6th grader overturns hedgehog ban

UPI ^ | today | staff

[Ron Jeremy]

LAWRENCE, Kan., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- A sixth-grader at a Lawrence, Kansas, school has successfully lobbied for a change in a municipal law that barred him from keeping a hedgehog as a pet.

Judson King, 11, said that he began his lobbying campaign a year ago with a letter to the city commission, the Lawrence Journal-World reported Tuesday. In December, after written and oral presentations, the commissioners, convinced that hedgehogs pose no threat to the Kansas beef cattle industry, changed the law.

Hedgehogs, which look something like small porcupines, are native to Europe and Africa. They were banned in Lawrence because of fears that they might carry foot-and-mouth disease.

Judson, a student at Corpus Christi Catholic School, decided about three years ago that he wanted a pet hedgehog. His mother, Rebecca Weeks, said she was happy to learn that they were illegal.

"I thought, this is my out. Now I don't have to get him one," Weeks said. "Then he said, 'How do we make them legal?'"

[Ron Jeremy]

fyi

[Riley]

“Dinsdale!”

[Melpomene]

You, of all people, to find and post a hedgehog article.

[pgkdan]

I thought, this is my out. Now I don't have to get him one," Weeks said. "Then he said, 'How do we make them legal?'"

You STILL don't have to get him one. Tell him no. Period. He might mope around but he'll get over it. Where in the hell did we ever get the idea in this country that he HAVE to give kids every stupid damned thing they ask for?

[BGHater]

Nice one, Ron.

[ArrogantBustard]

[edcoil]

Guess they do carry “FMD”.

http://www.critterology.com/foot_and_mouth_disease_fmd_in_the_hedgehog-162.html

Sorry for the wrap.

[Mercat]

This is so cool. I’m glad that they mentioned why the ban in the first place.

[weegee]

Where in the hell did we ever get the idea in this country that he HAVE to give kids every stupid damned thing they ask for?

Doctors Urge Puberty Blockers for Children Considering Sex Change (LifeSiteNews January 5, 2009 By Kathleen Gilbert)

The doctors project that relatively new puberty-blocking drugs could "buy time" for young teens who may later decide they are unsatisfied with their sex, and thereby avoid undergoing the bodily changes that belong to the sex that they are dissatisfied with.

[brytlea]

Thank you. I was thinking the same thing. Why won’t parents PARENT?

[JRandomFreeper]

"Sure, kid, we can get a hedgehog. Go download some recipes....."

/johnny

[Old Sarge]

[pgkdan]

Here's how the conversation would have gone with my dad when I was a kid.

Me: Daddy can I get a hedgehog for a pet?
Dad: Don't be a moron. Get up and change the channel to channel 3.

[Navy Patriot]

Wow, the kid gets a hedgehog, I always wanted one.

[weegee]

I wanted a Tasmanian Devil when I was growing up but they didn't look much like the picture...

[Lurker]

Way to go, kid.

[SJSAMPLE]

Outstanding!

Imagine if we started eliminating laws, left and right, until we returned to the point where an honest man could be sure that he was, indeed, an honest man.

[brytlea]

LOL

[Daffynition]

How did we ever leave that photo off our Hawaiian shirt thread?

[Daffynition]

Yeah. Get him a cactus instead.