More on Roscoe Pet Ordinance

I thought it might be interesting to post the correspondence I had with one of the Roscoe Village Trustees regarding the proposed pet ordinance.

Here is the first response from Trustee Scott Richardson.

Our current ordinance limits the number of pets to 4 unless you have a kennel or multi pet license. The new ordinance was made to take care of people that don't take care of the animals they have. The ordinance address cats more then any other animal. We have made allowances for people that have ferral cats. People that live next to other people with numerous animals have a rights also and we have to take into account their feelings also and they don't want these animals in there yards going to the bathroom. We have had several meetings about this subject and have fashioned the ordinance to deal with the problem we are having.

Here is the response I sent back to Mr. Richardson.

Your response doesn't address any concerns and just reiterates to me the arbitrariness of this ordinance. The fact that some individuals don't take care of their animals is no basis for denying responsible individuals their liberty. If that is the concern, the ordinance should directly address that. A homeowner with one pet that is not taking care of responsibly raises all these same concerns. That is why the ordinance is arbitrary.

You wrote: "People that live next to other people with numerous animals have a rights also and we have to take into account their feelings" Well, no, we don't. That one feels a certain way about how many pets I might have is their problem; not mine or the villages. I might live next door to someone who has a motorcycle and I might not like that, but that doesn't give the village the authority to prevent my neighbor from having a motorcycle. Or maybe I don't like kids running around, and my neighbor has 5 kids. Should the village legislate no more than 4 kids? Or maybe I don't like Asian people, should we take account of my feelings then? According to the principle you have stated, the village would have that authority. Unless my pets are doing harm or posing a threat to my neighbor, his feelings don't count. Nor I should say, do mine. What should be the concern of the village government is the safety and protection of the residents; not their feelings.

Each resident certainly has rights--this is precisely my concern. The village is violating the rights of the residents by prohibiting, with no reasonable basis in the safety and protection of residents, an otherwise lawful action. That another doesn't like that lawful action is not a reasonable basis: such is the seed of tyranny.

Having rights means that others cannot interfere with one activities and property unless those activities or property are damaging another's activities or property. How does one owning five indoor, spayed cats effect anyone else? If I have dog that goes to the bathroom in some one else's yard, I should clean it up. Now if I don't, then that is a problem. I have interfered in their property and should be accountable for that. That is entirely reasonable, and I would have assumed that the village required that already.

My problem is not that the village wants to make sure that animals are being responsibly cared for and that residents aren't being unduly affected by the pets that others own. My problem is that village is going about this in an overly broad and arbitrary manner. Broad because the ordinance makes it illegal for anyone to have more than 4 pets, instead of focusing on the problem: those that have pets they don't take care of. And it is arbitrary because there is no connection between the number of pets and how responsible the owners are. Why 4? Why not 3 (as it was at first) Why not 5? There is no objective basis for making the choice.

It would be nice if the times, locations, and topics for the meetings were readily available, say on website or in a monthly or quarterly mailing to residents. The only reason I knew anything about this was the newspaper story.

I still urge the board to rewrite the ordinance in a more direct manner that deals directly with the problem of feral cats and irresponsible pet owners instead of enacting an ordinance that limits everyone.

Mr. Richardson sent me a copy of the proposed ordinance. And here is the response I sent after I read the ordinance.

My objection to 90.003(b) still stands. [The section regarding the limitation of the number of pets]

The purpose of the ordinance as stated is for the control and prevention of stray or feral animals and for the control and regulation of those breeding and selling/trading domestic animals. I don't necessarily agree that the village needs to do these things, but I am not here objecting to that. If there is a real health or safety issue, the village should be able to deal with that.

However, I strongly disagree with the implied assumption that a household with more than 4 pets is a household that is keeping animals to breed, sell, or trade. If that assumption is not being made than what is the basis for 90.003(b)?

