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.
Prove that it was. Prove that the cat was in the bike lane, too. See, if you bothered to read the article, you'd know why this lady is getting (and deserves to get) all this ridicule. Like one of her neighbors said, she's psychotic. She's also, according to her rants, a left wing fascist who believes her neighborhood should bend to her will, and if not, the power of the govt be brought to bear to make it so.
That everything in the article pertaining to her lost cat comes from her mouth, I don't believe her without proof because she obviously has an agenda. It didn't mention anywhere that she witnessed her cat being hit.
And since you read the article, you'd already know she puts the lives of her cats over other human beings, especially kids. If you read this thread, you'd see there are others who probably think themselves as conservatives who believe the same way. Are you one of them?
Oh yes. He stays inside and gets spoiled rotten. Mr.Smedley was a three week old foundling getting carried off by a critter of unknown origin. He eats green sprouts from a bowl for something different. Otherwise, I do not agree with letting cats outdoors. No good can come of it.
Wrong. In the city I killed rats. I actually fed the stray cats. Now in more pleasant surrounds of the semi-country I really don't care because the coyotes and other neighbours keep a balance.
I told you that if you love your cats you should keep them inside, not because I care about them, I really don’t...I do care about you. That is all.
Is that any reason to kill a cat in the bike lane?
Remind me not to get stuck in Lodi. Again.
Still waiting on proof the cat was hit in the bike lane on purpose. Because the cat owner says so does not make it so.
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