Re: BAN DOGS..

[Mark Hedges <hedges@infopeace.com>]

Some months ago, the cops in Washington D.C. swept through the housing
projects, rounded up, and executed a large number of 'illegal dogs' (pit
bulls?). There was a tiny paragraph in USA Today about it. -hedges-


>--- begin forwarded text
>
>
>From: vinnie@vmeng.com
>Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1998 09:34:32 -0700
>Subject:  BAN DOGS..
>To: rah@shipwright.com, Tamzen Cannoy <tamzen@worldbenders.com>
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>X-Priority: 3
>
>
>LETTER TO BAN DOGS
>
>To the Editor
>Arizona Republic
>P.O. Box 2244
>Phoenix, Arizona 85002
>
>January 7th, 1998
>
>Dear Editor,
>
>I am gratified to read in this morning's paper that someone has finally
>called attention to an urgent situation which I have known about for a long
>time:  annually 334,000 victims of savage dog bites, most frequently
>children, average age 15, are taken to the nation's emergency rooms.  As
>the article states: "That's more ER visits than injuries from skateboards,
>baby walkers and in-line skates combined."  Total annual cost of ER dog
>bites: $102.4 million.  Twenty or more people killed annually by dogs,
>almost all of them children.
>
>Because these dogs are so readily obtainable on the streets of our nation,
>I implore all your readers to immediately deluge their Congressmen with
>letters, phone calls, faxes and telegrams to support the federal "Save the
>Widdle Childwen Fwom the Vicious Dog-Bite Act of 1998", which would require
>the following: mandatory muzzles fitted with muzzle-locks to be kept at all
>times on all dogs, licensing and paw-printing of all dogs, fingerprinting
>and house-monitoring of dog owners, including mandatory,
>federally-monitored safe storage of dogs and an immediate 1,000% tax on all
>dog food.  This Act is sponsored by Canine Control Incorporated, an
>organization dedicated to eliminating canine violence in America by the
>year 2000. The Act also provides for the immediate banning of all "assault
>dogs", the definition of which term will constantly change according to the
>emotions of the board of C.C.I.  "Saturday Night Special" dogs, such as
>Chihuahuas and other cheap, easily concealed ankle-biters, will also be
>banned.  In addition, the Act bans all sharp canine teeth, all canine teeth
>longer than a federally-mandated length, all spiked collars and sharp
>canine toenails.  It also mandates that all dogs be transferred only
>through federally licensed dog dealers, and provides for the changing of
>the BATF to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Assault Dogs, or
>BATFAD.
>
>I hope that the physicians' organizations who champion total hand-gun
>banning will rally behind this urgent cause to save our nation's children.
>Anyone who opposes this type of legislation obviously hates children.  We
>need this Act desperately - after all, if it saves only one life, it is
>worth it.  Not to mention the $102.4 million dollars in ER charges!
>
>My husband's face was horribly mauled at the age of four by a Pit Bull;
>today he is the poster child for C.C.I.  Now, when not being used as a
>drooling doorstop or for first base, he is routinely wheeled out at charity
>fund-raising events at which he repeatedly mumbles, "Bad dogs!  Ban dogs!"
>
>We urgently need your help to get these vicious dogs off the streets now!
>Please help end canine violence in America!  Send donations to: C.C.I.,
>1111 B.S. Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.  20004.
>
>Make the checks out to me.
>
>Tina Terry
>
>c) 1998 by Tina Terry.  This letter may be reprinted in its entirety, as
>long as nothing in it is changed, credit is given the author, and the
>following is included.  Author's note: The author's husband's face really
>was mauled at age 4 by a Pit Bull, an incident in which he almost lost an
>eye.  He's not in a wheelchair, true, but he also doesn't blame dogs in
>general for his early experience and he loves and owns dogs to this day.  He
>also has never tried to enlist the author to run around the country trying
>to ban all dogs.
>
>
>
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>--- end forwarded text
>
>
>-----------------
>Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
>Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
>44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
>"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
>[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
>experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'



__________________________________________________________________
  Mark Hedges   hedges@infopeace.com   www.infopeace.com
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