Posted on 06/18/2003 3:11:07 AM PDT by Buckwheats
Family pet was eaten, police told BY MICHAEL FRAZIER
Posted on Saturday, June 14, 2003
Police were looking for two men Friday in the gruesome killing of a 5-year-old dog that authorities suspect was grilled and eaten.
Capt. Scott Roper of the Jonesboro Police Department would not confirm a police report that indicated a man ate the 50-pound chow, whose paws and other body parts were found simmering on a grill. "How could they be so cruel to an animal that we’ve had since he was a baby," said June Kemp, whose 20-year-old son, Jared, owned the rust-colored chow named Pooh. "It’s been really upsetting to the family."
Jared had attended his grandfather’s funeral a day before police detectives informed the family that the dog had been killed. "They had no right to do that to my dog," Jared Kemp said. "I knew the people who did it. [They] were my socalled friends."
The dog was killed Sunday about 10 p.m. at an apartment complex at 500 W. Elm St.
Authorities are looking for Matthew Harden, 18, and Nick Allison, 20, both of Jonesboro, according to a police report. Neither could be reached Friday.
The case has been handed over to the Craighead County prosecuting attorney’s office. No charges were filed in the case as of late Friday.
The men grew up in the same neighborhood as Jared Kemp, his mother said, adding that her family feels betrayed. "These two boys used to live on the same block," she said. "I don’t know why or how they could do something like this to Jared."
Kemp said her son rushed into her bedroom early Sunday and said Pooh was not in his sleeping pen in the home’s back yard.
She said the dog must have been familiar with his takers because it did not bark. "It looked like the dog went willingly," she said. "We just couldn’t believe when we found out what had happened to the dog."
According to the police report, Harden beat the dog to death with a shovel before he hung it from a ladder to prepare it for cooking. A piece of nylon rope and piles of fur were found at the base of the ladder, Jonesboro police officer Owen Smith wrote in his report.
Justin Spencer, 26, of Jonesboro told police Harden said after he cooked the dog he ate it. Another witness, Ashley Harden, whose relation to Matthew Harden is unknown, also told police that Harden said, "I ate dog," the report said.
Spencer would not comment Friday about the incident.
The macabre case has stirred the Jonesboro community and shaken animal-welfare proponents in Craighead County, said Richard Wang, abuse investigator for Northeast Arkansas Humane Society. "This is an extraordinary incident of animal abuse that’s particularly egregious," Wang said. "I’m really pleased that we haven’t lost our capacity for outrage, and [it is] encouraging the people here are responding to it."
Wang, a political science professor at Arkansas State University, said he handles abuse cases each week, but nothing so severe as Pooh’s killing. However, he said, "this horrible case is just a step away from what I see all the time."
The Humane Society has not been asked to help with the investigation. "I have no idea what we could contribute," Wang said. "The laws are clear, and those people will be brought to justice."
Arkansas’ animal-protection groups say the state’s animal cruelty statute — a Class A misdemeanor — is weak.
In the November 2002 election, animal-welfare activists sponsored a proposed act to toughen penalties for certain acts of animal cruelty, but it was rejected by voters.
The Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation and Arkansas Poultry Federation opposed the act, fearing it would expose farmers to prosecution for everyday agricultural practices.
In a legislative session earlier this year, a bill introduced by Rep. Buddy Blair, D-Fort Smith, would have toughened penalties for torturing dogs and cats.
The bill, which passed the House but died in a Senate committee, would have made animal cruelty a Class D felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Under the current law, a Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.
June Kemp said the family still was trying to come to terms with the cruel loss of a beloved pet. "I don’t know why or how they could do something like this," she said. Information for this article was contributed by Kenneth Heard and Michael Rowett of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Killing Fluffy the Mining Poodle and eating her would likewise constitute self-defense of the hypothetical miners' health. Not eating would lead to muscular and systemic weakness, preventing the miners from escaping the cave-in.
