Link of the Day: Gracefully Yours. Grace is attending law school and is working this summer in a public defender's office. Her June 18 entry reminds me why I once seriously considered becoming a lawyer and why the practice of law is still a noble one, whatever one may think of some of the practitioners.

In the Farmer's Market: The last of the season's strawberries. I bought enough today to make another pie. The strawberries this year were not very sweet, but they had an intense strawberry flavor, unlike those out-of-state strawberries they sell in the supermarkets in the off-season.

Writing City Council

I don't usually get a chance to read the newspaper in the morning. I'm too busy running around like an addlepated squirrel, trying to get lunches made and everyone dressed and fed and safely deposited at the office and school. Hence I didn't see until yesterday evening an article in the Friday Trenton Times reporting that the city council is considering an ordinance to limit the number of animals city residents may own. About freakin' time, I said.

Now, I'm not a big fan of government regulation. From my father I've inherited a healthy disdain for city zoning laws, ordinances, and regulations. And until about five years ago, I didn't have any opinion one way or the other on how many pets people should have. Well, sure, when I was growing up I knew someone who had 16 or 17 cats and I did think that was a little odd. But since she lived in the country, far away from us, it wasn't an issue for my family. A classic case of Not In My Back Yard. Since those cats were, in fact, NIMBY, I didn't care. Now, however, we have a big problem with too many animals, and the problem is very much IMBY. To be specific, the dogs are in our neighbor's yard, but the smell, noise, and flies are in ours as well.

About five years ago, our next door neighbor (and Tab's cousin) Lorraine began collecting dogs the way other people collect salt and pepper shakers. At first she bought a half dozen purebred dogs as pets, which was bad enough. But then she joined an animal rights organization and began "rescuing" from the pound animals that were about to be destroyed. The goal of her group is to place the dogs in permanent homes, but they aren't always successful. Lorraine may have anywhere from a dozen to sixteen dogs in her house at a time.

Lorraine's family and friends have tried talking to her, but she won't listen to reason. Last year, I finally called the city health department and was astounded to learn that the city does not have an ordinance limiting the number of pets.

Until now. Maybe. The article said that the city council was considering such a measure but was facing opposition from several animal rights organizations, including Lorraine's group. What especially incensed me about the article was that neither of the two fanatics quoted actually live here in the city.

The article reported that the city council could be voting on the measure as early as Monday. So I scrapped my Friday evening plans to work on my latest job for the Press. Instead I sat down and wrote a letter to the city council. I addressed letters to each of the seven councilmen individually, telling them exactly what it is like to live next door to more than a dozen dogs and urging them to enact the ordinance.

Stephanie was over last night and agreed to stay in the house with the kids while Tab and I set out to mail the letters at 11 p.m. We had to go in search of the main city Post Office since it moved from its old location a few years ago. It's not in the safest part of town. The streets were dark and nearly deserted, with just a few people moving among the shadows. But we mailed the letters without incident. I hope they will reach the city councilmen by Monday morning.

I don't know how much good the letters will do. But I went to bed happy I had done something, instead of just bitching about the problem as usual.

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