Mrs. Dog, The ‘Pit Bull’
Their popular TV show bears her husband’s name, but Beth Chapman has become a star in her own right, and this is her story
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Beth with fan Steven Eltz,
15, of North Dakota,
whose trip to meet the
Chapmans was
sponsored by the Make
A Wish Foundation
a romance, friendship, my children. I have to make time for all of this. There are no shoulds in my life; there are only musts,” she sighs.
“I must get up at 6 a.m. I must get my kids ready. I must be at the trainer by 7. If I’m not at the trainer by 7, I’m in a nasty mood all day because I didn’t get time for me,” she says.
When she gets home shortly after 8, she’s on the phone with New York, ordering merchandise for Dog’s online and retail store. She’s also working on Duane’s book, titled In Dog We Trust,to be released on Father’s Day by Hyperion Books.
From noon to 8 p.m., she’s at Da Kine Bail Bonds on Queen Emma Street filming for the TV show.
If they’re on a hunt or stake-out for a fugitive, it could go later into the night.
Four tour buses a day drive by with curious tourists. They get a thousand phone calls a day. There are five or six baskets of fan mail delivered daily to the office. Chapman’s sister helps answer fan letters.
There are 12 children in the Chapman clan, ranging in age from 6 to 37. Duane Lee Chapman II, 33; Leland Blaine Chapman, 30; and Lyssa Rae Chapman, 19, are regulars on the TV show. Beth is the mother of four children: Dominic, 17; Cecily, 14; Bonnie Jo, 8; and Gary, 6.
After being business partners for 16 years, Duane and Beth Chapman got married last May at the Hilton Waikoloa before 200 relatives and friends. After exchanging vows, Duane uttered, “I’ve already been cuffed and shackled by Beth anyway. She’s Italian and tough.”
Tough fits Beth Chapman to a T. Lately, she’s been back at the
state Legislature lobbying for updated laws to regulate bail bonds. She claims Hawaii’s old laws encourage unfair trade practices, such as allowing lawyers to write bail bonds.
“That’s flat out immoral, unethical and illegal,” she asserts.
Trained by Colorado legislative consultant Frieda Poundstone, Chapman is a powerhouse in the hearing rooms of the state Capitol. Fellow lobbyists say she is sophisticated, professional and eloquent.
She’s hoping for passage this session of House Bill 1882, relating to bail bonds. One of its provisions addresses exoneration from bond liability that would put an end to dangerous criminals being allowed to roam the streets after a guilty conviction.
Chapman’s voice was heard by fellow bail agents at the annual Professional Bail Agents of the U.S. convention in Las Vegas last week, where she was a keynote speaker, joining Emmy Award-winning journalist Rita Crosby to talk about “Women, the Media and Bail.”
Chapman reminds colleagues that bail agents are the pressure relief valve of the criminal justice system, solving problems of overcrowded jails, courts and overworked law enforcement officers.
With their reputation and their family’s livelihood on the line, it is critical that neither she nor her husband/partner ever make a mistake.
“If we make a mistake in our business, we could wind up bankrupt,” she says.
Mistakes are in Chapman’s past. She knows that to err is human. The true test of a strong-willed person is how one recovers in life and contributes meaningfully again to society.
Dog’s best friend and beautiful, devoted wife says life is all about second chances.
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