In this sue-happy society of ours, it's good to know that some judges see lawsuits for what they are: ridiculous and without merit.
A woman from Eastpointe, Mich., who tried to sue a police dog that she claimed bit her on the buttocks was fined $500 last week for frivolously naming the dog as a defendant in her case.
Although the woman, Inez M. Starks, didn't say how she expected the dog to pay her if she won the case, she included the German Shepherd, Liberty, in her lawsuit against the city of Warren and several police officers for an incident in April 2007.
Police were called to the home of Starks' daughter after receiving a truancy complaint against the woman's granddaughter. Starks went to the home, and while she was there, police discovered an outstanding warrant against her son. The dog (he's not the one shown above) was summoned when police believed the son was attempting to flee the scene.
In the ensuing confrontation, Starks claimed she was bitten by the dog. The police report said there was no evidence of a bite wound.
The judge clearly saw the absurdity of a person suing a dog and ordered Starks to pay the fine.
Good thing, too. Think of the precedent had the case against Liberty been allowed to proceed.
While he sits in a prison cell in Leavenworth, Kan., it's interesting to note that Michael Vick has been putting pen to paper. He's supposedly writing a book.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the disgraced football quarterback, who is serving a 23-month prison sentence for his role in a dogfighting operation, is looking for co-authors and a publisher for what could be an autobiography.
His attorney, Daniel Meachum, told the newspaper, "That may or may not be in the making. That would be too premature right now. But I'm committed to helping Mike get back on his feet."
If Vick is really writing a book, you've got to wonder what he'll say. Will he fess up to his crimes, offer an apology and ask for forgiveness for having killed dogs, as he has admitted? Or will he minimize his deeds and look to blame someone else?
Frankly, I have no interest in reading anything Vick has written. If it's an autobiography, there's little about his life that would be worth publishing, even as an object lesson about how to screw up a chance at stardom.
I like the way blogger Matthew J. Darnell of Yahoo! Sports puts it: "... I assume we're talking about an autobiography here, as opposed to a novel or a well-researched edition of ‘Dog Genocide for Dummies.'"
UPDATE: It's comforting to know that the National Football League will not be so quick to forgive and forget. Commissioner Roger Goodell said that even though Vick is serving his time, there's no guarantee he'll be allowed to resume his playing career unless he demonstrates remorse.
"I think it's clear he's paid a price," Goodell said league owners' meetings in Dana Point, Calif., "but to a large extent he's going to have to demonstrate to the larger community -- not just to the NFL community and to me -- that he has remorse for what he did and that he recognizes mistakes that he made.
"Everyone makes mistakes, but he has to show that genuine remorse in his ability to be a postive influence to correct the things that he did wrong publicly."
This has been one point that I, and many others, have stressed for some time. Take responsibility and demonstrate a true sorrow for what you did. Then, and only then, will the healing process begin.
Good dog!
I'm guessing that's what U.S. Customs officers must have told Akim, a K-9 Labrador Retriever, last week after he found almost $3 million in cash on a bus going from the United States to Mexico.
Akim (not the pooch pictured above) works for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is trained to sniff out cash and drugs. He alerted officers to a stash of items hidden under the floor of the bus as it was headed to the Laredo, Tex., border sector. The driver and passengers had declared they had less than $10,000 in cash.
After an X-ray scan of the bus, officers discovered 75 taped bundles of cash totaling $2,997,510.
Akim is 2-for-2. Earlier this month, he helped in a search that resulted in a stash of weapons being found in a pickup truck headed to Mexico, according to officials.
I repeat: Good dog!
Everyone's heard the story about the young boy who told his teacher, "The dog ate my homework."
Here's one about a woman who might have to say to her bank, "My dog ate my deposit."
In Apex, N.C., Kelley Davis told the Raleigh News & Observer that she had an extra $400 in cash she wanted to take to the bank from her job as a physical therapist. When she couldn't find the money in her bedroom, she suspected that the family's two-year-old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog, Augie, might have noshed on it. Maybe an appetizer before dinner?
She was right. When Davis took Augie (pictured above) for a walk the next day, she found bits of $100 and $20 bills in his poop. She washed them off with water and hopes to scrape together enough pieces to exchange them for cash.
Now that's what you call dirty money. On the bright side, a vet said the expensive meal probably wouldn't harm the dog.
If you want a dog, go to a shelter. If you want a pure-bred puppy, find a reputable breeder.
Never go to a pet store. Repeat: Never go to a pet store. Although I can't say for sure, it's a safe bet that virtually all pet-store puppies are the products of puppy mills.
That's why I wish more U.S. cities would do what the town of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., appears ready to do - institute a ban on the sale of dogs and cats by pet stores.
The city's planning commission is going to review an ordinance today that would prevent stores from selling cats and dogs. It's South Lake Tahoe's attempt to combat puppy mills and high-volume breeding facilities that the Humane Society of the United States considers inhumane.
Originally, city officials discussed a ban on the sale of dogs bred in puppy mills. But because the city council realized such a ban couldn't be enforced, it pursued a ban on the retail sale of dogs and cats.
The report says: "A prohibition will also encourage local pet consumers to adopt dogs and cats from shelters, thereby saving animals' lives and reducing the cost to the public of sheltering animals."
There are so many dogs and cats that need loving homes, it's surprising that anyone would purchase a puppy from a pet store. But it happens.
Maybe if more cities took the kind of action that South Lake Tahoe seems prepared to take, we'd finally see the end to puppies being bred in horrendous circumstances.
