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Robin Starr & Dogs
RICHMOND – The experience of losing her favorite dog after accidentally leaving it in a hot car for four hours will strengthen the credibility of the Richmond SPCA’s leader, say those who work closely with her.
A 16-year-old dog belonging to Robin Starr, the SPCA’s chief executive officer and one of the area’s most outspoken advocates for animals, died last Wednesday.
Anne Grier, chairwoman of the Richmond SPCA board of directors, said she believes the dog’s death will boost Starr’s position as an animal advocate.
”I think it enhances her ability to communicate and educate the public about humane issues. I think that if this can happen to her, it can happen to any of us,” Grier said.
”We’re all human beings. For her to speak from experience — I know this has been extremely painful to her — I think gives her more credibility.”
However, some in the community say Starr should step down from her position. An article about the situation had drawn about 220 comments, more critical of Starr than supportive, on TimesDispatch.com by late last night.
”She doesn’t have as much credibility anymore. … She can’t stand up for animals in the way that she used to,” said Henrico County resident and self-proclaimed dog lover Lamont Johnson.
”I do believe that people make mistakes. Just because it was a mistake doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay for it. You have to accept responsibility for your mistakes.”
Starr said she has no plans to resign from the position she has held since 1997. Yesterday her husband, Ed, took responsibility for the dog’s death.
In a teary interview, Ed Starr recalled putting the couple’s dog — a deaf and blind cocker spaniel/poodle mix named Louie — into the rear of his wife’s Volvo station wagon last Wednesday as she prepared for her first day back at work after a 10-day vacation.
But he said he failed to tell Robin Starr he had put the dog, which they had adopted from the SPCA, in her car.
It wasn’t until she left her office about noon that day — after the dog had spent nearly four hours alone in the car — that she discovered Louie in the back of the station wagon, showing signs of heat stroke.
According to the National Weather Service, last Wednesday’s temperature in Richmond was 79 degrees at 8 a.m. and had reached 91 by noon.
On an 85-degree day, the temperature inside a car with the windows slightly open can reach 120 degrees within 30 minutes, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Weather service experts say the temperature could reach well above 130 with the windows shut.
She took the dog inside to the SPCA clinic, where it was stabilized and taken to the Veterinary Emergency Center in Carytown. Veterinarians worked unsuccessfully to restore kidney function in Louie, and the dog died about midnight.
”I just forgot . . . and didn’t think about it until I got this frantic phone call from Robin. I knew immediately what I had done,” Ed Starr recalled yesterday at the SPCA offices on Hermitage Road.
He added, “It wasn’t her fault. It was mine.”
Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said the incident can help raise awareness about pet safety.
”This case shows that even the most informed and attentive people on animal welfare can make mistakes, and it’s a reminder to all of us to be as diligent as we can possibly be,” Pacelle said. “We and the Richmond SPCA have worked hard to educate people about this type of threat to animals. I hope that this unfortunate circumstance reminds people to be very attentive to this problem.”
The Starrs have not been charged with any crime. According to the Code of Virginia, it’s a Class 1 misdemeanor to inflict “inhumane injury or pain on an animal” but only if the act is willful.
Ed Sayres, president and chief executive of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, expressed his support for Starr yesterday, saying the ASPCA “truly believes that this incident was a horrible and unfortunate accident.”
”While some might unfortunately call for Robin’s resignation as a result of this horrible accident, it is imperative that we focus on the thousands of animals’ lives that she has saved through her work with the Richmond SPCA,” he said.
”Louie’s death serves as a tragic lesson — animals should never be left alone in a parked vehicle, and pet parents must stay vigilant when it comes to their pets’ safety.”
Tamsen Kingry, the SPCA’s chief operating officer, said yesterday that “the board of directors for the Richmond SPCA does not waver in their support of Robin Starr, and they will not in the future.”
Starr, who had four dogs and two cats, has been a vocal advocate for the welfare of animals and has pushed the General Assembly for tougher laws to protect animals. She also has been a vocal critic of NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who pleaded guilty to federal dogfighting charges in 2007.
When he was reinstated last month by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Starr said, “The action of the NFL commissioner to reinstate Michael Vick is both premature and unwise. Vick has not yet demonstrated that his remorse is sincere or that his irresponsible, cruel and criminal behaviors are likely to change. The NFL and its leadership apparently lack the integrity to require civilized behavior from their players. This would reflect poorly on any team that adds Vick to its roster.”
Kingry said Louie’s death is a teaching moment for pet owners, and Starr agreed.
”If this could happen to a woman who has dedicated her life to saving animals, the same tragedy could befall anyone else,” Kingry said. “That’s why it’s so important to serve as a learning moment for folks in the community, so that the same tragedy won’t befall other pet-loving families.”
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Posted 3 years, 9 months ago at 11:36 am. Add a comment
GREENSBORO — In February of 2010 the city of Greensboro will mark the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth lunch counter sit-in. The stance by the four freshmen ignited the African American youth who carried the civil rights movement to a higher level and ended up changing the world of Jim Crow.
