I had puzzling email Tuesday from Susan Stromberg Stein. She was outraged about a lack of fact checking and I had no clue what she was talking about.
Here’s the first message I read from her: “I was brought up in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and I can assure you that our policeman did not go around biting barking dogs. Where did you get your information from? You need to print a retraction of this cannibalistic incorrect information.”
Of course I thought she was chastising me so I sent back, “I have no clue what you were talking about.”
She directed me to an earlier email (I always clean the bin from bottom to top, not sure why, maybe because I also compose the newspaper from back to front). It included a picture of a page in the Palm Beach Daily News featuring Pet Set by Paulette Cooper Noble. The headline on the column is “Dogs can be trained not to bark.”
Sure enough under the subheading of “How to stop that barking?” Cooper Noble makes this statement: “Police officers in Battleford, Saskatchewan, have a strange law on the books allowing a policeman to bite a dog to stop it from barking. Obviously we don’t do that in Palm Beach.”
Ahh, so it wasn’t me in trouble after all. Stromberg Stein just wanted me to know the reputation of the Battlefords was once again being besmirched and she wanted me to know she was doing her part to defend the community.
Cooper Noble sent back an amusing response:
Dear Susan:
I am the author of the pet column. I'm sorry you took umbrage over the item about Saskatchewan, but I made it clear that there was a "strange law on the book," not that anyone would actually do that.
I am sure no one would confuse that item for an actual event, or cannibalism.
There are literally hundreds of absurd laws no one follows — or could — on the books about pets all over the United States, Canada and indeed the world. For example:
Memphis, Tenn. — If a frog's croaking keeps you awake at night, you can have that frog arrested (Editor’s note: not a safe place for Claudette Cadidlehopper).
Utah — Birds have the right of way on public highways.
Arkansas — It is illegal to blindfold cows on public highways.
Sincere thanks to Stromberg Stein for her staunch defense of her hometown, and for a couple of smiles along the way. And if your dog’s barking is making you crazy you can find Cooper Nobel’s column at http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com.
