PUBLIC FORUM - Outrage upon outrage
This letter is in response to a letter that appeared in your publication on Wednesday written by Kathie Parmer regarding the deer beatings in Iraan.
As a longtime Iraan resident, I have to say that what I read in that letter made me as sick to my stomach as the events that transpired.
What outrages me most is that Parmer refers to these boys as “good kids.” Last I checked, “good kids” didn’t trap defenseless animals in a place with no escape and beat them until they were dead, including a baby deer.
I went to school with good kids … kids that never did anything more than the typical, knucklehead things we do in high school and cringe with regret in later life.
None of them ever beat anything to death to my knowledge. These kids went on to become lawyers, artists, doctors, a Navy Seal and a Texas Ranger.
As she stated, “These are not bad kids. They are kids who made a bad decision.”
So it would seem but let’s take a look at that. In my opinion, making a bad decision is deciding to wait until midnight on Sunday to do a paper that is due the next day. Make a bad decision is cheating on a test. Making a bad decision is breaking your curfew when you knew you’d be in trouble.
We’ve all made bad decisions in our lives. I’m not saying that I am perfect but none of the bad decisions that I have ever made ever cost a life — be it human, plant or animal.
However, executing something for the sheer pleasure of watching it die is not a bad decision. It is murder.
It concerns me that Parmer also readily admits that her own son would have been “lured into the excitement, too.” I am incredulous that a parent would admit that about her own child without a hint of concern.
Many say that the boys are remorseful and sorry and have been punished enough. I, too, would be remorseful if I thought I would be facing felony animal cruelty charges.
However, it is the deer and my hometown that have paid the highest price … one with their lives and the other with a reputation built by legitimately good kids and productive resident. To me, it’s all just crocodile tears.
For those who would say as well that PETA has no business investigating this because they don’t investigate every road kill, let me point out the difference. When deer are struck and killed on the road that is an ACCIDENT. When deer are trapped in a pen and struck over and over and over until blood splatters on the surrounding cage and hoof imprints contain puddles of blood and they are dead that is MURDER. There is a world of difference.
Parmer speaks about the future of these boys. She is concerned about their future. She should be but these boys have brought all of this on themselves. Actions have consequences and these are the consequences to be wrought on this situation. If law enforcement cannot be counted upon to do what is right and necessary it then does fall to the community to let it be known that certain behavior will not be tolerated among its residents.
Parmer doesn’t like the attention being paid to the story. She shouldn’t and she has four boys in Iraan to thank for that attention. The deer didn’t do this to themselves.
In closing I would like to share some of my favorite quotes that I feel are more than applicable to this situation:
>> “The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.” — Henry David Thoreau.
>> “Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.” - James Anthony Froude.
It’s too bad the deer can’t speak for themselves.
