professionalism in police work. When I first came to Dominical in 1972 Don Pepe was serving his third term as President of Costa Rica, and a loyal sup-porter of his, Don Antonio Chacón was Agente Principal de Policia in Dominical. His job was to keep order in the commu-nity, but he also had the authority to is-sue citations and levy fines. If the offend-er was not in agreement with the fine, the case moved to the next level which, at that time, was called the Alcaldía, the equivalent of a Justice of the Peace in the United States. The Alcaldía was located in the seat of the cantón. But Don Antonio Chacón was much more than a policeman. I used to say that hav-ing Don Antonio as the Agente Principal de Policía was like having a lawyer in Dominical. When I first came to Hacienda Barú a squatter had slashed and burned about seven hectares of rainforest, and one of my first tasks was to get him evict-ed. Don Antonio, suggested a meeting with the squatter, a man named Memo, and recommended that I offer to buy his shack and corn field, which were the only two things of any value he had done on the land. He sent a summons to Memo re-quiring his presence at the Agencia Prin-cipal de Policia, at 3:00 PM the next day. In those days the Agencia was a shack built on a rock near present day Roca Verde. At the meeting Don Antonio ex-plained to Memo that if I took the case to the Alcaldía in Quepos, that he would be evicted, and probably end up in jail. He agreed to sell me his shack and corn field for 700 colones, $81 at the time. Don An-tonio drew up a contract on legal paper with official seals and stamps. We both signed, I paid Memo 700 colones, and he voluntarily left the land. A small corner of the parcel he had slashed and burned is today Hacienda Barú’s campground in the rainforest where we do the Night in the Jungle tour. The rest is the oldest sec-ondary forest on the reserve. At that time there was another police force active in the country called the Res-guardo Fiscal. Their job was to go after people involved in activities that would cheat the government out of tax rev-enues, things like contraband cigarettes and liquor and moonshine stills. This police force had a reputation of being rough and tough and not at all friendly to the community, so much so that they earned themselves the nickname of “go-rillas.” During the time that Don Anto-nio Chacón was the Agente Principal de Policía in Dominical, Don Pepe decided to combine the Resguardo Fiscal and the Agencia Principal into a single police force the Guardia de Asistencia Rural (GAR.)

Don Antonio remained in Dominical and became the first delegate of the GAR. In 1975 at the end of Don Pepe’s term as president, Don Antonio was dismissed, and the incoming president, Daniel Odu-ber, gave the post to Don Emilio “Millo” Vargas. “The GAR was more than just a police force,” says Millo. “Just like the name implies, it gave assistance to ru-ral areas.” GAR officials were always in-volved in community development, serv-ing on committees and school boards and helping in any way they could. “Sure we were policemen, but we were there to serve the people as well.”During his 20 years as a GAR delegate, Don Emilio never had to fire his gun. He once disarmed a drunk who was shoot-ing a pistol into the air at the Miramar Bar (now Roca Verde) on New Year’s Eve, but he did it without drawing his own revolv-er. He served in both Uvita and Domini-cal. “Dominical was always an easy going place to be,” he reminisced. “Uvita was where all the problems were.” He had to deal with two homicides while he was there, and a lot of minor crime. In Domin-ical there was some minor crime and cat-tle rustling. The most exciting thing that ever happened was hurricane Joan, dur-ing which Don Millo worked tirelessly to help the community, which was totally isolated from the outside world for six days.Other policemen who have served in Dominical were: Antonio Solano who was captain of the Resguardo Fiscal from 1962 to 1966. Amancio Obando, af-ter whom “Las Rocas de Amancio” was named, was Agente Principal de Policía from 1968 to 1970. He was followed by Antonio Chacón, Emilio Vargas, Harold Ross, Mavel Sanchez and Carlos Hernan-dez, all of whom served in the Guarda de Asistencia Rural and most of whom were deeply involved in the community. One outstanding example of this service eth-ic is the coconut plantation at Dominical Beach; most of these palms were planted by Mavel Sanchez in the 1980s.During the time that the GAR existed, its urban counterpart was called the Guardia Civil. This police force was more professional than the GAR and better prepared to deal with urban crime, but it lacked the element of community ser-vice to which the rural residents had be-come accustomed. In the late 1990s the government decided to combine these two police forces into one. The new service, the Fuerza Pública, is today in charge of maintaining law and order in the entire country. It is much more pro-fessional than the GAR and better pre-pared to deal with modern crime, but like the Guardia Civil, it lacks that won-

