The Washington Post gives me lots of reasons not to like it here--and these are just today's metro headlines:
Metro
In Brief
Thursday, July 14, 2005; Page B03
MARYLAND
Stranded Cat Leaps to River and Safety
A cat trapped under a bridge for at least a day took a leap of about 50 feet into the Patuxent River last night and was pulled from the water -- hungry but apparently unharmed.
(By Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)
The small calico cat, black with gray stripes, was seen Tuesday on a concrete pylon 10 feet below the road surface of the Gov. Thomas Johnson Bridge, said Wayne Johnson, chief of the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department in St. Mary's County. A number of people called the fire department about the cat, and volunteers started planning their rescue attempt yesterday morning.
The plan was to shut the northbound lane of Route 4 on the busy bridge, which links St. Mary's and Calvert counties, and lower a firefighter to the pylon where the cat was marooned. The lane was closed just before 7:30 p.m., but as the firefighter started toward the feline, it jumped. A rescue boat from the Solomons volunteer fire department was a few feet away from where the cat landed, and it was scooped out of the water moments later.
James Wood, a St. Mary's County animal warden, said he thought the cat had been tossed out of a car as it crossed the bridge. He said it's the fourth cat that has been tossed from a car in the county in two weeks.
Wood said the cat would be taken to the Tri-County Animal Shelter in Charles County to be put up for adoption.
and then...
Canine Center Operator Sentenced
A Prince William County man who operated a wolf-hybrid rescue center was sentenced to more than four years in prison for cruelty to two dozen animals.
Robert Artois, 56, sought leniency before his sentencing Tuesday. But General District Court Judge Peter Steketee and prosecutors said Artois' previous record and the crime demanded prison time. Artois was on probation for having sex with a boy in 2002.
Artois was sentenced to four years and three months in prison.
Artois opened Black Wolf Rescue several years ago at a rented house in Triangle. He operated a wolf-dog hybrid rescue center and raised and sold German shepherds. Based on neighbors' complaints, a search of the property April 18 found dogs suffering from malnutrition, parasites and mange, many in cages caked with feces.
All the dogs were confiscated by the county. About a dozen wolf-dog hybrids were euthanized because licensed shelters for the potentially dangerous animals could not be found to take them.
and then there's
Crashes Kill Two in Fairfax County
Two people were killed in separate car crashes in Fairfax County yesterday.
The first occurred on Blake Lane in the Fairfax area, about 10:15 a.m. Police said a sedan heading north on Blake near Five Oaks Road was struck by a garbage recycling truck. A 22-year-old woman riding in the sedan was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Her name was not released pending notification of family. Neither the driver of the car nor the truck's driver was seriously hurt.
The second collision happened about 2:15 p.m. on Fairfax County Parkway in Reston. A pickup driving south crossed the median near New Dominion Parkway and struck a sedan in the northbound lanes, police said. The 28-year-old driver of the truck was pronounced dead at the scene. His name was not released pending notification of his family. The driver and passenger of the sedan were taken by helicopter to a hospital.
and
Md. Farmer Mourns Sheep Shot From Road
By Nelson HernandezWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, July 14, 2005
There wasn't anything strange about the sound of gunshots outside Beverly Pearsall's sheep farm in Thurmont; plenty of her neighbors shoot at targets, practicing for hunting season. Nor was it unusual to hear a vehicle driving too fast that afternoon along the two-lane road outside the property next to Owens Creek.
But there was nothing normal about the sight of the 3-year-old ewe lying motionless in the pasture, shot through the neck.
Pearsall's white-faced Texel sheep was dead. Minutes later, she would discover that another ewe had been badly wounded in the nose. Beyond hope, the ewe would later be destroyed on a veterinarian's advice.
As Frederick County animal control authorities search for suspects in the July 8 shootings, Pearsall mourned the loss to her 10-year-old flock at her farm yesterday. These are animals she watched being born, at early hours of the morning, she said; creatures she has brought up with her husband, protecting them from sickness.
The shootings mark the third such episode in Frederick County recently. Three Holstein cows were killed in two incidents last year, and in March someone kidnapped an alpaca in Middletown. Police in Montgomery County are also looking for suspects in the abduction and killing of a pet sheep in Brookeville.
Harold Domer, Frederick County's animal control director and a former police officer, said the shooting was being investigated "to the fullest." If the culprit is caught, he or she faces up to three years in prison under Maryland's animal cruelty laws.
"It's been verified that people that commit acts like this against an animal could commit them against humans," Domer said in a telephone interview. "Who could harm a defenseless, harmless animal?"
Pearsall, a native Oklahoman who moved to Frederick County in 1977, walked yesterday to the three-acre pasture where her flock of 32 ewes had been grazing when the shooting occurred. A metal pole capped with a red mesh wrap marks where one of the ewes, known as 14C, died. It is a puddle of mud and thick, dark sheep's blood, in which one can make out a pair of hoof prints. A smaller stick in the ground a few feet away, next to a thinner patch of blood, marks where a yearling, 67P4, stood in her last moments.
"I put a lot of hard work -- blood, sweat and tears -- into this," Pearsall said as she stood by the markers. "It makes you sad, but you have to go on because this is a business."
Not that her business is unscathed. Breeding animals cost thousands of dollars, and the price of the lost genetic stock -- the two ewes could have continued producing lambs for a combined 15 years -- cannot be calculated.
Since the shooting, Pearsall has moved her flock to a pasture farther from the road. As she opened the gate of the pen, the 30 remaining sheep charged out to their pasture. In her black jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, the 64-year-old Pearsall looked the part of a tough farmer. But she was stewing.
"If I think about it long enough, I can probably start crying," she said. "But it won't do you any good."
As she stood next to a wire fence, watching her sheep graze, she was silent for a moment. "The first night I did not sleep a wink, because when I closed my eyes I would see those ewes," she said. "I think about it all the time. It's on my mind. It'll take time to go away."
and let's end this little rant with a page from the "do as I say, not as I do."
Pr. George's Health Chief Charged With Animal Cruelty
By Ray RiveraWashington Post Staff WriterThursday, July 14, 2005;
Prince George's County's chief health officer was charged yesterday with multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and neglect, after his two miniature horses and six dogs were found last month in "severe" states of neglect at his rural Harwood property, Anne Arundel authorities said.
Frederick J. Corder turned himself in to Anne Arundel County police yesterday and was held in lieu of $100,000 bail. He was expected to post a property bond last night.
Corder has been placed on administrative leave, said James P. Keary, a spokesman for Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D).
The charges include two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty in the treatment of the horses, which were found with hooves grown to 14 inches, curling upward and causing them severe pain, according to Tahira Shane Thomas, Anne Arundel's animal control administrator.
Veterinarians say hooves of miniature horses, typically about three inches long, grow about three inches a year unless trimmed. One of the horses was later euthanized after being impounded by authorities.
The two felony counts, which require proof that the defendant intended to harm or torture the animals, carry a maximum of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
Corder also was charged with six misdemeanor counts of neglect for the two horses and a Shar-Pei dog found with a severe skin condition and for failing to provide care, the charging documents say. All six Shar-Peis were found in stalls layered in excrement, Thomas said.
The misdemeanor counts are punishable by up to 90 days in prison and a maximum $1,000 fine.
Corder, a pediatrician who has headed the Prince George's Health Department since December 2003, appeared briefly before a District Court commissioner yesterday. He declined to comment as he was escorted away by a police officer.
Corder has disputed the allegations. He said he hired someone to care for the horses' hooves and believed they were being treated.
And can someone tell me why the two candidates for Governor of Virginia are debating today, sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association, in
West Virginia?
