'Democrat dog' gets frisky with the governor

Rosie's Diner in the quaint, quiet eastern Greene County community of Hendricksville was the breakfast destination for Gov. Mitch Daniels this past Thursday morning.

The governor told us that day that Rosie's is always one of his favorite morning spots to chow down and meet with some old friends.

It's apparent that Rosie's dining place is more than just a restaurant.

You might now call it a medical clinic.

The governor showed up on his Harley motorcycle wearing a pair of blue jeans that sported an obvious hole or two in one of the legs. Embarrassed, but okay, Daniels revealed that he wasn't trying to make a fashion statement with the tattered jeans.

He explained that he was nursing a dog bite to the leg that he sustained the night before on the farm of a good friend near Gosport where he was bedding down before a Thursday morning swing through Greene County.

The governor unintentionally startled the frisky dog with his Harley Davidson motorcycle when he rode up to the residence. Before he could get off his cycle, the dog got a good grab on his right leg -- tearing the pants and piecing the skin.

The wound was minor, but the governor's staff did summon a nurse --Dawn Durnil, who works for Southern Indiana Pediatrics in Ellettsville to administer him a shot at Rosie's Diner. Dawn is the wife of Indiana State Trooper Todd Durnil, who stationed at the Bloomington ISP Post.

After the governor finished his breakfast, the nurse took him into a back room, where Bobby Knight frequently dined when he was the bench boss for the Indiana basketball Hoosiers, and administered a tetanus shot as a precautionary measure.

Daniels was hesitant to talk much about the incident -- saying he didn't want to embarrass the dog owner who he called a good friend.

The governor said he was most upset because the chomp from the farm pooch kind of messed up a new pair of blue jeans he was breaking in during the motorcycle ride.

With a smile the governor took some good-natured ribbing from some of the folks at the rural Greene County restaurant and said simply, "It must have been a Democrat dog."