THERE COMES A TIME WHEN PEOPLE GO TOO FAR IN ANIMAL ADORATION

I love animals. I really do. I once named all my dogs in a blog entry. I have two grandcats and one granddog. I still miss my last two pets a lot, Cujo a great cat, and Bandit, a great dog. We have no markers for them, but if I thought it would make me feel better about my loss, then I would have, so I have no problem with people like Shadow's owner purchasing a marker. Pet Cemeteries, well it made a good book by a different spelling, but why not? Pet parks? No problem.

How about Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation? I've supported it. And PETA? They're ok by me. Until they start throwing blood on women wearing furs. That's enough.

But one thing is worse and it's right here in AZ. A policeman in the canine unit forgot and left his dog, also named Bandit, in the squad car. The dog died from excessive heat. Very sad. For him and the family, and I know an MTV policeman who worked in the canine unit. He and his family loved that dog. It was almost like a partner to him. I'm sure it was the same way with the Chandler policeman and Bandit.

A waitress at Hooters' left her 7-month old child in her car about a month later. He, too, died because of the heat. She simply forgot to drop him off at Day Care on her way to work her 7-hour shift. Also very sad. Very tragic.

And that's where this entry and this title get me angry. The reaction of the public. The police officer was charged with a crime, received threatening phone calls, and was viewed as irresponsible. The waitress was not charged with a crime, was not harassed, and was viewed with sympathy.

Both were very sad, but a human life is more important than an animal's. Don't blame me if you don't like that fact. It's in scripture. God loves the birds, but He loves us so much more. And don't think I want the waitress harassed. I'll not judge whether she ought to be charged with a crime. But I don't think the officer should be. I don't want to say as a community we have our priorities out of whack, but something's not right about John Q's reactions to these stories.