In those 50 years, Greensboro has elected an African American Mayor, hired an African American Police Chiefs, and now they have hired a young African American city manager by the name of Rashad Young.
Rashad Young may be short on years, but not on experience.
At 33, he manages a city of 2,400 employees. He has wrangled with Dayton, Ohio’s $13 million budget deficit. He faced down the U.S. Department of Justice’s scrutiny of Dayton’s hiring.
And he’s expected to add another job to his resume: Greensboro city manager. Young will complete a deal with the City Council on Tuesday. He could be on the job as early as October.
Mayor Yvonne Johnson said a majority of the council members agreed that Young was their top choice. They interviewed five finalists last week.
“We were just extremely impressed,” Johnson said of Young.
Neither Young nor City Council members have revealed what the new city manager will earn. But the salary package is a point of contention with Councilman Mike Barber, who said the council offered too much.
The job was advertised at $170,000 to $220,000. Young earns $145,700 in Dayton.
Young, who is married with two young sons, said he is as comfortable riding on the back of a dump truck as he is chatting up a CEO.
“I’m a very approachable kind of city manager,” Young said Thursday.
“I have high standards and like to hold people accountable.”
Young has led Dayton, with its 166,000 residents, since 2006. He also served as assistant city manager in Dayton and Cincinnati.
Johnson said Young is hard-working and works well with different kinds of people. Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin told her, “Your gain is our loss.”
Young will replace former City Manager Mitchell Johnson, who was fired by the City Council in March.
Young said he would help the council set a strategic direction for the city and would make sure the council makes informed policy decisions.
He said he would give all council members the same access to information and ensure they are treated fairly. Some council members have said the previous city manager didn’t freely share information with all members.
The new manager will come to Greensboro at a time of economic strife — an issue he has faced head-on in Dayton.
Young said business and city officials need to work together to develop the economy.
“It’s about really defining what the assets are, where the growth opportunities are,” he said. “It’s not going to be the big plant that is building a Chevy. The question is: What can we rally around?”
While in Dayton, Young also dealt with the U.S. Justice Department’s scrutiny of hiring practices and allegations of racial discrimination.
The Justice Department alleged that Dayton discriminated against African Americans in its screening process for firefighter and police officer candidates. Dayton resolved the complaints and settled the issue this year.
Greensboro was notified by the Justice Department this year that it is investigating minority hiring practices in the police and fire departments.
Young said the city needs to have clear expectations for employee behavior when it comes to racial issues.
He said the city should be open and transparent when resolving racial conflicts, so that people can have confidence in the process.
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl, who worked with Young in Dayton and Cincinnati, said Young is not one to micromanage his staff as long as they are meeting his standards.
“He’s progressive. He clearly sets expectations, but he is not one to oversee, to scrutinize every decision or inject himself,” Biehl said.
Some Greensboro council members had criticized the previous city manager for micromanaging.
Phil Parker, president and CEO of the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, said Young thinks before he reacts. Parker said the city manager has matured since he took the job.
“He is very well perceived by the business community. He is very active. He is very accessible,” Parker said.
Young said he expects to spend time learning about Greensboro and working on staff morale. He said he has met bright and energetic staff members.
“I am really excited that I will be coming into a situation with a good team,” Young said.
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Posted 3 years, 9 months ago at 6:04 am. Add a comment
Emmett Till with his mother, Mamie, in 1955, the year the 14-year-old was brutally killed in Mississippi, fueling the civil rights movement.
Posted LA Times By By Jacqueline Trescott Washington Post Reporter
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has acquired the original casket of Emmett Till, whose brutal murder in 1955 energized the modern civil rights movement.
The official announcement of the donation, made by the Till family to the Smithsonian Institution, will be made today, the 54th anniversary of his death, during a memorial service in Chicago, museum officials confirmed.
What some might consider a horrific artifact would seem to be a necessary addition to the sweeping story of black triumphs and tragedies that the museum plans to tell when it opens on the National Mall in 2015.
But Lonnie G. Bunch, the museum’s director, said Wednesday he had much to consider before saying yes to the acquisition.
“The family wanted to preserve it in a respectful way,” Bunch said. “But it did raise philosophical, ethical and sensational issues that I wanted to think about. And I wanted to consider them as a museum director, as a historian, and someone who has to raise funds. I wanted to understand all the hurdles.”
Almost every museum wants an artifact that stops the visitor. The item can make you pray, shudder, cry, think. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington has several, including a railroad car that transported Jews to concentration camps and piles of shoes worn by victims. In a tiny civil rights museum in Savannah, Ga., a partly burned cross is on display.
Bunch had no doubts about the casket’s significance. “The story of Emmett Till is one of the most important of the last half of the 20th century. And an important element was the casket,” he says.
