10 Thursday, August 28, 1997 Pahrump Valley Gazette
Some people should be on a leash
What in the world is this big brouhaha over the
county's proposed animal control ordinance? This
ordinance has been kicked around for the past two
years. Advocates claim the county needs this law to
require pet owners to have their animals properly
given shots for rabies and general licensing require-
ments.
I agree.
However, opponents have tackled the proposed
ordinance as if all their "rights" are being taken away
from them. Or, the "rights" of the animals. They have
read between the lines of every revision that has been
placed before the commissioners and attempted to
make it sound as if the ordinance will either take away
the right of a chicken farm to kill a chicken, to not
being allowed to kill an animal that's about to die from
pain and agony.
The county already has a licensing law and some-
thing of a leash law. That's fine and dandy, but the
bottom line is the responsibility of a pet owner. Laws
are proposed and passed when there is a problem.
Unfortunately, they usually affect the law-abiding
citizen, seldom do they affect the irresponsible. Thus,
I have some mixed emotions myself, although I gener-
ally support the county in its efforts to legislate laws
regarding animal control.
The most recent arguments seem to pertain to cats.
Let's be realistic here. The county can certainly require
cats to be licensed but it's impossible to impose a
"leash law" on cats. Cats, by their very nature, don't
cotton much to leashes. They'll kick and scratch and
roll around but not walk with a leash attached. Cats are
I I II
NORTHWRN EXPOSURE
by Dave Downing
free-roaming animals. They'll disap-
pear for hours at a time and there's not
a darn thing you can do about it. I don't
know of any county anywhere that re-
quires cats to be confined.
Dogs, on the other hand, take very well to the leash.
They may run off on occasion but will generally stick
close to their owner. Depending on how the owner
treats the dog is how the dog's personality develops.
Here is where owner responsibility enters the picture
and why the county needs to have the necessary
laws on the books to protect others.
On a Wednesday evening, June 19, 1991, two full-
grown pit bulls attacked and very nearly killed Phyllis
Crouch of Goldfield. The dogs tore skin and muscle
from Crouch, age 71. There was practically nothing
left of parts of her body but skeleton.
The owners, it turned out, had often let these dogs
-- not animals
run loose and there had been complaints against them
in the past. It was further alleged that the owners of
these dogs had frequently abused the animals. They
were ultimately arrested and charged with a felony
charge of setting a deadly weapon.
Setting a deadly weapon ? The charge didn't stick
and they were subsequently free from all charges. The
reason? Esmeralda County did not have an animal
control ordinance. There was nothing that then District
Attorney Victor Schultze could do. He tried to twist
the law with the "setting a deadly weapon" charge, but
it simply didn't hold up. Schultze eventually managed
to get a control ordinance and a state law to help cover
such a situation.
There are probably more people than animals who
should be licensedand placed on a leash law. But this A,I
is the only way that, should something happen, the
legal machine can step in and allow justice to be
served.
Contrary to what opponents try to read between the
lines, the county ordinance is a good one. No court in
the county is going to say that the law requires an
owner to kill its pet or not kill a chicken. There are two
things in every law; the letter of the law and the intent
of the law. If necessary, the court will interpret these
anomalies that may pop up.
Let's stop "fooling around with radical interpreta-
tions and get this on the books.
Drunk Driving...How much is too lnuch?
Nevada has a limit of .100 Blood Alcohol Content
(BEC) for legal driving. Fifteen states have lowered
their thresholds to .080 BAC. In the last Nevada legis-
lature session, a similar bill was proposed but failed to
pass.
The. 100 limit is a reasonable value. It permits a fair
amount of social drinking in restaurants and taverns
without significant impairment of driving ability. (Not
everyone belongs to a group that can have a designated,
non-drinking driver.) Research has shown that the
BAC of drunken drivers involved in accidents aver-
aged around. 180. Such drivers repeatedly ignore-legal
limits and drive anyway.
