ReadLarryPowell.com

A thanks from a puppy's friend

At the March 9 entry you can read about the little blue-eyed puppy rounded up off the Dallas streets by Christi Hansen. The call was sent out for foster help and, sure enough, someone has answered and the little dog is in a caring spot.

But the experience inspired Christi to appreciate all the animal fans who pull together around here to protect the wandering, the lost, the dumped and the ignored. (That's the mangy pup after a bath on the right and below, same pup after some treatment and a romp.)

Christi sent me a note about "the amazing people that run these rescue groups all over the Metroplex and beyond.

"I just can't believe how many compassionate, unselfish, kind-hearted (I could go on forever with the adjectives!!) people there are that do the rescue thing and fostering (the fostering people are truly one of a kind) day in and day you. ... I have so much respect, admiration, appreciation (again, the list goes on!) for these people.

"I am in awe, as you can tell right now. The number of people, groups, etc., that have e-mailed me regarding this one puppy just floors me.

"I can't get over the incredible networking that goes on for these helpless animals. I wish there were some way to reward them (if I ever win the lottery, they would be first on my list to give money to!) for their work. ... It is truly amazing how much they care, REALLY CARE, about the well-being of homeless animals.

"I wish I had one-fourth of the passion that they have that keeps them going every single day." (Any of you rescue/foster folks want to thank Christi for the well-deserved compliment, e-mail [email protected].)

Well, folks, Christi had sent me an e-mail asking me to write a thank-you for the rescue/foster people because she thought I could "put it into words." But, as I told Christi, her letter came from the heart and captured the appreciation and respect far better than I could.

So, basically, I agree with Christi and here's the big "amen" from me. Bless your hearts and may you understand how respected you are for putting yourselves on the line.

Takin' it easy, breezy.

This is such an unbelievably beautiful day that my funspouse Martha and I simply decided to enjoy driving around looking at the budding trees, then went to a movie and sat in the dark during the "heat" of the afternoon.

Our cat, Griffin, who can really fill up a desk chair, chose to nap. He has no cat's pajamas, but he also has never been ordered to a courthouse.

Arresting development

By golly, here's a trait you like to see in an elected official: animal fan. Three cheers for the sheriff.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, who admits to having "rescued" dogs from unpleasant conditions, has adopted a shelter dog, reports Anita Edson of the SPCA of Texas. The sheriff claimed Vinny, a year-old male beagle/heeler mix at the SPCA booth at the Dallas Home & Garden Show last weekend.

(That's the sheriff with SPCA volunteer Rick Danna. And that's Vinny, completely interested in something off-camera.)

Anita reports that the sheriff says Vinny is "like glue with me -- follows me everywhere. ... I think he knows he's home."

The sheriff must have an arresting command in her voice. Vinny has bolted out the front door of her home twice, she says, "but both times he comes running back when I call him. He is a sweetie. He's home."

Now, if we can get each deputy to go to area shelters and adopt one or two critters, the shelters would be empty -- for about 30 minutes. Sadly, Dallas has a never-ending supply of "throwaway" dogs and cats.

Bless the sheriff for stepping up and being a friend to animals.

I know you readers would want me to ask this question as sure as Quick Draw McGraw was a horse: "Anybody calling Vinny 'Deputy Dawg'?"

Pajama game, cats, labs, cash

Good day to all of you in or out of both pajamas and custody.

I guess the only question remaining in the Michael Jackson trial is not the verdict, but which lawyer will now own the Beatles music that Michael bought in the mid-90s.

That whole cavalcade of weirdness has obscured the fact that there's a serious trial going on. It may just be the freakiest court event I can remember since the year I covered a sanity hearing in Fort Worth where a guy told the court he wore a hat made from a colander and aluminum foil to keep the government's secret rays from talking to his brain and making him do bad things.

If Michael shows up in pajamas and a colander next week, I'll start to wonder if that Fort Worth guy was right.

CAT COMMENT: Our reliable tipster and relentless rescuer Mary of Oak Cliff has a take on the cat that shot the owner (see yesterday's items). She writes, "The cat just wanted to let its owner know what it feels like to be shot. When the guy gets out of the hospital he is supposed to call the idiot that wants to shoot all the loose cats. Cats do seek revenge -- or it sure seems that way."

