GREEN TOWNSHIP - While on his living room floor, wrists and legs bound in telephone cord as two masked men ransacked his home, Raymond Kern says he worried about one thing: his black poodle, Max.

        “I was more concerned about my dog than anything,” said Mr. Kern, an 83-year-old bachelor. “I'm glad they left him alone.”

POLICE ASK HELP

The victim's car is a silver 1985 Buick Century with Ohio license plates TAX-183. Police are asking anyone who sees the car or knows anything about the incident to call the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office at 825-1500, or Crime Stoppers at 352-3040.

        Police say Mr. Kern answered the front door of his Epley Road home about 8:30 p.m. Monday and two masked men grabbed him, pushed him to the floor and tied him with cords from his phones.

        The men took about $300 cash, a handgun and his car keys, then fled in his silver 1985 Buick Century. Mr. Kern and Max were uninjured.

        The intruders also held a pillowcase over Mr. Kern's head while they searched the house.

        “I just told them to leave me alone, but they wouldn't do it,” Mr. Kern said while Max curled up on the living room floor. “They just wanted cash, that's all.”

        After the men left, Mr. Kern was able to free himself and call police.

        Mr. Kern said he was in bed when he heard a knock on the door, and he didn't want to answer it. But the knocking was persistent.

        “Somebody might have been in trouble,” he said.

        The retired metal finisher has lived in the house since 1950.

        Sharon Schnur, Mr. Kern's next-door neighbor for about 12 years, said he is a giving person.

        “He'd do anything for you,” she said.

        “I'm glad he's all right. ... I'll just maybe keep more of any eye peeled for what goes on back here.”

        Mr. Kern doesn't expect his outlook on helping people to change drastically.

        “I'll be a lot cautious for a while,” he said. “I'd like to have been 30 years younger. I was pretty good at fighting years ago.”

GOP backers set to party
Tone will be different from Clinton/Gore celebrations
CPS proficiency rank declines
CPS redesigns high schools
Most seniors dropped by HMOs yet to pick backup
Goal: 'Health-care independence' for seniors
Missionary loses home, but not hope
Tristate group aids quake victims
CROWLEY: One-man show
RADEL: Documentary in the making
SAMPLES: Birth was surprising, traumatic and scared the dog
Boone courts plan 50-year run
Boost sought for care tax
Campbell sees need for ball fields, trails
Cathedral bids are in
County breather
Defense fund for officers collects more than $19,000
Hamilton police vow to fight cuts
Intruders still at large
Kenton Dems set short list for chair
Kenton urges later poll hours
N.Ky. agency's new Web site to attract employers
Northside student fasts to protest new Army school
Painters compete for cash
Schools to ask for $50 million
Shooting range near completion
Sludge cleanup cost exceeds $46 million
Trial to begin in death of 8-year-old girl
Twp. OKs new zoning
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report