My letter to the editor

Letter to the Editor:

Sir:

In the early moments of September 3, 2005, a vehicle pulling a metal flatbed trailer headed south on US Highway 129. As it crested the hill above Owltown Grocery, it was traveling in excess of the speed limit. I'm fairly sure that had the driver been traveling the speed limit, he could have slowed down when he saw the buff Cocker Spaniel running across the road. That particular section of US Highway 129 has houses and driveways just over the crest of the small hill where caution is always recommended at all times of the day or night. The driver could have slowed, honked and avoided hitting my dog.

The buff colored Cocker Spaniel had never ever gotten onto the highway before. Perhaps he smelled a carelessly tossed piece of food. Perhaps he saw something move in the driveway across the road. When he heard my call, I'm sure he came running as he always did when he was in the yard behind the house (where I assumed he was).

The thud I heard while I was searching for my dog in my yard, was the thud of the vehicle striking my dog. Not only did the driver hit my dog, the driver swerved into the oncoming lane to free the dog from his double axeled trailer wheels. Again I inquire, why was the driver driving so fast as his vehicle and trailer crested the hill? Why did the driver not honk at the dog to get the dog's attention or the attention of the owner? Why did the driver not slow down and change lanes to avoid hitting the dog? (The driver could have changed lanes, as there was no additional traffic until at least five minutes after )

The driver did not stop to render aid and assistance. In fact, his speed increased as he headed towards Owltown Grocery.

When I couldn't find my dog in the yard, I remembered the thud and the swerving, speeding vehicle. I found my dog lying in the highway, 30 feet from where he was hit with a trail of blood from one lane into the other where the driver of the hit and run had swerved to release the body. When I found my dog, I flashed my light at the second vehicle I'd seen that early morning, which was coming in the opposite direction of the hit and run, in the lane where my dog's lifeless body now lay. That car (traveling the speed limit) stopped. I carried the lifeless body of my buff Cocker Spaniel to the side of the road, knelt over him and began the grieving process. One of the two men who stopped to help, David, carried my dog to my yard where we wrapped him in a sheet.

I want to thank David and the unnamed man for stopping and helping me and my dog. I have a grieving heart because I would have leashed my dog had he ever gotten onto the highway before.

I urge the DOT to reduce the speed limit on Highway 129 South to 45 or 50 mph from the city limit to beyond Owltown Grocery.

To the Driver: Don't for a minute think that because it was dark and no one 'caught' you, that you got away with anything. God saw what you did and knows what was in your heart when you did it.

Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore will I judge every man according to his ways, . . . saith the Lord God.
Psalm 49:6 And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.

St. Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and not one of them shall fall on the ground without your Father. (And that goes for dogs, too.)

S/S