Pooch Problems Persist

Reprint from "Mesquite Citizen Journal", Oct. 10, 2011

I’m going to devote this column to that which comes out of our community’s dogs. No, I’m not going to write about barking. I’m writing about what comes out the other end.

I am a denizen of the Oasis golf courses and during a recent round I was approached by one of the finest beverage cart drivers this city, or any other, has ever known–a true Hall-of-Famer. I respect her expertise and when she came roaring up to our group in her wagon demanding, “I want you to write a column about poop!” How could I turn her down?

I generally don’t take requests, but I said, “Sure. This may be my only chance for a Pulitzer.”

First, I had to clarify if she were referring to my golf game, the town’s propensity for gossip, or something more literal.

“I’m sick of it! People don’t clean up after their dogs around here.”

Not wanting anything unseemly added to my next on-course Bloody Mary, I assured her I would try to comply with her wishes. What I found upon looking into the matter by looking for the matter turns out to be a near epidemic.

Like all good research, I limited my study to the Mesquite Vistas area around the Oasis golf courses, the Oasis Business Park, and Marilyn Redd Park, so my comments are specific to that section of town. I could only conclude that I am, by nature a “heads-up” sort of guy. Because, when I walked around with my head down the sheer volume, variety of sizes, and collection of shapes of the examples I found of the reported problem astounded me. I began to share our cart driving, EPA expert’s outrage.

I can, with some certainty report that many of our dog owning citizens adhere to safety regulations and walk on the sidewalks and paths provided by our town elders. I know this not because I witnessed the actual walking, I can report this because of the evidence emanating from exercising their hounds. I saw way too much of what pets’ behinds leave behind, left behind.

The sides of the cart paths on the golf courses, the edges of the walkways along the streets, and worst of all, sections of Marilyn Redd Park are all fouled with “steaming piles of (expletive)” as the Queen of Carts most daintily put the problem to me. Kids playing in the park should not have to decide whether or not they are picking up their errant Frisbee or a dried, flattened mound of waste. I’m sure Mrs. Redd would be aghast that her namesake park has become more of an obstacle course than a playground.

Our olfactory organs need not be assaulted during a daily exercise routine. And, I shouldn’t have to play policeman and issue a warning to adults that shirking one’s civic duty is illegal

There is, after all, City Ordinance 10-3-16, titled: “Animal Waste, Odor, and Noise”, requiring, among others, owners to pick up after their pets (excrement is the legal term used). This isn’t a matter for the city council at one of their recently opened to the public Technical Review Sessions. This is strictly a matter of conscience to be dealt with by our dog walking citizenry.

So, in the inimitable style of the late-great Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss:

Do not leave it in the park,

In the morning or after dark.

Do not walk eyes to the sky,

Pick up pooch’s little pie.

Do not think you are being kind,

When piles of poop you leave behind.

It’s the law–so clean the grass,

Of that which comes from Fido’s ….

Americana

Reprint from "Mesquite Citizen Journal", August 29, 2011

Mrs. Writers’ Corner and I recently returned to Mesquite from an extended road trip. There were many facets as we covered all four time zones and added four thousand miles to our family Truckster. We traveled through 10 states and saw seven Capitol buildings plus two former Capitols, one in Iowa City, Iowa that proudly served until Des Moines replaced it in 1857 and one that served Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois. That’s a total of nine domes. Denver, Colorado’s is gold plated–Americans know how to build cool domes!

We once lived in Denver and most of our family still does. 30 years ago Denver was a cow town but has been diligent and made itself one of the fine cities of this country. Once smog riddled, they actively cleaned the air. Not stopping there, Denver serves as a prototype for modern cities. The prime example is the grand transportation/pedestrian hub at the edge of downtown. The project rehabilitates the classic Union Station into a center for travel around the city and a point of departure throughout the state and beyond.

I’m qualified to call Denver a great American city because I got to compare it to Chicago, Illinois, one of our greatest historic cities. Our stop in the Windy City revealed cool jazz clubs, the grandeur of the Tribune building, classic architecture, and a focus on museums and galleries.

We experienced a second look at Chicago from across Lake Michigan. About 60 miles away in South Haven, Michigan we stood on the beach and saw the glow of the city at night.  

It is mind boggling to leave our high desert and compare our mountains with the still-snow-capped-in-August Rockies of Colorado then compare them to the wonders of a body of fresh water whose far shore cannot be seen from side to side. Also witnessed were more rain in one night than we see here in two years, humidity percentages in one day greater than the aggregate of more than two dry Nevada summer weeks, and a completely incomparable amount of water running through the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to our Virgin River.

Those are the natural wonders and the man-made wonders rival them. The above-mentioned Capitols are inspiring. I learned a ton about the Civil War, an area in which I brag of some knowledge, at the Abraham Lincoln library and museum in Springfield. We saw artifacts of which we previously only read or saw in photos. I was most impressed with old Abe’s ivory handled sealing wax dauber that retains his red wax laden fingerprints.

America’s interstate highways are a marvel. Even the inconvenience of road construction slow downs didn’t dampen our spirits. It is good to see Americans working on what is called “infrastructure” on news reports.

The rest of what we witnessed was corn.  Get a map and draw a huge box around the area from eastern Colorado across Nebraska, Iowa, and into western Illinois. Travel south and then west through Missouri, back across Kansas and north in Colorado returning to Nebraska. That’s about 10 degrees of longitude wide and four degrees of latitude deep–tons of land covered with maize. And to think, it all will become fodder for our future food, fuel for our future transport, and seed to do it all again next year. We even get to eat a bit if it straight off the stalk.

Trip notes include getting the best customer service we’ve ever had in Benton Harbor, Michigan when Mrs. Writers’ Corner’s e-book broke and we had to replace it at a Best Buy. The noteworthy item here is that Benton Harbor is best known these days as a city so troubled and economically depressed that it was made a ward of the state. Elected officials were axed and the governor now runs the city. With all those woes, workers at the store gave us superb service with a sincere smile.

The main reason for the trip was not to nearly bankrupt ourselves with fuel costs, although that was a side effect, the reason was family. We saw family in Denver, took some with us and saw more in Michigan. Along the way we made stops at a major airport, ate meals at a wide variety of eateries, and bunked in places ranging from awesome to awful.

In total, what we participated in was Americana. I could have shared one word in lieu of the 700 you are reading: Majestic. The bottom line is that with all our political warts, this is a country worth saving.