I like to call this kind of story a silver lining in the Michael Vick dogfighting case: In Los Angeles County, the district attorney's office and the Humane Society of the United State are teaming up to start a 24-hour tip line for county residents to report cases of dogfighting. As an incentive, they're also offering a substantial reward for an arrest and conviction.
The program was announced today at a media conference at the office of Steve Cooley, the L.A. County district attorney.
It's similar to a cash-for-tips program started last month in Pennsylvania, which offers up to $5,000 for information about dogfights and cockfights. The Humane Society worked with officials in Pennsylvania to start that program.
The L.A. County tip line will be staffed by English and Spanish speakers and offers a $5,000 reward if someone is caught and convicted of dogfighting, a felony under state law that carries a maximum prison sentence of three years. Residents who call in can remain anonymous.
"We expect that these tips will be a starting point for major criminal investigations," Cooley said. The Humane Society estimates that some 250,000 dogs are forced to engage in dogfighting in the U.S. every year.
This sounds like a program that should spread quickly if states want to eliminate this horrifying and inhumane blood sport.
Sometimes I worry that I can't seem to let go of the Michael Vick issue. I wonder if maybe I've written too much about it, and that at some point those of us who own and love dogs need to move forward - forgive and forget and get on with our lives.
But it's tough. The unspeakable crimes that were committed against those dogs and Vick's transition back into pro football after serving 18 months in prison have come and gone. So why we can't we let it go?
I know I'm not alone. It's a subject that continues to resurface, particularly by those were personally touched by the Pit Bulls that were rescued from Vick's horrific dogfighting operation in Virginia.
One of them is Donna Reynolds, co-founder Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls (BAD RAP), who has seen up close the results of Vick's dog-killing ring - the kinds of things few others truly realize. As Christie Keith wrote this week in the San Francisco Chronicle, Vick was convicted of running a gambling operation that involved dogs, not of animal cruelty.
That's why we've never really heard the details of how Vick and his cohorts actually disposed of unworthy fighters. But Reynolds knows.
Two years ago, she went to Virginia to evaluate 49 Pit Bulls that were found alive on Vick's property. A federal agent told her some of the things they discovered during their investigation, horrible things no one knew. In her blog, Reynolds wrote, "The details that got to me then and stay with me today involve the swimming pool that was used to kill some of the dogs. Jumper cables were clipped onto the ears of underperforming dogs, then, just like with a car, the cables were connected to the terminals of car batteries before lifting and tossing the shamed dogs into the water.
"We don't know how many suffered this premeditated murder, but the damage to the pool walls tells a story. It seems that while they were scrambling to escape, they scratched and clawed at the pool liner and bit at the dented aluminum sides like a hungry dog on a tin can."
It was difficult to read that the first time, and it's equally difficult to write now. But it helps explain why so many people remain angry, why Vick still encounters protestors when he plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, why dog owners still wait for a sign of remorse from him that isn't likely to come.
And the fact is, he has never paid for those acts of cruelty. He is earning millions of dollars playing football again while speaking occasionally to groups about the evils of dogfighting. But where's the apology? Where are the tears? When does he ask for forgiveness?
Until then, I can't forget.
Like me, you were probably stunned at the news this week - announced by Michael Vick's agent, Joe Segal - that the disgraced NFL quarterback had agreed to an endorsement deal with Nike. This was the same company that had abruptly severed its relationship with Vick in August 2007 after he admitted his role in a dogfighting operation and agreed to plead guilty to the charges.
Segal told a reporter about Vick's "long-standing, great relationship" with Nike as if they were old friends getting back together. I was ready to boycott Nike - and so were a lot of other people if believe what was being written on blogs.
Turns out Segal misspoke. Nike back-pedaled from the supposed endorsement deal faster than Lance Armstrong heading to the finish line. There was no deal with Vick, a company spokesman said. They're giving him shoes to wear in games - that's all.
There is no contract, and Vick will earn no money from Nike for slipping on a pair of football cleats this season. The deal is similar to what any second-string offensive lineman would get from a shoe company: free shoes.
Before Nike set the record straight on this matter, there was no shortage of supposed experts who claimed that Vick still had star power and that Nike certainly must be aware that professional athletes can retain their pull with consumers, regardless of past crimes.
David Carter, a professor of sports marketing at USC, was quoted as saying: "Nobody understands their consumer and has their finger on the pulse of their consumer like Nike does."
He was right, just not the way he intended. Nike doesn't mind if Vick wears their shoes - they just don't want to pay him for it.
While the Philadelphia Eagles have decided it's OK for Michael Vick to play professional football, they apparently don't think it's OK for fans to express their opposition to his participation in dogfighting.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Kori Martin said she was stopped by security personnel as she entered Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia last Sunday because she was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Losers fight pitbulls" on the front and Vick's name and No. 7 crossed out. On the back, her shirt said, "You don't deserve a second chance."
Martin said she was told the shirt was offensive to the players and was prevented from entering until she agreed to turn it inside out. She said she was told that the policy came from the team's top management.
A team official, however, told the Inquirer that there was no such policy banning anti-Vick clothing. Martin said she was angered by the incident.
"Not only has (owner) Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles organization supported a dog murderer by signing this convict," she said, "but now they want to take away my freedom of speech just because I don't agree with them?"
Good point.
Meanwhile, Vick spoke at a church in Washington D.C. this week that was sparsely attended by teenagers, who are supposedly his intended audience. As in previous speeches, Vick talked about himself but not about the dogs he has acknowledged killing.
"Anything can happen when you're fighting dogs at 2 or 3 in the morning," he told the assembled group. "I'm blessed to be before you and still have my life. It's like standing on the corner and dealing drugs. It's a criminal life."
Nothing, however, about the dogs that lost their lives.
It's worth noting that, although there were six D.C. police officers in attendance, no incidents occurred. Vick parked his Mercedes Benz behind the church and was escorted inside by the cops.
As he spoke, a banner saying "End dogfighting" hung behind him. I wonder what stadium security would have done if Kori Martin wore a T-shirt with those words on it.
Here's a Vick update that may surprise you: Vick's agent, Joel Segal, announced that his client has signed an endorsement deal with Nike, which dropped Vick in August 2007 after he admitted guilt in a dogfighting ring that sent him to prison. Now they're back together.
But I'm not on board. From now on, I boycott Nike products.
So it turns out there wasn't much going on Thursday night either for or against Michael Vick in Philadelphia. According to the Web site Fanhouse.com, three women held a banner outside the team's stadium that said, "Murderers are not role models," while elsewhere, about a dozen men gathered for what clearly looked like an orchestrated rally in support of Vick.
At the stroke of 6:30 p.m., Fanhouse reported, the men, reportedly from the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, turned toward a group of TV cameras so that their leader could speak.
Here's what J. Whyatt Mondesire said: "We're here to show our support for Michael Vick. It's been kind of a one-sided battle, so we wanted to come out and show the other side. We choose our own causes. The dialogue on this has been one-sided and we've seen a lot of racism."
OK, so maybe I'm missing something here. Until now, I haven't heard anyone talk about racism in the Vick case. For those of us who own pets and love animals, it has always been about Vick's use of dogs for a horrendous act called dogfighting and for killing dogs he deemed poor competitors.
It's not - and has never been -- about civil rights or race or even Vick's right to a second chance. The way I figure it, he got his second chance the day he was released from prison. He doesn't have a right to earn millions of dollars playing professional football, and he certainly doesn't have the right to mutilate dogs, regardless of his color.
But at least his so-called supporters got their time on TV. It still doesn't change what Vick did, and it sure won't change the way a rational society thinks of him.