Mary, of course, is referring to the proposal in Wisconsin that feral cats become hunting targets. (Visit www.dontshootthecat.com) All the oddballs aren't on trial in California.

NEEDING HOMES: The Companion Animal Network is trying to help find homes for a couple of dogs who have neither pajamas nor papers, but do have a reputation for being good with people.

Gail Whelan notes that one of the network's many goals is "to assist veterinary clinics with animals that had been abandoned at their facility or brought in as strays by clients." Bless the clients for caring enough to bring in those strays and bless the vets for stepping up to help the animals. (Vets need more credit for the good things they do outside of just "taking care of business.")

Benay, about 4, is a purebred yellow Lab found roaming in a wooded area. She's at the University Park Animal Clinic until her new home is found, Gail reports. And Hud is a handsome rascal of indeterminate lab-mix breeding found running along East Grand. He's less than a year old and enjoys snuggling. To ask about adopting either or both of these dogs, e-mail the Companion Animal Network at [email protected].

SOME REMINDERS: (1) The Metroplex Animal Coalition's Have-a-Heart campaign is nearly halfway over -- the outfit is raising money to support its Patt Davis Memorial Spay/Neuter Fund and needs donations to match the $15,000 grant pledged by Cheryl and Sam Wyly. Info about how to donate is at www.metroplexanimalcoalition.com.

(2) If you're due in court today, don't show up in pajamas. That's been done.

The caliber of the cook....

News all over the place -- Dan Rather leaves the CBS anchor chair, there's a break in that big double-murder case in Chicago and, on the Drudge Report (www.drudgereport.com), a one-line headline "Cat shoots owner."

If you live with cats, your first thought was probably "Man, you've got to open those cans quicker." At mealtime, a cat is "no-nonsense."

It turns out, the AP story says, that some guy left a handgun laying around while he was cooking and a cat knocked it off, it hit the floor and discharged. The guy was hospitalized but wasn't killed.

Now, this is something that could have been easily prevented.

Put your gun away? Yes, that would seem to be the simple way to avoid this problem. But, then, all the good chefs like to keep a sidearm handy when they work. You know, in case the mood strikes to play "skeetshoot" when they're flipping flapjacks.

But, the easiest way to prevent such an "accident" is to simply "cat proof" your house. That means putting away -- perhaps into a locked cabinet -- anything that may be used in the testing of the law of gravity. As my catfanspouse Martha notes, cats are constantly double-checking to make certain the law of gravity has not been repealed.

If you have a cat, you've probably seen him or her sit on a counter, table or shelf and, after a period of deep contemplation, reach over with one delicate paw and shove off a spoon, a magazine, a vase, etc., just to watch the rate of descent.

I suspect the cats are studying gravity so they can continue to demonstrate expert ability at jumping.

Of course, the cat in the news story could have simply been saying to the human, "Hey, Bozo. You need to lock this thing up before somebody gets hurt." Some cats are notoriously smarter than people who cook with firearms on the cutting board.

So, if any of you have guns laying around the kitchen today, please put them away. I don't know if they go into the utensil drawer or the appliance cabinet. But a pistol in the paw of a cat, well, it could turn into a feliney. I can't believe I stooped to such felonious wordplay.

Look, enough people get shot intentionally. We don't need accidental shootings to pad the statistics, do we?

But, if you insist on cooking with a weapon, use habanero peppers. Just as vicious as a bullet and the recovery takes longer.

Life as we know it

The sun is shining, the cats are basking and we're grateful we're not anywhere near Mount St. Helens or the Texas Legislature, two uncontrollable forces of nature.

So in the last couple of days we've heard that the rock singer Bono (pronounced "Bohn-oh") of U2 (I can't name a single song) is a possible World Bank president and that actor Will Smith might have presidential aspirations.

Don't scoff. A man best known as "Gopher" on Love Boat and the old singing hippie songwriter from the '60s, Sonny Bono ("Bow-no"), were both elected to Congress. Anything is possible.

