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Aug 17, 2006 7:30 pm US/Eastern
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Dog Dispute Leaves Autistic Boy Caught In Middle
WEST MIFFLIN (KDKA) ―
A battle is brewing between a family pet and a federal housing agency.
The family is facing eviction because they have a dog.
It's a dog that 8 year-old Khalil Johnson needs as part of his Autism therapy.
Roxy weighs less than five pounds but the tiny dog has made a big time difference in the way a young boy acts and talks.
The dog is his best friend, his protector.
Regardless, a West Mifflin public housing development wants to take the dog away from him or evict his family from the apartment.
"Roxy protects him," said Khalil's mother Terra Johnson. "When he goes outside, he feels safe now. Whereas, he didn't before we had him."
The dog has made a huge difference.
"He was outside playing -- trying to play with the other kids," said Terra. "This was before we got the dog and they took him around the back and beat him up."
For autistic children dogs are much more than pets.
Khalil acts out then withdrawals.
He can sit in silence or run into the street without notice.
That has all stopped since Khalil got Roxy.
Terra Johnson described it this way, she said, "These dogs provide a way for these children to talk to other children. Other children see her and they talk to him. He plays with her every day. She wakes him up every morning for school...she greets him every day when he comes home."
Management at the Monview Heights Apartments in West Mifflin doesn't see it that way.
They sent a letter to the Johnson family stating "your tenancy will be terminated" and that "no pets of any kind are permitted in the units".
That would okay if her lease agreement didn't have a provision that states: "The landlord will allow the tenant to keep an animal needed as a reasonable accommodation to the tenant's disability."
There's also another letter from specialists at UPMC.
They are doctors who state: "This letter supports Khalil and his mother in maintaining a dog for Khalil in their home."
"They way they act towards this dog, I would hate to have somebody move here that has a child that's blind or can't hear because there are dogs for all those disabilities and how would they be treated," said Terra Johnson.
Administrators with the Allegheny Housing Rehabilitation Corporation, which is a federally funded housing company, run Monview Heights.
They have been told by federal authorities to not do anything at this time with the Johnson family until federal authorities conduct a complete investigation.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)