Killing is not a sin per se. Killing can be a holy act -- for example, killing a robber, a rapist, or an enemy soldier in a war. Killing an animal for food is perfectly moral, but such killing should be done as quickly and painlessly as possible -- not because the animal has any rights we need respect, but because a callousness towards suffering tends to kill one's empathy towards human beings. The act of killing a dog or cat (or any other animal that trusts people enough to form an emotional bond with its owner) isn't itself a sin, but it's a sign of a person who has no respect for loyalty -- a sure sign of a sick soul.
According to your theory, it would also be an act of "self-defense" for one of the miners to kill the other in order to survive. Not eating is fasting, and that won't kill you for a long time, but dehydration will kill you very fast. I don't think it's an act of self-defense to kill a trusting animal just because you're smarter, you're "entitled" to survive, or just because you can. Otherwise, to paraphrase C.S.Lewis, as a matter of self-defense, we should kill the Democrats as a matter of self-defense.
If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons. C. S. Lewis
According to your theory, it would also be an act of "self-defense" for one of the miners to kill the other in order to survive.
Not at all. Human life is sacred; a dog is just a dog.
I don't think it's an act of self-defense to kill a trusting animal just because you're smarter, you're "entitled" to survive, or just because you can. Otherwise, to paraphrase C.S.Lewis, as a matter of self-defense, we should kill the Democrats as a matter of self-defense.
See above.
"If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons." -- C. S. Lewis
Red herring. Lewis was referring to vivisection here -- cutting apart living animals for purposes of research. To my knowledge Jack Lewis was not a vegetarian.
-PJ
The cat was IN on IT...Kitty planned the whole thing... :)
Ecclesiastes 3:19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath [1] ; man has no advantage over the animal. (Footnote 1, "breath" is also interpreted in some versions as "spirit" or "soul".)
I don't know if C.S. Lewis was a vegetarian or just sympathetic to animal rights issues (like Mark Twain and Joseph Wood Krutch), but it appears that St. Paul was, most of the noted early Church leaders were (St. Francis, St. John Chrysostom, Clemens of Alexandria, Tertullius), religious reformers such as Clara Barton, John Wesley, and Martin Luther, politicians such as Benjamin Franklin (at least for awhile), scientists and thinkers such as Pythagorus and Einstein, and numerous others.
I'll bet
How do you explain Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes to feed 5000, and eating broiled fish after the Resurrection?
Noticed your statement that "wasn't Jonesboro the location of those killings". Well, yes and no. There is absolutely no relation to the killings at Westside School and Nick and Matt disgusting act. I have known Nick personally for a very long time and I have some things to write about him here to, but to the first part now. Westside is "technically" in Jonesboro, but it may as well be considered a part of Bono Arkansas as it is so close to Jonesboro's border that kids who live in areas where they are a part of Jonesboro High School's district as Nick and I both were that they rarely if ever encounter any children who attend Westside as the Westside killers did. Neither Nick nor myself knew those boys and in fact they were quite younger than me or Nick. As for Nick's case, Matt Harden is a very sick individual and I don't understand what brought him to this, however I can say for Nick that he is what I would call an extreme and foolish follower. I know you find it hard to believe that a follower would be led to do THIS and even I couldn't believe and still can't quite bring myself to believe it to this day after all these years knowing Nick as I do. Nick is actually rather kind, at least to people and he has always been kind to pets in my presence. I have a feeling that Matt had a serious problem with the owner of the dog and somehow convinced Nick to enact vengance against this guy with him as both knew him but I don't know Matt's reasons for sure. Nick is not the sick individual Matt is and despite what the reports say, Nick did not join Matt in eating the dog. I think what enticed Nick to join in this idea the most was the humor in throwing the head in the mayor's (yes, the mayor) pool. Nick just followed a friend and to this day he is extremely embarrassed and upset about what he has done.
Weslion, thanks for not judging me. I don't know who you are so please reveal yourself sometime. =) nick@byteusa.com
Bottom line is this: WE messed up. This has made both of us more appreciative of life and good has come of it.
well, technically this wasn’t cruelty if they killed the dog quickly with minimal pain. It is disgusting though....
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