Evidently some crimes are more important than others to prosecute – crimes like not wearing a seat belt, or hording the left lane or going after some teenage kid for smoking a joint in the park. Perhaps he believes this is low hanging fruit whereas animal abuse and breaking someone’s neck are not worthy of his attention. See this letter in The World
I had just returned from a horse show in Eugene when I read the article headlined, “Rescued Lakeside horse recovering from neglect (The World, Feb. 16). To say that the condition described in the article was appalling is an understatement.
What I don’t understand is how anyone could allow this condition to exist. Without question, Coos County District Attorney R. Paul Frasier should file charges in this case, and the owners’ names ought to be published. Mr. Frasier’s statement that, “It would have to be gosh-awful ugly before you see (a year’s sentence)†can only be characterized as asinine. If starving two horses to death, one violently, and almost a third one isn’t “gosh-awful ugly,†what is?
It’s unfortunate that Animal Control Officer Rick Hoover wasn’t able to locate the horses for almost two weeks after he was notified.
Christi McDonough and Jennifer Gluege are to be congratulated for their very caring and compassionate act of taking the little filly, Hope, in and treating her.
While I don’t own a horse, I do help with good friends Sandi and Rachel’s seven horses. Like Hope, one of these horses was abused early in life by a prior owner. In the years since Sandi got him, he has won more awards than I can count and now at age 21, is sick and has been retired. She promised him that he would spend his last days on her ranch and like the horse person she is, will remain true to her word.
Her horses have become part of me, and to read about the Lakeside situation completely choked me up.
David W. Brokaw
Coos Bay
