EDITION OF TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 2017 (PetPowellPress) It’s D Day. Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion in 1944. Lots of us Baby Boomers know the people from that era. Salute. Without them, I’d not have had a career in journalism that allowed me to wise off about politicians, office holders and candidates. Democracy is important. We’ll contemplate it a bit later. In the meantime, some animal notes:
CLETO OUT; SASSY STILL IN
The email about this owner-surrender Shepherd/Husky Mix reported “Happy Update” because Cleto had been rescued.
The happy message came from our Denton tipster Amy Poskey who provided her traditional celebratory note:
“I am soooooooooooooooo thrilled to report that Mike & Mary Frazier with I AM DOG RESCUE have pulled this precious boy who will be going to a wonderful foster home!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! THANK YOU MIKE & MARY!!!
“Sweet Cleto is in hog heaven now; however, he will still need to be treated for his heartworm. Mike & Mary are SO AWESOME and I know they could use our help with donations for his care. No amount is too small.” (Visit iamdogrescue.org.}
In the meantime, you may recall we featured Denton’s Sassy in Monday’s edition. She’d been on the clock all weekend.
Amy reports, “She is still alive cuz there were some adoptions this weekend which made more room. However, if the shelter fills up again she will be in danger again. Most rescues won’t pull the pooches who are dog aggressive so their only hope is adoption. I know there are people out there who only want one pooch but so many of them live in apartments and they aren’t allowed to have Pitties.”
Here are the contact points: [email protected], paul.o’[email protected], [email protected], and/or [email protected] and, also, [email protected].
The McNatt Animal Care and Adoption Center is at 3717 N. Elm St. in Denton. Call 940-349-7594.
HOW ABOUT A BLUE-EYED DARLIN’?
Our longtime tipster Deborah Lynn Verner, a veteran animal rescuer, is holding onto one more and trying to find some help.
This is Oreo, about 8 weeks old, and he needs a rescue to take him, Deborah says.
“He was originally found in a horse barn in Rowlett, where other kittens had been discovered dead after being stepped on by the horses. He's off the bottle now, and eating some kitten milk mixed with Stage 2 powdered formula. He won't eat kitten canned wet food yet.” Click HERE to reach Deborah.
GRANT NEWS FROM SPCA
Here’s the text of the SPCA’s Monday News release: “The SPCA of Texas is excited to announce that it has received a generous grant in the amount of $123,298 from PetSmart Charities, the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, for emergency relief support. The grant includes $75,000 in cash and an estimated $48,298 of in-kind goods, to support an estimated 3,000+ pets the SPCA of Texas’ Animal Cruelty Investigations Unit rescues annually from abuse in North Texas and animals affected by natural disasters.”
Learn more and learn how you can help the SPCA by going HERE.
CONTEMPLATIONS
This is the front page of a paper from D-Day 1944. It was an “EXTRA.” There was even a minister’s prayer. Online you can find dozens of these.
As a professional journalist since August 1965, about 21 years after D-Day, I’ve always appreciated the freedoms that survived World War II. A free press is the spotlight that makes the roaches nervous.
That’s not as eloquent as what Supreme Court Justice (1937-1971) Hugo Black said: "Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government." He also wrote, “The Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to bare the secrets of government and inform the people.”
How about this one from Albert Camus (1913-1960), the French philosopher, writer and journalist: “A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad.”
And, then, there’s this from British writer Sir Ferdinand Mount, born in 1939, a kid during World War II when his nation was under attack from a crazed dictator who’d silenced the free press in Germany. Sir Ferdinand said, “One of the unsung freedoms that go with a free press is the freedom not to read it.”
And remember, the reader of the free press, the consumer of the general media, has the responsibility of paying careful attention to what you’re reading or hearing. You can’t go through life ignorant and not expect to be punished for your unwillingness to monitor and shape your own fate.
So, pay attention. Read up on things. It’s your duty. Just as surely as those people did their duty on D-Day in 1944 so you could have the freedom to decide whether you’re going to watch and try to understand the Kardashians or you’re going to watch and try to understand the evening news. By acquiring knowledge, you're protecting the nation. It's an important responsibility.
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