THE LEFTOVERS

Dogs, Cats, Pot Shots And Praises

A few quick takes on recent events in the news, from points around town and
around the nation:

Merit: For Cumberland County Sheriff's Deputy Victoria Bartch. She raised
donations and held a yard sale to pay for expensive spinal surgery for a
retired K-9 team member.

Ella, an explosive detection and patrol dog, had chased the bad guys and
found lost children during her law-enforcement career. Bartch didn't think
it was right that Ella should spend her retirement in pain. Merits also go
to the people who contributed enough to cover the $2,000 surgery bill even
before Bartch held the yard sale.

Demerit: For the Drug Enforcement Administration's priority list.

Yes, the Supreme Court ruled that "medical marijuana" is illegal and the
justices always get the last word. But with young people from cities to
suburbs getting addicted to heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and other
narcotics every day, the biggest threat to American society is not cancer
patients being able to get marijuana to alleviate nausea. To use drugs for
medication isn't the same as to use the same drug for recreation.

So while the DEA had every right last week to "bust" a medical marijuana
club in San Francisco -- a place where patients arrive with their doctors'
recommendations -- one would think it would be lower on the DEA's list of
concern than the big-time narcotic traffickers who corrupt global politics
and finance terror with their trade. But these clubs, which were legal
under California law, are surely easier to find.

Demerit: For Gov. Easley for deciding to yank millions of promised funds
from local governments at short notice -- causing panic from police
departments to school boards -- in order to make up for an anticipated
shortfall in state revenue.

Merit: For Gov. Easley, for being a rare politician with a learning curve.

The governor decided that it might not be such a good idea to yank the
local funds, and will rethink the matter.

Merit: For the Wilmington Road Improvement Group and the Wilmington Road
Heritage Association. The two groups are working together, and with others,
to improve the neighborhood.

When people and groups start out on their own to make their streets a
better place to live, others are more likely to notice, take the work
seriously, and assist. This is the kind of can-do spirit that shows the
best of Fayetteville.

Demerit: Cat cloners. Kitties manage to reproduce quite well on their own,
thank you. Besides, people who admire the grace and intelligence of cats
would ask why tamper with perfection?