I saw a post on here last night about an "annoying man in jackson park" and I just wanted to say that I know what they are talking about. The man they described is older with shoulder length gray hair and he is almost always wearing an army style uniform. He has a yellow colored dog and is usually on a bike. He seems harmless but it is true that he is almost always in the park. I live in the neighborhood between mcdougall and howard so me and my two children spend alot of time in the park when the weather is nice, especially when they were still playing pokemon, LOL!

But it is true no matter what time you go he will be there and it often seems like he is patrolling the park. I have taken my children to the park as early as 6 am and he is already there, and other times we have sometimes been there passed 10 pm and he will be there too. To be honest I remember the first time i noticed him I thought he was an undercover policeman searching for someone. He was making big circles around the park and while my children were playing soccer I saw him pass by six or seven times.

I have no personal problem with him but as a couple of the commenters on the last post said, he is quite pushy and doesnt take no for an answer. Running into him usually means you have a five minute conversation unless you are "heading the same way" and he walks with his bike along with you. This is ok for me because when I am in the park I am going out for fresh air, not in a rush to work or tims LOL. But it is consistent that he will want to stop and talk if he is not already with someone else.

My kids call him "army man and soldier dog" and have imagined that he is hunting the bad guy soldiers through the park LOL. They do not mind him, but my youngest is afraid of larger dogs and at first he would get upset and cry because the man insisted that we all say hello to the dog. I was angry about this at first but I understand that this is his way of introducing himself and now both my kids know that chopper is a "good soldier dog".

So while I ersonally am ok with him and I do think he is harmless I can certainly see why someone who doesnt want to talk or is in a rush to work might be annoyed enough by him to post on here. I am not a dog owner myself but I have seen other people with dogs try to avoid him by cutting across the grass as their dog is territorial and already growling and pulling at their leash but he will circle around and follow them across the grass and there will be a scuffle between the dogs. And I have seen him stop and talk to other people and even put himself into weddings that happen in the park, so it is fair to say that his idea of boundaries might be different than someone elses.