Letters to the Editor
Editor: I’m writing in response to the family who lost Rufus, their 80-pound chow. While I’m very sympathetic to Rufus for his loss of life, I’m rather annoyed at the family’s insistence on who is to blame. Pardon me if this sounds callous, but it’s time to splash your faces with cold water and wake up. Admittedly, they wrote that Rufus the “80-pound teddy bear” had on more than one occasion gotten loose from his collar and wandered about for a day or two. That dog must have been dehydrated and scared, not to mention hungry. I personally don’t think I’d like to see an 80-pound chow without a collar wandering onto my yard. I’m curious how many people Rufus scared while he was loose. My dog was with my family for 15 years and may have been part Houdini. I understand that dogs can get loose. I had to take drastic measures to be sure my pet was secured. Why weren’t proper measures taken to secure your dog’s collar? Is it the dog’s fault? No. The author wrote that the driver who struck their dog didn’t have the courtesy to bring Rufus home. Was Rufus struck on your property by this car? Unless he was, you didn’t have the courtesy to take measures to ensure your dog was safe from all that lies beyond your property boundaries. Furthermore, you may want to consider yourselves fortunate. “What?” you ask. What if the driver that struck Rufus had enough time to see him (was there?) and chose to swerve out of the dog’s path? At that same moment, an oncoming car with a family: Dad, pregnant Mom, maybe a set of twins was on the scene? Do you see where this is headed? The driver may have wiped out an entire family while trying to avoid hitting your dog. Now that you’ve identified yourselves through your letter, the driver may show up at your door with receipts for repairs to the damage done to the vehicle. After that, a law enforcement agency may show up and cite you for your animal running loose. Bottom line, people need to take responsibility for their actions and watch who they blame for all that goes wrong in their life. The Watsons should be very thankful that the only loss of life was Rufus’ and not that of a human. Jay Klein Salem