SPEAKING OF SURELY THE IMPOSSIBLE: Reader/tipster Chris Cattell has thoughtfully provided us with this link: www.don'tshootthecat.com. It's the site set up by people who are campaigning against a proposal in Wisconsin to license hunters to shoot feral cats.

What a supremely idiot idea. At the "don't shoot" site you can get information about how to offer your two-cents on the issue.

Here's a question: How would these pinhead hunters be able to tell a feral cat from somebody's roaming cat? These marksmen already have ID problems: Every year we hear of one hunter shooting another because he can't tell a guy in an orange hat from a beige deer wearing antlers.

A GOOD DOG'S PLIGHT: Good lord, is Dallas the Kingdom of Mange? You rescuers know the disgusting answer to that question.

As Christie Hansen can testify, mange has a home on the local range.

On Saturday she picked up an 8-week-old puppy off the streets. Christie reports, "She is currently at my vet's and is being treated for sarcoptic mange. I am boarding her there until I can find a home for her. She is a sweet little girl."

The dog, of course, is too young to be spayed, but she has been given all her meds and is being treated for mange. Christie asks, "Can you help me find a home for this little angel?" (If you've got a home for this little puppy, e-mail [email protected].) Isn't that a sweet little blue-eyed baby?

Meanwhile, a point for pondering: Is there some way to eliminate mange around here? Of course! Make humans behave responsibly and instead of just turning out their mangy critters, make them take care of the rascals. Hang on, a second, where did I put my magic wand?

NEEDING HOMES: The Companion Animal Network has four dogs that quickly need foster homes. They include Porter, a male Golden Retriever mix who loves people and cats; Scarlett (left), a female pointer/boxer mix who ignores cats and is recovering from kennel cough and is getting depressed; Agnew, a male German shepherd mix who's not crazy about cats and his brother, Mondale, who loves cats. (ContactCompanion Animal Network at www.petfinder.com/shelters/ca-n.html.)

REPORT FROM THE FRONT: Kelly Andrus dropped us a line to thank us for mentioning last weekend's DFW Bulldog Rescue garage sale -- she says the group raised $700. So far this year, Bulldog Rescue (www.dfwbulldogrescue.org) has taken in 23 dogs -- that's way ahead of the pace of 55 dogs for all of 2004. The group's medical fund is about $6,000 short right now and plans are, of course, to stage more fundraisers including an April "Bulldog Rescue Picnic Reunion." Keep watching this website and the rescue website and we'll post the details.

URBAN ANIMAL REMINDER: Rescue and shelter groups should send your April schedules to [email protected] ASAP for listing in the next issue of Urban Animal magazine. The magazine is proud to list the activities without charge.

Be sure to put a contact number or e-mail on your note so your compiler doesn't have to play detective and hunt you down to confirm details. Make it easy on the poor aging man who operates completely without mind-reading talents.

Dallas, you've got to be kidding...

Based on more than 30 years of careful observation of the City of Dallas, I've come to realize that the "D" in Big D doesn't stand for "smart." Not by a long shot. Big Dumb, my, oh, yes.

I've got a friend who lives in one of your nicer North Dallas neighborhoods -- the kind you'd want your kids to be able to live in some day. The neighbors are tight with each other.

Last weekend, someone from somewhere else drove down their alley and dumped the wood from an old privacy fence. Then, someone else, not expecting to encounter such a pile of wood in the usually pristine passage, turned into the alley and before they could brake to a halt, blasted through the wood with their car.

The dumping was intentional, the splintering was an accident.

One of the neighbors, striving to do a good deed in Dallas, called the city for help in removing the mess. After all, the city does have crews that go through neighborhoods picking up brush and refuse.

No good deed goes unpunished around here.

The city sent out a code compliance officer who issued citations to at least three neighbors warning them that if THEY didn't clean up the mess, there'd be the devil to pay in the city court system. Not the exact wording, but you get the drift.

So, Dallas, rather than helping its taxpaying residents who were concerned about the big mess, simply left the big mess there and is using "Fear of Court" as a motivational tool to get the neighbors -- the VICTIMS -- to clean up the alley.