derful element of community service so characteristic of the GAR. That isn’t to say they haven’t done their job, because they have worked diligently to maintain law and order with the resources avail-able to them. But the Fuerza Pública has been represented by a steady stream of nameless policemen who have passed through Dominical, done their job, and been transferred somewhere else, never to be remembered.Recently a new police force has come into being, that appears to be quite pro-fessional yet very attentive to the needs of the community, the Policía Turística. It was organized with the objective of making the country safe for tourism, and attending directly to crimes against tour-ists. In so doing the officers are involv-ing themselves in the communities they serve, bringing back memories of the Guardia Asistencia Rural.

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Dominical Days 6

Meet Angelita

While returning from Dr. Fernando’s office in Uvita with a D.A.W.G. rescue that I am fostering that had contracted erlichea (tick disease, see Dominical Days D.A.W.G. article, October 2010), I noticed a small black object on the side of the road near the entrance to Poza Azul. Fearing it was yet another abandoned animal, I turned around to investigate. When I approached the lump in the grass, it did not move. When I reached it, I discovered a small, totally emaciated, blind female puppy. The puppy was surrounded by flies and maggots had hatched on her tiny body; her non-seeing eyes were blue with ul-cers. She flinched and struggled when I lifted her into a box and then quickly curled up and went to sleep. I rushed back to Fernando’s and Roman and I bathed away the maggots and filth so she could be examined. Fernando treated her eyes immediately for ulcers although we were unsure how much if any sight she would regain. We fed her immediately and she was able to eat so we were able to avoid putting her on an i.v. After she was bedded down for the night, I resumed my journey home, alternately crying and screaming with rage against the perpetrators of this horror. I have been visiting Angel every few days since her rescue. A mere three days afterwards, she began to react to movement with one eye; on the second visit, she sat up. A few days later, she wagged her tail when I said her name, and the next time she showed me her belly. When I left after the next visit with two of my other dogs in stitches, she spoke. She is out of her Elizabethan collar now and when I lifted her out of the cage to cuddle her, I got my first kiss. Someday when she is well enough, she will find a good home as have over 75 D.A.W.G. rescues in the last 18 months. I saw Angel and did not turn a blind eye; Angel was blind and now she can see.

There is no excuse for blindness to this cause. You can help by helping others to see. I know times are tough; I am funding D.A.W.G. out of my own pock-et. Maybe it is a bit more charitable to give when it is more difficult. But if you can’t give money, you can help us educate. There is no excuse for throw-ing away a bag of puppies or drowning them or wringing the necks of kittens. We are here to help but we need your help. Make your neighbors aware that there is an alternative to this behavior. Encourage and help them to spay and

neuter their animals. Report abuse or neglect to me. Can you foster an animal while we provide food and medicine? Can you work at the library a couple hours a week or month to help us raise funds? Can you ask your veterinarian in your home country to contribute?

Please send a note to dawgfoster-mom@gmail.com or call me at 8850-7477 if you would like to assist us or receive our periodic e-newsletter and notices of adoptees. Healthy animals up for adoption can be seen at the D.A.W.G. Tales Lending Library at the Feria in Uvita every Saturday. Also stop by Fernando’s for animals dropped on his doorstop. Thank you for your continued support and donations, We DAWG-on appreciate it!

Dominical Days 43

La Revista Original de Costa BallenaThe Original Costa Ballena Magazine

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