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"UNCONDITIONAL LOVE" I’ve been thinking about a couple of examples of love that took years and years and untold amounts of money to prove. In an article in the Houston Chronicle in September of this year I read a story written in Seattle Times, Seattle, Washington. It told the story of the owner of two Lhaso Apso dogs that had been condemned to death or exiled to permanent "dog prison" fro biting two women. Because the two dogs were not on a leash or confined and because two days after the first attack, the two small "lap" type dogs were charged with biting another lady and because city animal control ruled that the two were vicious and a threat to public safety, they should die. The two dogs were taken to an animal control shelter and locked in 5 by 20 foot cages. The owner of the dogs began a seven year battle to win the freedom of his two dogs. Because the owner of the small dogs had been charged with leash law violations twice before the biting events, when the last attacks happened in 1993, the dogs were impounded. The following account of the continuing battle to save and release his dog (the story concerns only one of the dogs named "Word" because of the other dog died in his cage in 1999, serving six years before death). The article gives the cost of maintaining the last dog "Word" as being $10 a day, which would have also applied to the second dog making the cost to taxpayers $20 dollars a day. The story tells of the owner’s attempts to see his pets and being too poor to own a car or hire a lawyer, he managed to visit his pets twice a month. The owner was tried and convicted of four counts of violations for owning vicious dogs. He got probation and community service, but two years later the authorities set a death date for the dogs as August 1995. There were lawyers in Seattle who were dog lovers and more than one took up arms to help save the two dogs. Working many hours for years, free because they felt the soft tiny little dogs should not die. The basis of their first court trial was a violation of the owner’s Constitutional Rights of due process. This was also cited in each court that followed during the seven year fight. The case was successfully appealed through all the next level of courts until it arrived in the Supreme Court in 1998. The owner was given the right to a hearing by the City to give his reasons for saving the life of the one dog "Word" that was still alive. At that hearing the City rejected the owners plea and gave him a choice of death to the dog to a "doggy" prison in another state. Again the attorneys have filed an appeal to the State Court of Appeals. At this time, September 2000, "Word" is still alive and waiting to get out of the 5 by 20 foot prison. The above story of a continuing love and the story of a dog owner’s efforts reminded me that I read an almost exact story in the material loaned to me by Martha and Harley Gandy of happenings in the past. The story of the dog and man’s relationship is known as far back as the 10th century as evidenced in the findings of a group of archaeologists in Great Britain. These experts found evidence of a settlement with the remains of twenty dogs buried in separate graves, while all other animal remains were thrown about unburied. The care for the burial of the dogs indicates the animals were valued for hunting or herding at least 10 centuries ago. "The dog played an important role in the medieval settlement probably as sheep dogs or herding. There is certainly an element of care in the way the dogs have been buried and it seems to show that the owners had built up some sort of attachment to their animals. In the January 2001 issue of the National Geographic, an article about the latest findings of archaeologists dates the dog’s connection to humans as far back as the first half of the fifth century B.C. In the area of the world known today as Lebanon, archaeologists found a large cemetery filled with a thousand dogs." The dogs apparently die naturally. They showed no trauma or cut marks from being butchered. They were carefully laid on their sides in a shallow pit with their tails wrapped around their hind legs. Dogs were associated with healing in many cultures because they licked their sores and wounds." These dates and accounts of dogs could lead to speculation about the possibility of Adam and Eve having some canine pets in the Garden of Eden. The following story says that a conflict over a dog between two neighbors lasting for years and involving many prominent men, and costing much money and ending up in Supreme Court of the time 1870, and being won by Senator George G. Vest of Missouri by way of a eulogy delivered before a jury in Missouri, a state famous for it’s hound dogs. The newspaper account by Will C. Ferguson, editor of the Rocky Mountain Herald of Denver, Colorado and a nephew of two litigants says the case winning oratory has been repeated more times than any other speech of its kind. I will include Senators Vest’s tribute to the dog, Man’s best friend at the end of this article (part II next week) and I think you will agree that it will arouse some emotion even in those who don’t like dogs. The squabble came about when Leonidas Hornsby was accused by Charles Burden of killing "Drum" Hornsby’s favorite hunting dog. Both families were well-to-do or the case would not had many trials, cost much money and end up in the Supreme Court of Missouri. The story next week in part II. |
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©Montgomery
County News, 2004 |
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