This sort of municipal reaction, I suspect, tends to discourage people from reporting big messes in the city. And that, of course, is how a city gets to be and gets to stay messy as an untended landfill.

Now, why can't the city HELP its citizens? Why isn't there respect for the people who pay the bills around here? Why can't Dallas be more people friendly? Is there something wrong with a municipality being kind and helpful to its taxpayers?

A good citizen tells the city about a big mess in a public alley and the city says, "Thanks for pointing it out. Clean it up or we'll fine you until your eyes bleed."

Maybe the city doesn't have clean-up crews, just crews to order paperwork and process citations.

I guess those Dallas neighbors are lucky they didn't find a gunshot victim in the alley. Using the Dallas System, they'd have all been charged with murder.

Lewisville Ponders a Dog Park

Here we are on a Monday and there's already a mission for Wednesday. Heads up Lewisville and surrounding area.

This comes from Rhonda Hurst of Texas Tailwaggers Village Rescue and the Lewisville Park Board. She says there's a meeting planned that may get things going for a dog park in Lewisville. (7 p.m. Wednesday, Lewisville City Hall Annex.)

The official announcement from Rhonda reads, "If you are not a resident but plan to use the dog park, spend money in Lewisville, etc., please attend....We need to show that the citizens are very interested in a dog park and want it to be located in the right place that makes animals and people happy."

Finding the right spot may be as big a challenge as getting the OK to put in the park. For additional info or to voice support, email [email protected].

Rhonda says she also can use advice on how to demonstrate to city officials just how important it is for residents to have an off-leash recreational area for their dogs.

Lewisville, which has an active animal rescue community, is no longer the little rural wide-spot on the highway that inspired the high school's mascot name, Fightin' Farmers. Lewisville is an urban area with freeways and giant neighborhoods and all sorts of urban challenges.

Urban challenges? Well, I've driven on Main Street in Lewisville and it's as busy as Mockingbird Lane in Dallas.

Nice parks make life a little more bearable and are a good selling point for people who want to relocate but can't decide on a city.

Roadside spectacles

As my musicalspouse Martha and I were driving through downtown we passed the big gym, American Airlines Center, and saw a light-up message board that said Steven Curtis Chapman was coming to town.

This was remarkable news to us. Why? Because neither of us knew who Steven Curtis Chapman is. Like, we know Fifty Cent, Andre 3000, Green Day, Gwen Stefani, Tiny Tim, Bob Wills and the Everly Brothers, too, but not a clue about this tri-monikered guy. For all I knew, he's a guy who tours and teaches people how to buy old houses and get rich. Heck the only people who really used three names were assassins: John Wilks Boothe, Lee Harvey Oswald, etc.

Turns out Steven Curtis Chapman is  a Grammy winner for "Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album." I don't even know what that category sounds like but it's doesn't have the tone of something I'd have heard in my childhood Baptist church. It doesn't have the dark cloud of relentless depression you get sitting in a hardwood pew and being told you are dangling your feet in the hot fires of hell's canyon.

Anyway, as we rode along we shot the breeze about this name thing. We've lived through an era when people had two names that matched: Doris Day, Patti Page, Chubby Checker...And we've lived through the one-name age: Elvis, Cher, Madonna, Goofy....Now, we're obviously in the three-name age -- like all these people are using the three names because, as kids, they got called by all three names.

"Steven Curtis Chapman -- you are in big trouble." That's the only way all three of our names were used -- often followed by "You go out into the yard and get your own switch!" Maybe we're now living in the age of "scolded performers."

I said to Martha, "I guess the four-named people are coming next" and she said, "I think Englebert Humperdink already counts for four."

Near downtown we also saw a billboard with two hotsy-totsy babes snuggling each other -- it was an ad for Texas Showgirls, where, I assume, each night the big showstopper is from Oklahoma. "I'm just a girl who cain't say 'no.'..."

Pups, a festival, the Fair and the Lege

Let 's begin Saturday's postings with this: Make animal laws tougher, make it easier for me to win Lotto Texas. Simple wishes.

