BECAUSE THEY CAN

BECAUSE THEY CAN: It sounds like the dog-people carried the dog-day at the dog-path meeting Wednesday according to Nathan Eagle’s account in today’s local paper as well as yesterday’s .new blog entry at Councilman Mel Rapozo’s blog.

Mel’s tome drew more commentary doggerel from those who doggedly persist in thinking “dogs are people too” replete with the god-given constitutional right to “go” wherever they want.,

Mel did not however, despite two promises, clear up that pesky detail that makes the farce all the more farcical- whether the bike path actually is a park at this point in time where dogs would be banned by ordinance

But the newspaper story seemingly confirms- through lack of confirmation, as things usually get authenticated in Kaua`i government circles- what we’ve been saying to no avail- that the path has never legally been designated a county park and therefore dog walking is legal now.

We asked Eagle for a clarification a month ago after he wrote that the path was “considered a linear park” without attribution.

Today Eagle reports that, like Rapozo apparently, he still can’t get an answer out of the Parks And Recreation Department head Bernard Carvalho as to when and how the path magically became a county park without going through any process at all, saying:

Under the county Parks and Recreation Department’s management, the path is a linear park and as such falls under a county ordinance banning animals without permits.

Parks and Recreation Director Bernard Carvalho did not return calls seeking a more detailed explanation as to why the path falls under the park classification.

After a verbal warning process ended in March, the Kaua‘i Police Department started issuing citations to owners walking their dogs on the multi-use path.

We haven’t seen the testimony of the 50 some-odd people who testified at the hearing yet but from Rapozo’s Eagle’s and others’ descriptions it was a banding together of a bunch of dog-loving nut-cases who want to their habit of owning their precious little dirt-collectors shoved down our collective throats.

Many even claim they felt threatened after showing up to say “no” to having to deal with the mess and abuse of dog-lovers who are blind to the problems their pets perpetrate - so left without testifying.

It’s bad enough these days seeing these poor beasts chained up in little yards or in cages, yearning to run around more than an hour a day and being fed moist “animal by-products” if they’re lucky and essentially bread and water if they’re not. Even the stuff we say we wouldn’t feed to a dog is better than what most get... and that’s with the “responsible” owners.

But now everyone on Kaua`i must put up with the conditions created by people who, instead of taking their dogs to areas where people don’t congregate which is most likely what their dog would want, have to combine their own recreational activities with those of their pets.

Don’t have the time to do both? Then don’t have a dog. Life is full of choices.

This isn’t a rights issue. One person’s right to swing their fist ends at another’s jaw. If anyone has a right here it’s the right to walk without being molested by your dog.

And leashes don’t help. Are dog walkers on the path going to stay seven feet away from everyone else if they have a six foot leash? No, they’re going to ignore people who might not appreciate their wet muddy dog rubbing up against them.

There are plenty of dog owners who would complain bitterly if someone smoked a cigarette around them but have no compunction about exposing us to their smelly, filthy, disgusting habit of cohabitating with wolves.

The worst is Becky Rhodes the head of the Human Society. Her inane statements like

“This is a really important time for Kaua‘i.(and) (t)o be known as a dog-hating visitor attraction is not what we want to be known for”

are baffling enough if they weren’t a violation of the prohibitions against non-profits- especially those that operate through taxpayer subsidies- from lobbying for legislation.

It’s pretty baffling how that would happen anyway since tourists don’t bring their dogs and if anything would probably appreciate not having to step in anything or be attacked by dogs, whether leashed or not.

It’s one thing to advocate for the safety and good treatment of pets. It’s another to insist that we all be forced to deal with your pet If anything Rhodes should be saying that responsible pet ownership includes the rights of people who don’t like your pet, which is traditionally the position taken by responsible authorities.

The dog path lobby would have us believe that everyone loves dogs, mom and apple pie in that order and that “all local people have dogs” and that it’s only a bunch of malahini mainlanders trying to stop us from “living our island lifestyle” who are opposed to having dogs run roughshod over humans out for a walk in the park.

But the “local tradition” is to take care of your animals so they doesn’t bother everyone else. We saw enough of roving packs terrorizing neighborhoods as happened way too often 30 years ago as populations moved into residential rather than true rural areas.

Having a dog around is not only not a right but it is a privilege. And it’s one that is abused by those who bring their dogs to areas where people congregate.

According to the article “Veterinarians and community members said it would be a ‘huge disservice’ to not give residents ‘the freedoms that everyone else seems to have.’”

The freedom that everyone else has? What is this now a constitutional right to have your beast slobber all over our faces and terrorize our kids, who incidentally do have the rights you wish your dogs had but doesn’t..

If you want to treat your beast like your kid be our guest. There’s plenty of coo-coo people out there and you have a right to be one of them. But just because you like dog spit on your face doesn’t give you any “rights” to have it lick even our hands- hey we eat with those things- while you stand there saying “isn’t that cute- he likes you”.

Dogs have their place. They can be wonderful companions. But they are a huge responsibility. And their “place” isn’t among those that don’t want to be around them.. A six foot leash doesn’t mean people have to stay 12 feet away from you, it means the ones holding the leash have to control their dogs and keep them away from people without their permission.