news-record.com

You know what bothered me as much as the brutal and senseless attack on a defenseless animal is the explanation this guy gave to his mother. His mother said her son told her the puppy jumped up on the sofa where his newborn son was laying and he was afraid the puppy would harm his son. If this man is capable of doing this to a puppy, what is this man capable of doing to a defenseless and helpless baby? I hope that social services is aware of this situation and looks out for that baby or we could be reading another article about what he did to that baby.

I too wonder how could you ever pick a jury who would not be swayed by what they hear and see that this man did to the puppy. I would be the first to say that this is one jury I would not want to be on.

There does come a point where we need not invest the energy needed to make sense of senseless acts. We simply need to put that person away for a very long time. The mentality that we need to make sense of an act also rests upon the same foundation as "therefore, there was a viable excuse for it." The sooner these knuckleheads understand society is no longer interested in cutting deals, plea bargaining or excusing away inexcusible acts, the sooner they'll either stop or be put away for good to make new friends who share their disrespect for human life.

There was a story in the news today from Asheville of a man who shot a bicyclist who was riding with his wife and 4-year-old. The shooter confronted the man about riding on the road and, when the victim turned away, shot him in the head, destroying his helmet, but not injuring him seriously. The shooter pled guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and was sentenced to 120 DAYS - not years, DAYS! Any bets this guy gets more than that? Don't get me wrong, I love animals and am in no way defending what Whitehead did. My point is, in both cases, it was just pure luck the victim survived. The perpetrator deserves no less than life in prison. Until we demand respect for all life, these animals, and I am referring to Whitehead, will simply rack up more victims. And what of Shaniya? If her killer gets less than life, there truly is no justice in this country. I want animals like Susie to be defended and looked after, but first, because the jails cannot hold them all, I want those whose victims are human locked away forever.

Animal cruelty and a fascination with fire is symptomatic of a very serious emotional issue called "conduct disorder." Intensive therapy is called for but, with the government cutbacks in mental health services, I doubt he'll receive it. Instead, he'll just become another number in an already overcrowded prison system. Sad. But the politicians know they can cut funding for the mentally ill, poor and homeless with impunity since most of these folks don't vote.