And one more thing: Do you find irony in the fact that we're being inundated by reports of rampant obesity in America and the theme for the 2005 State Fair of Texas (Sept. 30-Oct. 23) is "Let Yourself Go!" Makes you want a corny dog or a Belgian waffle already, doesn't it? Let yourself go. Maybe you can borrow Big Tex's pants. Plenty of time to diet between now and Sept. 30.

PUPS ABOUND: The South East Dallas Humane Society has some real beauties in its care these days. SEDHS's reliable tipster, Wendy, reports that the rescue group just "acquired" seven chow-mix pups. She's keeping three, another person is taking one and there are three available to go into a foster home or to another rescue group. They're 8 weeks old and all boys. The red one is the most outgoing and friendly" and the black one needs some loving care to bring it out of its skittishness and distrust. (Go to www.sedhs.org to help.)

THE IRISH REPORT: Reliable tipster Chris Cattell visited the North Texas Irish Festival at Fair Park and reports that "rescue is well represented at the festival. GALT (Greyhound Adoption League of Texas), Sheltie Haven, HART, Irish Wolfhound rescue, Dallas Animal Services, Great Pyrenees rescue, Scottie rescue, Texas Lab Rescue -- I'm know I'm leaving out a couple but good luck to everyone!" Meanwhile, Carole Clark reports that both the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas and Greyhounds Unlimited have booths at the festival. She says she and her husband, Michael, "have adopted dogs from both organizations and I can testify that all the folks affiliated with these groups do a tremendous job of sheltering, promoting and loving these wonderful '45 mph couch potatoes.' " Their dogs are Chip and Asia.

The greyhound websites are at www.greyhoundadoptiontx.org for GALT and www.greyhoundsunlimited.org for, of course, Greyhounds Unlimited. THE COURT AND THE DOGS: The SPCA has been awarded custody of all those pit bulls rescued from Anderson County. (Go to www.spca.org to see how to volunteer to help -- there's a way at the site to donate, too. This isn't going to be a cheap recovery.)

MAKING THE LAW 'MEANER THAN A JUNKYARD DOG': I hate that term because those poor dogs are usually treated so poorly, but, frankly, that's the sort of meanness we need in this state to make sure the wronged animals can get justice and that jerks will think before they hurt any critter.

I noticed that the SPCA press releases sent by Anita Edson and Maura Davies included this line: "House Bill 653, which was signed into law in June 2001, classifies certain acts of animal cruelty, such as causing animals to fight, as a felony which imposes up to two years in a state jail and a $10,000 fine to those convicted."

That’s the Loco Law and it’s tough but not tough enough.

Now, according to the Texas Humane Legislation Network, HB 326, which would make the state's law even tougher, has been shuttled off to the Texas House Committee on Agriculture & Livestock. Oddly, it's not seen as an animal-friendly comittee.

THLN says that to keep the bill from dying in this committee, animal folks need to immediately (in a "polite and courteous" manner) contact the offices of members of that committee to tell them how important it is to get the bill approved and out of committee and into the "action" area of the state legislature. Go to www.thln.com and click on action alert for a list of committee members and their phone numbers. (By clicking on the legislative update button at the thln site, you can find who your state rep is in case you don't know already. Things change -- lines are redrawn, people lose elections and sometimes it's hard to keep up with the Texas Legislature unless you've fitted each member with a Parks & Wildlife tracking collar.)

Here's some idea of the challenge in that Ag committee: The chair is Rick Hardcastle of Vernon who actively supported, along with committee member Betty Brown of Kaufman, last session's bill allowing the slaughter of horses for human consumption. (Texas is the only state in the nation with plants dedicated to that disgusting business.)

But the committee also includes the honorable Lon Burnam of Fort Worth, who voted against the slaughter bill -- the bill failed. Big customer of these horse slaughterhouses? The French. Let 'em eat fries, I say.

There are two horse slaughterhouses in Texas: the Dallas Crown plant is in Rep. Brown's district and the Beltex plant is in Rep. Burnam's district.

Meanwhile, we need to gently but forcefully remind the Legislature that being kind to animals will result from passage of HB326 -- seems like such an easy decision. Vote yes, get that bill passed, then get busy fixing the state's school systems.

Good grief, can you believe that basic issues such as educating children and being kind to animals are such big honking challenges?