Letter of the Week
I know just how Mr. Orr feels about dogs in Sawyer Park because I feel the same way about kids. Children demand so many things these days: swing sets and slides; basketball and tennis courts; baseball and soccer fields; running tracks and pools; even skate parks. When I was growing up that problem didn’t exist. For toys we had a box of dirt and some lead painted blocks of wood. Going outside to play meant just that – running around vacant lots in the dirt amongst rusty nails and broken bottles. If we wanted to get wet we would have to wait for it to rain and play in the puddles. So what if we came back bleeding occasionally or broke out in some ugly rash. I tell you we were happy!
The problem these days are all the contrived devices to substitute for good parenting: silly puppet characters, Chinese plastic toys, video games, the Internet, iPods and the like. It makes it possible to raise a kid while sitting back sipping lattes all day. If people find parenting so hard they should have just choose to breed a slow kid that fits their lifestyle. It’s that easy right?
The real problems arise when those children go outside and expect there’s someone trailing after them cleaning up. The wads of sticky chewing gum, candy wrappers and soda cans found everywhere children congregate trash the places for subsequent users. I even cleaned up an abandoned diaper today coming home from the park – thrown right out onto the street near my house. Talk about unsanitary and disgusting!
No, children should all be leashed firmly to their parents whenever out in public and quietly locked up in the back yard the rest of the time where their ear splitting shrieks won’t disturb this personal little heaven of mine you all happen live in.
But seriously, the issue of dogs off leash in Sawyer isn’t about the dogs. It’s about the tax paying citizens of the city who own dogs. If some of those tens of thousands happen to enjoy throwing a fuzzy green ball for our furry companions to retrieve it’s no more stupid than other people who prefer sailing plastic disks, throwing big orange balls through metal rings, or knocking little white balls into gopher holes with metal sticks. We pay into the park system just as much as anyone else and it’s not unreasonable to expect some consideration in return for our hard earned dollars.
In other words – play nice and share!
Rick C. Johnson
This article appears in May 22-28, 2008.
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Hey, ‘a guest said:’ A.) How did you determine Mr. Johnson is rich? B.) How did you determine Mr. Johnson is white? Do you speak directly to Gowuhd?Granted, my computer is two years old. Perhaps the newer models display such information, but I doubt it.
My sainted old Grandma used to mutter that those that jump to baseless conclusion are usually spreading doggie doodoo. Check the bottom of your shoes.
I’ve opened checking accounts for each of my 2 dogs, and have scheduled opposable thumb enhancement surgery for them so they can write their own checks for paying taxes- since I’m rich & can afford this as far as you know.
Oh! That’s right! My dogs are my property! So they don’t pay taxes- I do!
Nevermind! I guess I’ll just play nice & share!
Trollish behavior or inflammatory personal attack forthcoming- wait for it……….
Gawsh! I can’t seem to dredge up a fear response from my brainstem- another perfect opportunity to take advantage of the anonymity of the internet lost!
I guess I’ll just flip off somebody from my car later. That’ll be good.
this is a dog community. they should have some areas of the parks to run around~ i liked this weeks letter a lot more than last weeks letter.
I agree. I will stop taking my dog to the park to run as god intended her to run when I get the right to call the police when a screaming toddler in the grocery store or a restaurant makes my slice of heaven unbearable. I was amazed when I first moved to Bend 4 years ago — there was a dog in the backseat of just about every other car. I thought: kismet! Little did I know that I would have to drive 25 miles roundtrip to a dog park to run my canine. To run her legally, that is.
But I gotta say one thing. Save for a few, Bend residents with canines are overwhelmingly inconsiderate in doggie cleanup. I have stepped in more dog poop in this town than I can count. It’s a mine field out there. I often will pick up several leftover ‘gifts’ because I want so much for us to prevail in our quest for more off-leash areas. Until we clean up our acts so to speak, we don’t have a leg to stand on. We can’t even clean up after our canines!! There seems to be this gross view that “well, if no one saw my fido take that dump, I win again and don’t have to scoop it up.” Are our residents’ backyards filled with poop, I wonder?
Bend, we need to clean up the dog poopies! And we need to hold other dog owners accountable. Responsible dog owners need to unite and make it a movement (bahahahahaha, yes, pun intended). The current level of neglect by us dog owners is despicable. We need a leg to give our non-dog owning neighbors a reason to believe in us. Sorry to ramble on and on, but I have never seen such a disrespectful community in this regard.
I don’t like other people’s dogs running around chasing birds, running out into traffic and knocking over kids. Dogs need to be restrained because they are not responsible for anything. They can bite, cause property damage or what have you, and you can’t sue a dog.
What I like about the letters to the editor in the past few weeks are the sides that many of you are taking. One side blames dog owners yet defends the rights of children at play while the other side blames parents but defends the rights of their dogs’ freedom.
Dog owners and Parents alike suck. I can agree with both of you in that regard. Many parents are lazy and sip on lattes while their children make a mess at the Starbucks table. Many dog owners (who call themselves parents) think that their dogs have the same rights as humans.
Parents need to teach their children how to behave in public and it starts in the home. Children are not the problem for your unhappiness in a restaurant or with that dirty diaper in the street. I guarantee the baby that dirtied that diaper did not chuck it out onto the street. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children how to behave.
Dog owners need to pick up their dog’s shit. Dogs poop outside, they’ve been doing that for a long time and I don’t think they plan on stopping. It is the responsibility of dog owners to clean up after their dogs and to train their pets how to behave in public.
If everyone did their job, why couldn’t we have leash free parks for children and dogs? Stop beating up on the technology advances that allow parents the opportunity to offer a childhood with computers and television that you didn’t have while taking sides in the Greasers and Socs battle filled childhood. Times are different and kids have a different upbringing than you did just like you had a different childhood from your parents.
Stop dissing on dogs just cause they like to do what is natural to them, they are animals afterall.