Furthermore, the way the ordinance is written the total number includes not just cats and dogs but other pets, such as guinea pigs and birds. The Register Star reported that the ordinance cap would only apply to cats and dogs. If the cap includes all pets, than the number of 4 will be quite easy to go over. It is easy to imagine a home with two dogs and two cats, and then one of the children having a guinea pig (and these often are kept in pairs). Certainly this is not an example of a household intending to breed, sell, or trade.

So I still see no rational or objective basis for the number to be at 4.

Thanks to Mr. Richardson for, one, corresponding with me (no other trustee contacted me), and, two, for not objecting to my plan for posting this exchange.

Letter published

The Rockford Register Star published online my letter, an abbreviated version of my letter to the Village Board. I'll be checking the paper on Tuesday to see if it will be in the print edition as well.

Update 4/15/08: The letter was published in today's print edition as well. Yay me!

Roscoe Pet Ownership

The village of Roscoe is in the process of trying to pass an ordinance that would limit the number of pets a household could own. The following is a letter I sent the Village Trustees (A shorter version was submitted to the local paper).

As a resident of Roscoe, I write with great dismay and some anger at the ordinance regarding pet ownership. This ordinance is arbitrary, unreasonably broad in its scope, and ambiguous in its content.

The limit of four pets per household is arbitrary. There is no general link between the number of pets one has in one’s household to the health and safety of Roscoe residents. Merely adding a dog to home that has four pets already does not suddenly create a health hazard or safety risk to other residents.

There is, moreover, no connection between having more than four pets and one failing to take responsibility regarding that pet. A family could have two pets and fail to care for those pets responsibly and thus possibly create a health or safety risk for residents. While another family might have two dogs and three cats and take wonderful and loving care of these pets. On what reasonable basis does the Village take upon itself the authority to deprive these individuals of property that is posing no harm or danger to residents?

Residents who are responsible should not be punished for the irresponsibility of others. The board should craft an ordinance that empowers the village to deal appropriately with residents who create a nuisance by failing to take responsibility for their pets--regardless of how many they own. Such an ordinance should not interfere in the peaceful lives and homes of responsible residents.

I urge you to vote against this arbitrary, ambiguous, and unreasonable ordinance. It violates the liberty of law-abiding and responsible individuals.

Full Circle

My blogging has slowed quite a bit in the last month. Mostly, I am too busy. But, also I just haven't been inspired by anything. Here's some random snippets of what's been on my mind lately.

Why would a CBS affiliate preempt the first new Criminal Minds post-strike with a local Salvation Army Telethon?! I would have thought they couldn't do this. At least they had CSI:NY.

I love CSI:NY, but it does take some effort to suspend my disbelief that crime scene investigators are the first ones through the door on a police raid.

Why is it that Obama hasn't been hurt by his long-time association with (and refusal to distance himself from) the racist, anti-semitic, and anti-American Rev. Wright? One major reason is, I think, that most of the media portrayed his speech as a repudiation of Wright (even though it actually wasn't), so voters have given him a pass.

I had originally thought that Obama poised the bigger challenge to McCain in the general election. Mostly this was because I thought Hilary would bring the conservatives flooding to the polls to vote against her. But the more Obama's positions are set out, the less distinctive he appears from Hilary. He's for the same large, intrusive, unwise government programs (both live by the philosophy that there's no problem the government can't throw money at). He's foreign policy seems foolish and uninformed. About the only difference, is that Obama just seems nice and Hilary seems mean and bitter. Hell, that maybe enough.

By the general election, the conservatives will have unified behind McCain. The Democrats will be divided after a long primary battle between virtually the same person. If Iraq continues to stabilize and the economy is improving by November (which I think it will be as the housing market recovers), then I think McCain wins.

I should be emphatic here: I don't support McCain. He's not motivated by principles of individual liberty and limited government. But I tend to think he's far less damaging than Obama or Hilary. Especially with a Democratic Congress. Gridlock is Good.

Speaking of elections, I am constantly reminded of Cheers's Fraiser Crane's refrain when a politician came stumping to the bar: "But he didn't say anything!"

