Hillsboro answers the howls, promises fix for flag, fireplug
HILLSBORO — The city’s most notorious fire hydrant is coming back.The city yanked the hydrant, painted with the U.S. flag, from its new Hondo Dog Park this week after a handful of people expressed horror at the idea of dogs urinating on the monument. The gleaming red, white and blue hydrant pays tribute to Hondo, a police dog killed in the line of duty 10 years ago. The hydrant’s glory days seemed to be gone. One woman gathered about 60 petition signatures with a vow that those owners would not let their dogs urinate on the hydrant…. People contacted parks officials and media with creative solutions to, as one woman put it, “further deter any ambitious dogs with long legs.” Ideas included installing a glass barrier, raising the hydrant taller than the world’s tallest dog or turning the hydrant into a fountain. The city said Thursday that it will restore the hydrant, which was elevated 18 inches off the ground, with a temporary barrier. But the final solution remains to be seen.
It’s always not when I can post a “good news” follow-up to soemthing I’ve already written about. On Thursday, I wrote about a woman who complained about an American-flag themed fire hydrant in an Oregon dog park. A true American Patriot DUMB@$$ was worried that dogs might urinate on the hydrant, thus causing the late police dog the hydrant was constructed to honor to posthumously feel dishonored. Yeah, I know; don’t get me started on that one again. The good news, though, is that one lone DUMB@$$ will not get her way, though a compromise of a sort is in the offing.
I suppose the moral of this story is that good people can still, if they work together, trump ignorance and reaction. Yeah, I know; it’s “only” a fire hydrant in a dog park, but the principle remains the same. Americans are coming home from Iraq in flag-draped boxes, and Louanne Douris is worried about whether dogs do what dogs do by peeing on a fire hydrant.
Man, if that’s the biggest problem you have, you’re leading a charmed existence, don’tchathink??
