentials.” Ballard, who agreed to give up his certification rather than fight a hearing to revoke it, said: “I just need to go back and get some more credits.”

--Prince Charles will return to the United States next month to help celebrate Texas’ 150th anniversary of its independence from Mexico. The Prince of Wales will visit Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. He will cut a Duncan Hines’ Texas-size birthday cake, chat with oil refinery workers and present the Winston Churchill award to Dallas billionaire H. Ross Perot.