Heartbreaking
The death of Diamond the pit bull and the virtual non-sentencing of her owner, Angelanetta Gladden, are heartbreaking ("Woman gets little penalty for starving dog to death," June 28).
The Forsyth County Animal Shelter accepts owner surrenders from individuals in the community unable or unwilling to care for their pets. The administration and staff do an exceptional job caring for these animals and adopt out as many as possible. Even when euthanasia is the final act for unadoptable pets, it is performed quickly, respectfully and humanely.
There is nothing humane in watching a dog die a slow, painful, preventable death in your own backyard. Gladden had other options. I just wish she had shared them with Diamond.
BARRIE DEATON
Winston-Salem
The true aim
It takes guts to venture in to the realm of public service. It takes something more if the true aim is to represent those who elect you.
Elisabeth Motsinger, my lifelong friend, mentor, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board member and candidate for congress for North Carolina's 5th District, has shown the people of Forsyth County and now the 5th District that she's got the guts. I can assure you, she's also got the "something more."
In Elisabeth, I see an exceptional willingness and capacity to be deeply and truly present to the hopes, dreams, joys and sorrows of others. I see a consistent determination and energy to stand up with and on behalf of others. I see the defining characteristics of her everyday life extended each day in her candidacy.
In her campaign, Elisabeth is doing all she can to reach out to and hear from the people of the 5th District toward being a true representative of their hopes and dreams for themselves and our nation. She has a great deal of ground to cover. If she has not yet made her way to you, I encourage you to reach out to her, remembering that true representation requires participation.
JENNY MOORE
Winston-Salem
Hall of shame
Here we go again with another judgment-impaired judge (Todd Burke) who gave a "get out of jail free" pass to Angelanetta Gladden, whose dog was starved to death in plain view while chained to a dilapidated, roofless dog house ("Woman gets little penalty for starving dog to death," June 28). Judge Burke apparently thought that it was commendable that Gladden called animal control to dispose of her dead dog, as if somehow that proved lack of malice, rather than sloth. I guess the message to murderers is to remember to call the police to remove your victim's body and then ask for Judge Burke.
No jail time, no fine, no court costs, just three years of unsupervised probation and, if Gladden wants another dog, 24 hours of community service at the Forsyth Humane Society.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Humane Society refuses to permit Gladden to enter its shelter, much less touch its beloved animals. Besides, what was Judge Burke thinking? Does he sentence child-abusers to volunteer at day care centers?
Judge Burke is the latest inductee into our local judicial hall of shame. Let's hope that he is the last and that he either improves his understanding of animal cruelty (and the proven link to child/human cruelty) or he gives himself a pass on future cases.
Lastly, thanks to prosecutor Matt Breeding and to Forsyth County Animal Control for once again doing their best against the uncaring judges they too frequently have to deal with.
KEITH MURPHY
Winston-Salem
Murphy is president of Fur-Ever Friends of NC and a former member of the FCAC Advisory Board. — the editor
Registry
In reference to Scott Sexton's column "Woman gets little penalty for starving dog to death" (June 28), and as someone who considers it an honor and a privilege to love and care for animals, isn't it about time we had a National Animal Offender Registry?
LORI G. WHITE
Clemmons
Voting for Keyes
In the July 1 letter, "Help with problem," the writer asks, "since I voted for Alan Keyes, Vernon Robinson and Herman Cain, am I still a racist or just an uninformed Southern redneck?"
Considering that Alan Keyes has never run for a local or N.C. state office, and only as a presidential candidate in primaries against major candidates like George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney, I'm going to go with "uninformed Southern redneck."
REBECCA MINOR
Winston-Salem
Good afternoon folks! Hmmm...looks like everyone else got caught up in the malware mishap and are unable to get in. Oh, well...
ReplyDeleteLTE 1,3,4: More feedback on the most unfortunate plight of poor Diamond. Suzy's Law was passed to deal with egregious cases of animal abuse, and it doesn't get more egregious than to let a pet starve to death. Obviously, there are people who simply should not be allowed to own a pet. A registry is actually not a bad idea.
LTE 2: Endorsement
LTE 5: Same can be said about Hermain Cain. Actually, since the only POTUS nomination I can recall still being up for grabs when it was NC's turn to vote was the Dem ticket in 2008, I'm not sure vote for Keyes or Cain was possible since both had dropped out by the time NC's primary had rolled around. In either of the 3 cases, I'm not sure I would admit to voting for any of them since all 3 have proven to be crackpots. Perhaps, "bloody fool" is the more accurate term to describe someone who would vote for all 3.
Judge Todd Burke has been a problem child for quite some time, so I've heard.
DeleteHe is protected, because he is African American.
Double standards, you know the routine. AA with two capital 'A's'. Then you add in that he's Vivian's son, and nobody wants to throw him out, or take him on for his ridiculous decisions.
When will AA discrimination ever end, and the get out jail free cards expire?
USAToday poll: Most Americans agree AG Holder should have been held in contempt for his refusal to turn over documents in the 'Fast and Furious' case.
ReplyDeletehttp://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/07/Poll-Most-agree-with-Holder-contempt-think-its-political-799611/1
My best friend and I both read the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books and the Times (London) Literary Supplement on a regular basis, so we often find ourselves discussing books that we have not yet read.
ReplyDeleteNo one can possibly read all the books that they ought to. We are influenced in our choices by each other and by educated friends who have actually read some of the books that we discuss.
We both read widely, but he tends toward literary fiction and biography while I tend toward science and history. Today we were comparing notes on what books we have just added to our nightstands and found that three of the top five are the same…quite unusual:
The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood by James Gleick, a grand study of the theory of information from the invention of writing by the Sumerians up until today. This would seem to me to be a good supplement to another recent "must read", Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. That is a scary book, because it deals with how we make the decisions that we make, mostly not very well.
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World by Maya Jasanoff. All history is nationalistic, so we seldom consider that after the defeat of the British in the Revolutionary War about one in forty "Americans" left the new USA rather than submit to the "new" freedom. That included propertied whites, slaves and American Indians.
The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture by Joshua Kendall. Webster's American Spelling Book, published in 1783, outsold every other book in the USA except for the King James Bible in the 19th century, and would live on to torment those of us who found ourselves caught up in the "spelling bee" culture of the mid-20th century. His "American" dictionary would go on to create a specifically American culture, as differentiated from our recently defeated British cousins.
I eagerly look forward to reading all three books.