Today I am thankful for a sign from my patron Goddess.
The city has taken three more dogs and are threatening to kill them.
Each of these dogs were named after Pagan Goddesses.
One of whom is the patron Goddess of Dogs - the deity who, in a dream, gave me my green eyes and red hair so that I would remember my mission.
I awoke looking different.
This goddess came to me in my sleep. She told me I'll always be loved by one man who suffers in silence and that I'll fight for women, children and those among us with the least.
All I can do is pray for the man and help him when he reaches out.
I do my best to fight for kids, women and people in general.
I worship archetypes.
She is MY archetype.
She protects women and children.
This Goddess only loved one man. He now lives among the stars.
I loved once. He breathes under the same stars I do.
I choose to be alone: This gives me more time for rabble rousing.
The Goddess has given me a task I have yet to complete.
I have to find a way to help others without being a statist.
That's the trick.
How do I help people without begging the government for money?
I need to shoot the right arrows and hit the right targets.
I need to get better at hunting.
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Guess what ritual I'm going to perform?
Oh, this is going to be funny.
I wonder if they can guess the dogs' names?
There is more than one.
There are three!
Can a sign from the Gods be even more clear?
I have to take action.
Do city leaders even consider they are upsetting Pagans?
Many of us revere animals, especially cats and dogs.
What in Hades are they doing?
Holding felines and canines for ransom and killing them when citizens can't pay their fees.
They are threatening sacred animals with death if people can't afford their unfair taxes.
Imagine how much that frustrates a libertarian pagan!
Imagine how many candleholders blow up when I express my frustration. That's how much anger this creates. The candles literally explode with energy.
I may do another ritual for Nemesis.
That was fun.
The last time that happened some city employed liar crashed her jeep. I had to reverse the spell out of fear she would die of a stroke.
I'll call my friends so they can alert their covens.
I've heard enough.
I'm going to start sitting in on the hearings. I'll be the redheaded lady who looks somewhat familiar.....the one you recognize....but don't know.....
The one that smells of incense.
The one chanting under her breath.
The one who feels a bit familiar.
The one you don't dare speak to.
I'll be clutching a talisman.......
with a spell to bring down the ringleader and anyone who lies in order to score the death of an animal.
Do the right thing by these families,
by the citizens of this city
-or- you'll regret what comes next.
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Ask yourself....
am I messing with you
or am I telling the truth?
Am I a religious zealot? Or am I just angry that my tax dollars are being used to abuse my neighbors?
What on earth can an unemployed redheaded hypnotist do to take away this abusive stream of revenue?
I can't be the only one tired of seeing this animal abuse play out in the news.
Honestly, how much trust are city leaders building within the community by letting employees act this way?
It's doing more harm than good.
Enjoy the fallout boys.
I wrote this on a Friday night. It's the perfect time to light a candle for Liber.
Love ya,
S.
Edit four days later: I spent the morning in court observing the proceedings. There were eleven cases heard.
The dogs referenced in this post got to go home. The owner will have to go back to prove they were licensed in the city.
Two dogs were surrendered. The shelter promised one of these owners that her dog would not be killed but the judge did not comment. This woman, in tears, pleaded with the judge to let her rehome the pit bull to another city.
The judge tugged on his left ear and ignored her. His body language indicates that he felt for this woman and wanted to distance himself from the emotion she invoked in him.
She pleaded again. He ignored her.
The judge has compassion. Why did he not address her question?
I overheard the City Attorney promise her that the dog wouldn't be killed. It was not read into the record. She just said that to the defendant. I couldn't get the attorney's name. In fact, most of the city attorneys wore badges that were hidden beneath their blazers nor did they introduce themselves to the court. I mentioned this to the city manager's office today. The reason I mention this is that there is really no point in having security badges if we can't see the people work for the City of Aurora. In this day and age of bomb scares and what not- you really want to see people's badges.
The lady that runs the shelter spent the court session playing on her cell phone. Cell phones are banned in the courts. She didn't know that. This is disrespectful to the people in the gallery who are having to follow the rules. I mentioned this to the city manager's secretary. I know they don't care. She's giving the impression that these proceedings are not important. Sometimes it's good to know how citizens perceive things.
Most of the people in the gallery are upset and scared. They were resigned to whatever the city attorneys told them to do.
The lowest fine was $700. The average fine for a completed case was $2,050.
Most of the cases seemed to be in the fourth ward. The addresses for each of the cases were not made clear. I wanted to get a sense if people were being targeted for living in a certain area. I couldn't readily determine that.
I visited the shelter. There was no blood on the walls unlike the last time I visited (a few years ago). It looks like they now contract with third parties to adopt pets out prior to killing them.
-but-
I counted 38 kennels. Several of them were outside of my line of sight. We were not permitted to go beyond the first eight kennels to the left (the dogs for adoption).
The shelter appeared full (I couldn't see beyond the first 18). Only 8 dogs were up for adoption. The other 30 or so were there due to court cases!
The shelter is full. I have to say I've never seen that before!
I have concerns. I'll mull them over and start talking to advocates. It may need to be an educational campaign rather than a political one.
Yes, I AM angry about a lot of things. I'm skeptical because I've had experiences with the City Attorneys lying about me to get a fine out of my ex. They never met me prior to lying about me. Part of me wanted to see if they used the same catch phrases during all of their trials. That's what I tend to notice in all of the city attorneys. They say the same things about everyone they prosecute.
There were no trials today. I couldn't gauge. it.
That said, I don't doubt for a moment the dog catchers are expected to lie so the attorneys can win their case. I fear that the dog catchers may be fined if they don't lie. As I sat in the gallery today, I heard murmurs about lies being told about the owners and the dogs. I believe it. I just want to know what the benefit to the lies are. Are employees avoiding fines? Are they getting bonuses if they win cases? Most people are honest. Why would they lie?
Although it looks like some positive changes have been made at the animal shelter, there is a problem somewhere. It is at capacity and most of those kennels are filled with dogs brought in due to court cases. Because this city will take dogs without knowing what breed they are and forcing the owners to submit to animal DNA testing, my take is that the problem is a lack of training on the part of the animal control officers (inability to identify breeds) and the breed ban itself because it is creating the need for testing.
The strangest thing I saw today was the demand that defendants had to pay $25 if they chose to have a trial by jury. I've never heard of defendants having to pay a fee to preserve their right to a jury trail. That's the first thing I've got to research. I don't think that's Constitutional. If it is not Constitutional, no home rule city can bend the rules to collect that money. I'll report back what I learn***.
I'm not sure how I'll proceed. I know I will continue to light the candles and pray.
This is crazy. Our population explosion doesn't quite explain how full the shelter is. There has to be something else going on.
Love ya,
S.
***It looks like many courts demand a deposit from defendants for the anticipated jury fees paid the first day of a trial. I may want to dig into case law to find out why. It would seem that this could explain how impoverished people have a higher chance of incarceration (crap....they woke up the social scientist in me....). Maybe this is another fight for another day.