Till, who was born in Chicago, was a 14-year-old visiting relatives outside the hamlet of Money, Miss., when he was accused of “wolf whistling” at a white woman in a grocery store. A few nights later, the woman’s husband and his half-brother pulled Till from a bed in his great-uncle’s cabin. His corpse, with a 75-pound cotton gin fan tied to his neck and a bullet hole through his head, was found in the Tallahatchie River by fishermen.
His mother, Mamie, recognized him only through the shape of his ears and the signet ring of his late father, Louis, with the initials L.T. Gone was the smiling, round face with the sparkling dark eyes. He was beaten so badly that his brain had to be removed prior to burial.
At that moment, Mamie Till made what Bunch describes as a courageous decision. She decided that everyone, and she meant the world, needed to see what had been done to her son. She ordered that the casket be open at his memorial service in Chicago. About 50,000 people filed through the church.
Then, Bunch says, another extraordinary event occurred. Jet magazine printed a photograph of Till in the casket.
“There were probably hundreds of black men who disappeared or were murdered in the 1940s and 1950s. But her demand for an open casket forced America to come to terms with this. I think it sent a jolt through America. It was not another black man murdered, but a 14-year-old boy from Chicago,” Bunch said.
The casket rested in Chicago’s Burr Oak Cemetery until 2005, when it was dug up for the first-ever autopsy. The body was transferred to another casket and reburied in Burr Oak.
The original casket also was held at the cemetery. This summer when workers at the cemetery were accused of digging up graves of approximately 300 people and selling the plots, the police found Till’s casket in a storage shed.
“Everybody was surprised that the casket was neglected. And the family and others began to ask, ‘Is there a role the museum can play?’ ” Bunch said.
Bunch hasn’t decided how to display the casket, but he knows that some will find it upsetting. “It is an object that allows us to tell the story, to feel the pain and understand loss,” he said. “I want people to feel like I did. I want people to feel the complexity of emotions.”
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Posted 3 years, 9 months ago at 5:44 am. Add a comment
The alleged kidnappers of Jaycee Dugard: Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy. (AFP/Getty Images / August 28, 2009)
Authorities revealed that a 29 year old woman kidnapped at the age of 11 as she was on her way to school was discovered in the Bay Area this week after her alleged abductor aroused the suspicions of a UC Berkeley police officer.
Authorities said Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender, and his wife, Nancy, kept Jaycee Lee Dugard in a ramshackle warren of sheds, tents and tarps behind a fence in the backyard of a home in Antioch, northeast of Oakland.
Further, Garrido, whom acquaintances described as a “religious fanatic,” fathered two daughters with Dugard. The girls are 11 and 15.
As Dugard was reunited with her mother Thursday in an East Bay motel., the Garridos were being held in the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville. They are to be arraigned today.
Dressed in pink, Dugard was walking the few blocks to her bus stop in June 1991 when two people in a car snatched her from her South Lake Tahoe neighborhood. Young Dugard’s stepfather, who witnessed the abduction, leapt on a mountain bike in pursuit.
In the 18 years since, Dugard, whom the Garridos called Allissa, has never been back to school or to the doctor. Nor have her daughters, authorities said.
“It’s a miracle that we got her back,” Carl Probyn, her stepfather, said in an interview at his home in Orange as he displayed pictures of his stepdaughter. “How do you get 18 years back? . . . I just hope that she can have a decent life from here on out. Her life kind of stopped at 11.”
No her life did not stop at 11. Unfortunately, her child hood and life of innocence ended on that dreadful June day in 1991.
Below is a rambling, sometimes incoherent, phone interview given by Phillip Garrido, Dugard’s registered sex offender abductor. The interview was conducted with Sacramento station KCRA-TV Thursday. During the interview Garrido said that he had not admitted to a kidnapping and that he had turned his life around since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago.
During the interview Garrido said that he had not admitted to a kidnapping and that he had turned his life around since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago. To sum up the interview, Garrido describes the incident as one ending in redemption, as he exclaims a life altering change from a scumbag pedophile to a descent pillow of society since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago.
Oh, and this life change will be supported by the witness/victim. He claims we will be blown over.
I’m blown over now as I think about the facts without his life changing story.
First let me say, if indeed he has changed his ways, good for him. But changing his ways will in no way give Dugard back what he took from her. This man stole her innocence, and her ability to become educated. By imprisoning her, she did not have the opportunity to play as young children will do or attend school. Mr. Redemption impregnated her at the age of 13. The child probably did not know what was happening to her. Nine months later, she is with child. Fathered of course by rape. The 29 year old uneducated woman with no vocation is now the mother of two daughters fathered by rape.
The only good thing coming from this is that she is alive and perhaps physically well, despite not receiving health care. There is no way she or her two girls can be mentally healthy.
I guess another victim is the wife who supported him through the kidnapping and captivity. Maybe she is the witness/victim he speaks of during his interview. Wonder what type of abuse she had to endure? That is another story we would all like to hear.
Stay tuned!
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Posted 3 years, 9 months ago at 5:21 am. Add a comment