As I write this, I am left wondering how it got to this point. To think it's legal to run a pet over with no consequences, to abandon a pet to die on the street without a second thought, in this town? A town I grew up in, a town filled with good and honest people. How have we allowed this to even be necessary? Truly, it baffles me.

But to the point: I am seeking to expand the city charter to make it criminal animal abuse to strike a domesticated mammal with a motorized vehicle without informing local authorities or the animals owner. I also seek to expand the charter to make it animal abuse to willfully abandon, aka dump, a domesticated animal within city limits. Every day it seems another dog is taken to the shelter, another cat put down, it is a strain on the community and more importantly it is simply wrong.

I seek to gather a petition signed by locals of all ages and backgrounds so I might take it to the city meeting and bring it before the alderman for a vote. Under the law of the city charter, all it takes is the alderman to pass an expansion of the law. And, should this gain enough traction, I hope it will pressure them to do the right thing. I believe this wasn't an indictment upon the nature or character of the town we all love, but a chance to reject such needless cruelty and brutality.

I thank you for taking the time to read this or sign it.