PM Edition: Mr. Hunter Goes To City Hall; Mayor Pro Tem does not...

In case you were unable to find a sleigh to take you to Dallas City Hall this morning to witness Richard Hunter’s statement to the Dallas City Council regarding the Michael Vick Key To The City controversy, we have acquired Mr. Hunter’s comments and will include them in today’s second edition of Readlarrypowell.com. 
Summarizing the inspiration for his appearance at a council meeting on the coldest day of the 21st Century in North Texas: During the excitement of Super Bowl week, Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway presented not “The” Key To The City of Dallas, but “A Lesser Key To The City” to the convicted dog-fighting, dog-killing, Philadelphia quarterback. Mr. Hunter witnessed the episode and since Mr. Hunter has adopted one of Mr. Vick’s dogs and has seen the psychological damage done to the former “bait dog,” he has been moved to protest the honoring of Mr. Vick.
Mr. Hunter spoke this morning to the Dallas City Council though Mayor Pro Tem Caraway was absent. Could have been iced in at his house, might have been elsewhere helping young people, or, perhaps, out in the neighborhoods of District 4 making sure that all animals were properly protected from the weather. We don’t know. But here is what he would have heard from Mr. Hunter had he been there.
Mr. Hunter’s statement:
“My name is Richard Hunter, and I am a resident of Dallas.  My wife and I have adopted one of the dogs that was rescued from Michael Vick’s dogfighting compound.  His name is Mel, and he is the sweetest boy you can imagine.  You see, Vick couldn’t make him a fighting dog, so he used him as a bait dog, muzzled and thrown in with fighters to be killed in the interest of making his dominant dogs better champions.  Michael Vick tried his best to kill Mel, but the law got to him before he could finish the job.
“On Saturday I was horrified to witness Mayor Pro Tem Caraway gleefully proclaiming that a ‘power had been bestowed on him’ to give the man that tried to kill my dog the key to my city.  
“Mayor Pro Tem Caraway, I came home that day to a devastated wife because she couldn’t believe that someone in your position of power and influence would be so cruel as to celebrate with our city’s official honor a convicted felon who has not yet even completed his probation, and who worked so hard to give Mel the scars that he will wear for the rest of his life.  I had no explanation for her sir, because I couldn’t make sense of it, either.  Your rash decision to besmirch  the reputation of our city during a week when the eyes of the world were upon us was an embarrassment to Dallas, but it was a humiliating slap in the face to my family, who witnesses through Mel’s special needs a constant reminder of your honoree’s brutal crimes.
“I understand Mayor Leppert that you have suggested introducing new stricter guidelines for presentation of keys to the city.  I would suggest as part of those guidelines that if you are considering someone for this honor, and you can actually ask yourself the question ‘What would his victims’ families think about this?’, stop considering it right there. 
“Mayor Pro Tem Caraway, when you were asked by WFAA if you thought it was wise to give the key to the city to a felon, you replied, ‘That’s not what I was looking at.’  How that wasn’t top of mind for you is unfathomable to me.  That is the first thing that comes to mind for most people, as evidenced by the backlash of outrage that you are now experiencing. Even the Mayor of Newport News, where Michael Vick is from and where his own aunt is on the city council, said that they would not consider such a bizarre action.
“Mayor Pro Tem Caraway, you said on the radio dismissively that the key is worth about twenty five bucks.  Our civic pride, sir, is worth much more than that.  Based on your defiance in the face of the reaction to your rash decision, and your subsequent diminishing and devaluing of the city’s official honor as a means to defend your actions, I respectfully ask you to relinquish your title as Mayor Pro Tem.  If you are not willing to do so for the good of the city’s national public image and the council’s good standing with its citizens, than I implore the council remove the title from you.
“Mayor Leppert, thank you for disavowing this reckless decision by Mayor Pro Tem Caraway.  I now ask that you complete the task of preserving the city’s reputation by rescinding that key.  Otherwise, those who see that key displayed on Vick’s mantle will be given the false perception that the City of Dallas honored him in a way that no one but Mr. Caraway intended.  Please, Mayor Leppert, take back that key.”
And that is Mr. Hunter’s statement.
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