NATION IN BRIEF : NEW JERSEY : Death Row Dog Exiled to New York

A 110-pound Akita’s three years on Doggie Death Row in Bergen County, N.J., ended with the pooch’s permanent exile. Gov. Christine Todd Whitman’s staff and lawyers for the dog’s owners signed documents that spelled out conditions of the dog’s release. Taro, owned by Lonnie and Sandy Lehrer, had been in a county pen since 1991 for injuring the Lehrers’ 10-year-old niece. Officials in their town, Haworth, wanted the dog killed under New Jersey’s vicious dog law, claiming it had bit the girl’s lip. The Lehrers insisted the girl provoked the sleeping dog and Taro only scratched her face. The Lehrers said they will give Taro to a West Chester County, N.Y., woman who has promised them unlimited visitation rights.