Speaking of Cheers, I've been watching a lot of the reruns over lunch lately. They are showing most of the later years. I think Fraiser and Lilith really carried that show through the last few seasons. They are consistently the funniest and have the more interesting plot lines. Most of the other characters where reduced to one-liners and silly shtick. (still funny, but not what it was in the days of Coach)

And we come full circle back to TV.

The Good, The Bad, and The Hope

It’s that time of year when many consider what New Year’s resolutions to adopt (and soon ignore). I don’t typically make New Year’s resolutions, but I do like to reflect on the past year and look to what the future holds.

2007--The Bad:

Without a doubt, the loss of Sylvia (Posts here).

Tempe home sale falling through, not once, but twice.

• The mortgage crunch cost us big when our original buyer was bumped by his lender and future interested parties had similar problems getting financing.

These two were the worst things that happened to us last year. I just cannot put the loss of the Patriots in the 07 AFC championship game on the same list as Sylvia. The former is a minor annoyance in comparison. I’d give the perfect season back if it meant having Sylvia back.

2007--The Good:

Getting Rockford College position.

• A nearly ten-year process to get my dream job of teaching philosophy full-time (I started my masters program in Fall 98).

Going to Italy and Paris.

• Kristen and I celebrate 5 years of marriage by spending 17 wonderful, but hot, days Europe.

Red Sox win second World Series this decade.

Patriots complete perfect regular season.

Patrick and Jamie get married.

• Watched two friends finally tie the knot and got to spend some great time with old friends.

2008--The Hope:

Finish the dissertation!!!

Sell/rent the Tempe home.

Success in the family expansion project.

Patriots win 4th Super Bowl in 7 years and go 19-0.

Continued health and prosperity of my loved ones.

Just fantasizing:

Serenity 2 announced

Spenser for Hire DVD release

All presidential candidates decided to withdraw from election, leaving a secretly cloned Thomas Jefferson to take over as president.

Perfection

16-0! Patriots closed out the regular season perfect. Wasn't always pretty, but always exciting. Now the real season starts. Go Pats!

My Daemon

If you are not familiar with The Golden Compass of His Dark Materials series (now a movie), then this will be totally lost on you.

In Memoriam: Sylvia (2001-2007)

Our little Sylvia is gone. She died Monday evening.



Sylvia was battling cancer since August. She had a brief remission after chemo treatment (from the wonderful UW-Vet hospital and Mostly Cats) and seemed to be doing better until about 2 weeks ago. The cancer was back and she began to regress quickly. There just wasn’t anything more to be done for her.

Kristen called me around 5pm and told me Sylvia was fading fast. I canceled class and rushed to the vet’s office to meet Kristen. When Kristen and I met there, Sylvia was already gone.

Sylvia will be cremated and buried with a perennial plant as memorial.

She will be greatly missed by Kristen and I, and Malcom and Bella. There is a void in our hearts that will never be filled.

Update: Added the link to Mostly Cats on 11/14, 5.36 PM

Book Meme Part two

Patrick added some books to the book meme, So I thought I’d add them to my list as well.

Possession

The Lord of the Rings

Harry Potter (1-7)

The Wheel of Time

To Kill a Mockingbird

I am embarrassed about not having ever finished this.

The Great Gatsby

First read for school, but have since reread and still like it.

A Room with a View

Read for a girl. Have to say from what I remember, I didn’t like it. As a man of more mature taste, I’d like to give it another shot at some point.

The Princess Bride

Does the movie count?

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

I Know. What kind of libertarian am I??!

Smilla's Sense of Snow

Animal Farm

Gone With the Wind

Lord of the Flies

Piggy!

A Passage to India

I saw the movie and liked it. This is what makes me want to give E M Forester another chance.