Reducing the legal threshold to .080 BAC would
uselessly criminalize a large number of social drinkers
while having absolutely no effect on the dangerous
drunken driver. A 120 pound woman could be consid-
ered legally drunk if she drinks two six-ounce glasses
of wine on an empty stomach during a two-hour period.
If apprehended, this woman would face arrest, jail,
fines, higher insurance rates and license revocation, for
behavior that is not part of the drunk driving problem.
There is absolutely no persuasive evidence that reduc-
ing the BAC level from .100 to .080 has any effect on
drunk driving deaths or injuries.
The restaurant and bar industry recognizes its mainly
responsible customers who enjoy a few drinks over
conversation or food, get up from the table and drive
safely home. It also sees a few problem drinkers who, if
Changing Patterns
by Richard Reul
NNNNNN
permitted, would drink too much, stagger out to their cars
and become a menace on the same highways traveled by
friends, families and loyal customers. In 44 states, busi-
nesses who push drinks at inebriated customers can be
held liable for millions of dollars in damages when these
customers cause traffic injuries or deaths. In their self-
interest, they do everything possible to discourage such
problem drinkers from driving.
Much of the impetus for the .080 BAC limit comes
from Mothers against Drunk Driving (MADD). This
organization did yeoman service in reducing the drunk
driving toll. But, like many organizations, it has devel-
oped vintage self-preservation tactics by overstating the
threat and providing misleading data. More than half of
the alcohol-related fatalities are the drunk drivers them-
selves and another eleven percent are drunken pedestri-
ans who walk in front of cars. MADD insists that drunk
driving is on the rise again, neglecting the fact that
alcohol-related accidents have stayed constant as a
percentage of miles driven. MADD also tells us that
alcohol standards for intoxication and arrest in many
other industrialized nations are lower than in the United
States. It fails to mention that alcohol-related fatalities
there, as a percentage, are higher than in our country.
In summary, MADD is targeting the wrong group.
Once a crusader against the drunken driver, they have
become a quasi-prohibitionist organization determined
to curtail social drinking. In a state like Nevada, where
tourists come to relax and have fun, it just won't fly !
Author's Note: This column was based on a debate in
Insight Magazine.
seating
I kinda put my art projects aside for a few minutes as
I got sidetracked onto another project. Something I had
been meaning to do for many years. A lot of my projects
sit around for years. Then all of a sudden everything
comes together and away I go on them. Sometimes I
even Finish them.
This particular project really doesn't fit in with the
warm weather we finally experienced. It's more geared
for cold weather. But then again it could come in handy
in hot weather now that I think about it. I can't take
credit for this concept as Iheard it mentioned by Archie
Bunker on the "All in the Family" show which was one
of my favorites. I wonder how come Archie never got
into politics. He would have fit right in today.
On this show segment Archie was complaining
about sitting on a cold toilet seat and trying to figure out
ways of warming it up. He as I recall never did come up
with a solution. But it apparently left an impression with
me. How would a person go about wanning up a toilet
seat? This probably wouldn't be a problem if you were
next in line. I toyed with hooking the seat up to an
Slim Sez
by Slim Sirnes
electric circuit and the elements out
of an old toaster. Had some diffi-
culties with this. Mostly tempera-
ture control and I never was into
wearing them skimpy revealing mens bathing suits even
before this.
Another problem was I could never get the timer set.
It always shook me up to be sitting there and all at once
have a piece of toast go whizzing by before I was done
with the sports page.
Then this morning another idea occurred. What if I
made the seat hollow? Hooked up a water line from the '
sink and then I could adjust the temperature. Hot in the
winter and cool in the summer or visa-versa. And if a
person didn't have running water in their restroom, they
could just warm up some water to take out there with
them. Remembering to drain it afterwards so if it froze
it could crack the seat, which also could be painful,
almost as bad as sitting on a heated toaster element.
Well I better close this and do some more work on this
project. How'to design a filler setup that would come in
handy for filling the hollow toilet seat with warm liquid
and that wouldn't clash with the overall decor of the
restroom.
Have a good one.
