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Thursday, April 04, 2002

By Tom Gibb, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

BLAIRSVILLE, Pa. -- Two months ago, when Lois Griffith was mauled, her scalp torn away by a Great Dane that outweighed her by nearly 70 pounds, the dog and her companion that night shared billing as the villains.

Companion James Stonebraker, after all, led Griffith to the eastern Indiana County hunting camp where she was attacked and then, as she lay severely wounded, waited a half-hour before phoning a friend for help, state police said.

But now the friend whom Stonebraker called -- Blairsville resident Forrest Harris, owner of both the dog and the cabin -- is being sued.

A lawsuit recently filed in Indiana County Common Pleas Court by Griffith's lawyers claims Harris and his wife trained the animal to "be vicious and an attack dog" but posted no warning signs and left the animal at the camp, untethered. The dog has since been destroyed..

The suit seeks unspecified damages.

Griffith, 50, who lives near Homer City, drove Stonebraker, 50, from a Homer City night spot to the cabin. She got out of her car, she said, and was mauled and dragged 50 yards by the dog.

State police may seek phone records to see if, after Stonebraker alerted him to the attack, Harris made a call of his own -- perhaps to his lawyer -- before phoning police.

And an investigator said yesterday that, counter to Harris' claim that Stonebraker was trespassing when he took Griffith to the camp, Stonebraker lived there almost full time, probably with Harris' consent.

As a result, police dropped a trespassing charge.

Stonebraker, who spent six weeks in jail after the mauling because he was unable to post bail, waived a hearing that was scheduled for yesterday on a charge of recklessly endangering Griffith. He likely faces no further jail time when the case goes to Indiana County Court.

Stonebraker's lawyer, Donald McKee of Indiana, Pa., said yesterday the attack came as Stonebraker disappeared into the cabin and drunkenly fumbled for a light switch so that he could see to chain the dog. When Stonebraker heard screaming, he raced outside wielding a rifle that he couldn't manage to load and beat the Great Dane, suffering bites as he carried Griffith to the cabin, McKee said.

"He got it in the backside and the arm. It took about 40 stitches," he said.

Harris and his lawyer Patrick Loughney of Pittsburgh declined comment.