Heart of Darkness

The World According to Garp

The Cider House Rules

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Stranger in a Strange Land

The Stand

It

Carrie

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

On the Beach

The Sun Also Rises

Women in Love

The Trial

As I Lay Dying

The Tin Drum

The Tropic of Cancer

Fahrenheit 451

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Ah the simpler times of Judy Blume

Naked Lunch

The Big Sleep

Chandler’s great and is a must read for anyone who likes mysteries. And of course Marlowe is the inspiration for Spenser.

The Maltese Falcon

See the previous entry but change Chandler to Hammett. Is anyone as cool as Sam Spade?

Never Let Me Go

Remains of the Day

The Red Badge of Courage

Kill me now!

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold

The Hunt for Red October

The Dark Knight

Watchmen

Invisible Man

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Read for school during spring break trip in Jamaica. Clearly I recall nothing.

The Stranger

Bonfire of the Vanities

The Right Stuff

Things Fall Apart

The Way of All Flesh

The Wizard of Oz

Little Women

Tom Sawyer

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

And I was an English major. Go figure.

Charlotte's Web

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

James and the Giant Peach

Mrs. Frisby and The Rats of Nimh

The Little House Books

Remembrance of Things Past

Tom Jones

The Wings of the Dove

Brideshead Revisited

Candide

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Book Meme

These meme is making its way around. I got it from Freespace.

Directions:
1. Bold what you have read
2. Italicize what you started but couldn’t finish.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Anna Karenina

Crime and Punishment

Started for some class, but never finished. I intend to finish at some point.

Catch-22

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Wuthering Heights

The Silmarillion

Life of Pi: a novel

The Name of the Rose

Don Quixote

Moby Dick

One day, that's right, read it one day for a class in college. I remember being more interested that I expected too. Skip the chapters that covering the history of whales and whaling.

Ulysses

Madame Bovary

The Odyssey

Audio books count, right?

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Eyre

A Tale of Two Cities

The Brothers Karamazov

Really wanted to like this, but just couldn't get through it.

Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fates of Human Societies

War and Peace

BBC radio dramatization count?

Vanity Fair

The Time Traveler’s Wife

The Iliad

Currently making my way through Lattimore's translation.

Emma

The Blind Assassin

The Kite Runner

Mrs. Dalloway

Great Expectations

American Gods

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Atlas Shrugged

Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books

Memoirs of a Geisha

Middlesex

Quicksilver

Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West

The Canterbury Tales

The Historian: a novel

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Love in the Time of Cholera

Brave New World

The Fountainhead

Foucault’s Pendulum

Middlemarch

Frankenstein

The Count of Monte Cristo

Dracula

A Clockwork Orange

Hated it. Too violent and weird.

Anansi Boys

The Once and Future King

The Grapes of Wrath

The Poisonwood Bible: a novel

1984

Angels & Demons

The Inferno

The Satanic Verses

Sense and Sensibility

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Mansfield Park

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

To the Lighthouse

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Oliver Twist

Gulliver’s Travels

Les Misérables

The Corrections

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

Dune

The Prince

The Sound and the Fury

Angela’s Ashes: a memoir

The God of Small Things

A People’s History of the United States: 1492-present

Cryptonomicon

Neverwhere

A Confederacy of Dunces

A Short History of Nearly Everything

Dubliners

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Beloved

Always heard such wonderful things. Couldn't get through the first 20 pages.

Slaughterhouse-five

The Scarlet Letter

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Should be mandatory reading for anyway who ever uses the English language.

The Mists of Avalon

Oryx and Crake : a novel

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Cloud Atlas

The Confusion

Lolita

Persuasion

Northanger Abbey

The Catcher in the Rye

Holden was my hero when I first read this as a young teenage. Totally connected with him when I reread it in high school. Thought he was silly when I read it again in college.

On the Road

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Freakonomics: a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an Inquiry into Values

The Aeneid

Watership Down

Gravity’s Rainbow

The Hobbit

In Cold Blood : A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences

White Teeth

Treasure Island

David Copperfield

The Three Musketeers

What a Day for Boston!

