Crimes and Times

I don't remember when I first heard, "If you do the crime, you do the time," - but I'm pretty sure it was around when I was attending high school back in the early 1970s.   At that time in my life, it usually referred to someone 'borrowing' a parent's car without permission, having an accident, and admitting it to said parents, then taking the punishment in stride.  And I realize that I sound like an 'old fogey,' and that each generation bemoans the fact that the following generation just doesn't live up to the elders' expectations...  I realize, too, that today's extraordinary communications array allows for the world-wide dissemination of news in seconds, as opposed to the relatively slow spread of "news" via letters, newspapers, and news magazines up until the mid-1800s.  It just seems to me that younger generation today has no grasp, or any idea of, the sanctity of life - nor of the widening ripples that flow out from a single instance of violence. 
   Today, I shook my head while reading the local newspaper because last year, a young man, then a teen (now 20), had plead "not guilty" to a felony animal cruelty charge.  He and two friends had beaten a raccoon to death with a baseball bat, a hockey stick and a tennis racquet.  The two friends plead guilty, but this young man was adamant that it was a 'quick blow' gone bad.  (According to neighbors, the boys were dancing around the raccoon that was trying to escape it's tormentors, and yelling, "Get it!"  "Smack it hard!")  Today, 30 minutes before he was due in court to face a jury trial, the young man made a plea deal.  He admitted guilt to a misdemeanor animal cruelty charge, and got one year's probation, and 6 weeks of Community Service.  Is this just an acknowledgement that "boys will be boys," and that humankind has a built-in lust for "blood sport?"
   Over the weekend, the news was that Zoey Ripple, the CU student who was shot in the hip while she was in a drunken stupor and invaded the bedroom of a couple asleep in their own home, is still seeking a plea deal.  According to the local press, she has a long history of misdemeanor charges, including petit theft and DUI, but has never had to serve any time or perform any community service.  Now having been caught with an alcohol level three times the amount that is legally allowed, having let herself inside a private residence and trespassed on into the bedroom, having been so drunk that she simply couldn't respond to several "Stop or be shot!" warnings, she now doesn't want to face the consequences of her actions.  This is a young woman who, apparently, has needed some type of interventionary help, but who has either (a) not availed herself of such counseling, or (b) just doesn't care about anyone except herself.
    I won't even start writing about the gunman at the Aurora movie theater...  He really upsets me!
   People need to start acknowledging that there is a right and a wrong.  And if they do the wrong thing, they need to readily accept the punishment that the rest of society sets out for them.  All of this pleading down to lesser crimes and sentences is a slap in the face to justice.

Justice for a Shiba Inu

Last April, Boulder police responded to a neighbors' complaint of a domestic dispute. They were aghast to find a small dog duct-taped upside down to the door of the home's refrigerator. Not only was the dog taped, it had multiple elastic hair bands placed around its' tail, ears, nose, and paws, and its' muzzle had been tied to its collar - it was completely immobilized. Abby Toll admitted that she did this to Rex, her boyfriend's dog, to "get back at him" because he paid more attention to the young dog, and because the dog had bitten her in the past. A jury of Ms. Toll's peers found her guilty of felony animal cruelty yesterday. She sat in stunned disbelief, began to cry, and then shouted that it was all her ex-boyfriends' fault. Her sentencing is due on May 28; she faces up to 18 months in federal prison. She deserves every minute of her incarceration. (Rex has since had a name change, and now has a new, loving family, including other Shiba Inus.)