Posted on 05/24/2009 2:34:10 PM PDT by JoeProBono
LODI, Calif. -- A community controversy is brewing in Lodi.
A neighbor posted a sign with the words, "Hit a cat, I'll hit your kid." Some neighbors said they are concerned their children's lives are being threatened.
"Basically what this is saying is: Hit a cat and I'll hit your kid," said Tina Teixeira.
Teixeira got a lot of attention after she put the sign up in front of her West Elm Street home in Lodi.
"You don't want me to hit your kid so don't hit mine. You hurt mine, that is just like if I went over and ran over your kid. Basically, that is what I was intending," said Teixeira.
Teixeira said she decided to take action after a driver ran over and killed her cat on the bike lane on Friday.
Some parents were outraged over her cardboard note.
"Basically she is threatening to hit people's kids," said concerned neighbor Joann Larsen.
"One parent said that I was psychotic," said Teixeira.
Teixeira said she wanted to shock drivers, not harm their kids.
Teixeira said she knows her sign would upset people but she put it up because she is tired of people driving 65 mph on a 35 mph zone.
She said she noticed some cars slowing down and reading her sign so she wrote a new sign.
"After burying the cat and calming down a little bit ... (I realized) that it was a little shock value. It got attention for people, so I thought that I would put it in more understanding terms," said Teixeira.
The revised sign reads: I watch for your kids, so please watch out for mine.
"That is the whole point here is to stop hurting animals," said Teixeira.
Teixeira said she isn't shy about yelling at drivers and even her neighbors. She said she even mentioned she spit on someone to protect her cats.
Only one neighbor wanted to talk about her sign on camera. Others said they wanted to avoid any problems.
"I do like that she changed it," Larsen said.
The animal lover said she can only hope she can keep her cats from losing another life.
Teixeira said some of her feral cats don't like to stay indoors.
She said she hopes her sign will get city leaders to install speed bumps in her neighborhood, which is right near a school.
Ever work around aircraft, you will find out the same. Cat urine is bad stuff, contributes to metal fatigue, which is also bad stuff. They have similar ways of dealing with the problem.
Not in CA, most likely. Don’t see too many neighborhoods with limits over 25, especially near schools. Of course, it’s a far better idea to wreck the street (and home values) by installing stupid speed bumps to accomodate lazy parents and cat owners who are unfortunately clueless to the fact that roads are a means for people to get from point A to point B safely and efficiently, and not playgrounds for kids and animals.
I spent 15 years working in an ICU, and a few years before that on an orthopedics floor; I've seen plenty of human damage from 'swerving to miss' a deer, but none that I remember from hitting one--except the guy on the motorcycle.
Certainly do NOT cross a double line on a blind curve, and chance a long drop at best, and a head on at worst.
Scraping a guard rail on the right might be a different matter.
OTOH, hitting the Dumby is a LOT cheaper: first, it comes under comprehensive coverage, so probably has a lower deductible than for a collision.
Second, it is not a chargeable accident, unlike NOT hitting Dumby and damaging public property (guard rail) which the state charges plenty to replace, or killing another driver.
Third, as soon as you SWERVE (Both the woman I mentioned's word, as well as the word so many others used) you have effectively surrendered control of you vehicle; that is not the same as a controlled attempt to avoid.
If the cop isn't sympathetic, it can also get you a citation for failure to maintain control or some such, and points on your license, and higher rates or even canceled insurance.
What if you’re dog escaped and hurt someone’s kid, then they can hunt YOU down and burn your house down?
The problem with this article is all the ‘facts’ presented come from the deranged cat owner. To say she is a nutjob is an understatement. She’s also a facist.
Why not? After all, just put a threatening sign because after all, your pets safety is EVERYONE's responsibility...
Seems to be the message I get from these people. Had a cat die around my place a few weeks ago, a persian that looked like it was owned...'owner' never came around to take care of it, the gardners had to.
[I grew up near Lodi... haven’t seen the town in over 20 years.]
You’re not missing anything. It has become “Stockton North”. All the open land is now gone.
Was this you paraphrasing the gal’s attitude or is it you?
If it was you:
1. “Your kids mean less to me than my cats.”
I can relate, my pets mean more to me than other people do. Not to the point I am actively going to go after children riding in the street or take them out if they run across my lawn (maybe yelling at them) not killing them.
2. “I am not responsible for other people’s irresponsible procreation.”
Yes. I am also not responsible for their planned procreation either, but that really is neither here nor there as it relates to this article as most of us have nothing to do with our pets’ existences either.
3 “Keep your dirty little children out of the street and my cats will stay stay in my yard.”
I’d say “off my property” is a more sound legal attitude to take. however the whole ‘my cats will stay in my yard’ thing is a total and absolute lie. Cats roam, I have never seen any cats ever stay in their owners yard 100% of the time. Not even very old cats. Unless they are fenced in and cannot get over, or are on an invisible fence system or leash/line, there is no way cats are going to stay in one yard. I know we have cats in the neighborhood, I know who owns them and where their houses are, and they are ALL OVER the neighborhood.
Thanks for pinging it Slings and Arrows.=^..^=
My cats also are insiders.
My pleasure.
Did you bother reading the article in 122? It talks about there being a problem with speeders and there’s a school close by and a school bus stop. I wouldn’t let a cat out where it’s busy but it seems unsafe for kids too.
Sort of like a “Street Pizza.”
Oh yes. The robins in the yard thank me everyday with a song :-)
People should not let cats roam outside. Outside cats can get hit by cars, stolen, abused, acquire diseases, or get injured in fights with other animals, etc. In addition, outside cats in the US kill millions of birds and other small wildlife.
What was the car doing in the bike lane? I imagine it was a nut that gets kicks from running over cats.
I understand pet responsibility, don’t need to read all the posts about it. Understanding her anger at a jerk running over her cat on purpose doesn’t mean she is off the hook for letting her cat roam.
Some of you people are so narrow minded and ignorant it makes me sick.
You’re another ignorant bully.
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