Sox complete a comeback to go to the World Series and the Pats are winning (No, it is not 2004 again)

Sports are incredible. There are so many "what ifs?" What if Lofton is called safe at second or doesn't hold at third? Things could have turned out quite differently. That is surely one of the reasons fans live and die on every game, every play, every pitch. And it is a good lesson for life: Each little thing you do has an effect: take nothing for granted.

The Sox face a hot Rockies team (at least they were back when they last played). The Sox will have to sit either Ortiz or Youk at Coors Field. They'll might be playing after digging out of some snow. I have no idea what to expect. I have confidence because the Sox don't ever give up, the whole order is hitting well now, Beckett could pitch 3 times, and Papelbon is possessed. I think the Sox take it in 5.

The Patriots offense is downright nasty. I think they could score at will. Moss is just plain amazing.

The defense has me concerned. They gave up 21 second half points. That is not good even if you put up 49. I don't want the team to have to put up 30+ points in order to win. You don't win Super Bowls like that. You need to shut down other teams, and the Pats haven't done that for 60 minutes. The defense has come up with big drive-killing plays when they needed to, so maybe it is not as bad it looks. It might just be that with 30+ point leads, the defense is not playing as hard as it could. When a team starts to threaten, the Pats do start shutting them down. So maybe it's the Milton Berle Stratagem: only show enough to win.

Also, Seymour will be back soon and that'll help. And the defense is still gelling with Harrison now back and Samuel not being there for pre-season.

The other major concern for the Pats is the lack of a consistent running game. Maroney played a little yesterday and looked good, but he didn't play much (he was only in for 7 snaps). Morris is hurt. They need the running game if only to ice games and not give the opposing team the ball back.

That said, 7-0 is great. I hope they keep it going.

Sox win the East!!!

The Red Sox clinched the AL East Division Title for the first time in 12 years!

Sylvia Update 9/21

Sylvia's latest checkup provides us with some good news. Her kidney function has started to return to normal and they appear to be returning to normal size. She is still somewhat anemic, but with her kidneys coming back into normal function this should (but might not) get better.

She's being eating quite normally (though not drinking which has us a little concerned). She sleeps a lot--but let's remember that she's a cat after all. She is in the windows a lot and is just generally more 'catlike' as of late.

Because of her improvement, her meds have been reduced to finishing up the antibiotics and administering her daily steroid. This reduces the stress on all of us!!

This is truly wonderful news. We are trying not to get too excited about it, however. Even if she goes into full remission, the cancer will almost certainly return. We are hopeful (and hoping) that she continues to improve and that she continue to be with us.

Sylvia 9/18

First, I want to thank all those who have emailed Kristen and I with the well-wishing regarding Sylvia. It is always uplifting to know that one's family and friends care about that which one cares about as well.

Second, Sylvia seems to be doing a little bit better. She's been up and around, more alert. She goes up and down the stairs on her own. She sleeps with us again instead of hiding in a closet somewhere. Much of this morning she sat in the front window that overlooks the valley we live in. I take all of this as a sign that she is feeling somewhat better.

All of us are getting a little better at medicine time. Sylvia certainly doesn't like it and struggles with us. But we have learned how to settle her down (relatively speaking) and get her the medicine more quickly and efficiently. This is, I think, helping her overall situation because she is getting more of the medicine in her and the situation is less stress on her.

We struggle everyday with whether we are doing the right thing with Sylvia. We hope we are giving her some more quality of life and not just prolonging her suffering (and ours). Nonetheless, she doesn't seem ready to give up yet, and so neither are we.

Sylvia's next treatment is on Thursday. We are hoping that her blood work will show some improvement. I'll likely blog Thursday evening or Friday with an update.

Sylvia Update 9/15/07

On Thursday, we took Sylvia to the University of Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital to see an oncologist specialist. VMTH-UW is a leader in veterinary oncology, so we are getting some of the best care possible.

