Schnauzer Ruled Not a Dirty Dog

Max sat quietly throughout his trial, never uttering a word in his defense. Max, after all, is a 7-year-old miniature schnauzer which was accused of breaking and entering a home and impregnating two female Pekingese. Lisa and Kenny Minton of Grand Prairie, Tex., filed a civil suit against Max’s owners, Ken and Juanita Holbrook, contending that last March 7 Max had broken a window in their home, soiled two sofas, the carpet and a stereo speaker and impregnated their dogs, Sen Le and Dolly. The Mintons said that, when they returned home that night and opened their door, Max ran outside. Kenny Minton had identified Max by pointing at him in court and saying, “That’s the dog.” But County Clerk Pat Harris contradicted Minton, saying that, when he filed suit, he described the canine as a poodle. “The burden of proof was on you,” Justice of the Peace Cameron Gray told Minton in dismissing the charges, “and I don’t feel that you’ve proved it was Max.” The Mintons were seeking $350 for the cost of cleaning their carpet and other furnishings and $80 for abortions for their dogs.

--Cyril Kimbrough’s hobby seemed to be innocent enough. Kimbrough, a resident of a senior citizens’ home in Evansville, Ind., likes to devote time to the 27 potted plants on his third-floor balcony. But the garden-variety endeavor soon led to a brush with the law, as Kimbrough was arrested for growing marijuana. “We just sat there, and here he comes like he was putting on a show,” Vandeburgh County Sheriff Clarence Shepard said. “Then he turned around and went inside.” Shepard said that he and several narcotics officers waited outside the apartment building after receiving a telephone tip. Kimbrough, 71, who is believed to be the oldest person in the county ever arrested for growing pot, said that the marijuana was for his 20-year-old girlfriend.

--Students at Norfolk County Agricultural School in Walpole, Mass., will have to find a new diversion before hopping off to class. School trustees voted to restrict smooching on campus, starting in September, in an effort to curb tardiness. “During springtime, we noticed it with people going steady,” Richard Morse, director of the school, said. “You don’t need to hold hands and kiss before math or English class.”

--Sen. Barry Goldwater, who ran for president in 1964, will write an autobiography, his publisher, Doubleday & Co., announced. J.J. Casserly, a journalist, will assist Goldwater in writing the book, which is expected to be published in 1988. The Arizona Republican will retire in January after 39 years in politics.