They confirmed the diagnosis and ran some further tests. Sylvia was very anemic and dehydrated. Her kidneys were starting to lose function. They recommended a blood transfusion and keeping at the hospital for a few days so that they get her fluid levels up. They would also start the chemotherapy.

We were able to pick her up today. She was more alert and perky when she got home. She ate some food and walked around. She was still weak, and slept some as well.

Sylvia goes back on Thursday for more chemo. In the meantime, Kristen and I have to administer several drugs and fluids. She’s on anti-acid and anti-ulcer medicine. These are to help with some of the side effects of the lymphoma and failing kidneys. She also gets a daily steroid and some antibiotics. The fluids, to help keep her hydrated, are administered subcutaneously--that means delivered by needle under the skin (between the skin and the muscle). We reviewed this with doctor and he demonstrated. It didn’t look easy, but it didn’t look too bad either. Well, it took Kristen and I about an hour to do it. I couldn’t get the needle in or I went to far and Sylvia would squirm. Finally, I think I got the feel for it, but even then, it was hard. The pill was no easier, she just wouldn’t swallow it! And we have to do this twice a day. I think (hope) it will get easier as all of us get used to it.

After this hour long poking and prodding, Sylvia is definitely stressed and not interested in eating. Hopefully, after a night of sleep in our house, she’ll be happier tomorrow…until I have to poke her again. Sorry Sylvia!!

Sylvia

Kristen and I got Sylvia as a kitten, not more than 6 weeks old, one month before we were engaged. Born to a stray, she came into in our lives by luck, joining Malcom--the cat I had from my bachelor days in Arizona. She stole our hearts instantly and we loved her from day one. Well, maybe not Malcom, but he grew to love her as evidenced by his constant grooming of her and his protection of her from other animals. For the first months that we had Bella (our yellow lab), Malcom wouldn’t let Bella get too close to or too playful with Sylvia.

While Malcom is shy and hesitant around strangers and friends, Sylvia is always friendly and curious, making quick friends of any visitor. There is nothing as inviting and loving as the yellow wide-eyes of Sylvia as her tail flickers behind her.

On Friday, we were told by our veterinarian that Sylvia has lymphoma. She had lost a lot of weight in the last few months and had been throwing up. Her symptoms fluctuated, whenever we thought that maybe we should take her in to the vet, she would appear to get better. We also thought the weight loss was from the stress of the move to IL. But the last few weeks, she lost more weight and was throwing up more than ever. The vet took x-rays and her kidneys were twice the size they should be. After more testing this past week with results that were initially inconclusive, the final terrible results from the pathologist came back on Friday.

The news, as anyone can imagine, is devastating. There are some treatment options, and we will be exploring those, but the outlook is grim no matter what. Apparently, renal lymphoma in cats is one of the least responses types of cancer. Successful treatment might give us another year at best.

If Sylvia can have a decent quality life, relatively pain-free and happy, in that year(or less), it will be worth it. In the last 6.5 years, she has brought joy and happiness into our lives every single day. The mornings waking up with Sylvia sleeping on my chest. Her widened paws and big eyes when she wanted to be pet. The little cry when I would playfully pinch the tip of her tail. Her little pink nose and grey ‘goatie’. How small she gets when she curls up in my lap when I am at the computer. Her white paws so gracefully pushed together as she sits in her ‘paperweight’ position. And, of course, her flirty leg. Nearly impossible to describe, but Sylvia, when she wants to be pet, will stretch herself out against a wall, and push out one of her back legs and hold it there. Once performed, it is irresistible: one must pet her.

We don’t know how we are going to proceed or what will happen. We don’t know what to expect or how to deal with this. But we know one thing for sure: we will always love Sylvia. By sharing our lives, she has made them infinitely better.

Back from Italy, now to Illinois

As my loyal readers will have noticed, for the last two weeks and change there have been no posts. I was on holiday with my wife in Italy and returned last night after 22 hours of travel time. Good to be home, but we move to Rockford, IL on Friday, so no rest. Still going through my inbox...