25 JAN 05: HOW FUR CAN IT GO?

The very name of it struck me as odd. The Muscogee County Humane Society is having a "Black Out Adoption Event"?! Aren't they looking for suspects in Russell County, who might really do that to an animal?

The news release I saw Monday was no joke: the Muscogee County Humane Society is holding a "Black Out Adoption Event" at PetSmart for the next week - in which all the animals being featured are black. So why hold this now, at the end of January? I thought February was "Black History Month."

Before you click on that "write me" link, consider how Joan Sammond of the Humane Society explains this event. "The majority of our cats and dogs are either black or predominantly black so when you come in to look for a pet, your eye automatically goes to the animal that isn't black." So it's a bit like living in Tuskegee....

(True confession: my father had this same sort of weakness - only it happened every time he watched pro basketball on TV.)

"Our black animals have the most wonderful personalities," Joan Sammond continues, "and they're being overlooked!" This certainly should NOT be happening. If Dr. King was alive, he'd tell us to judge animals by the content of their character - not the color of their fur.

(Oh, by the way - can an animal have a PERSON-ality? Isn't it really more of an animal-ality?)

During the "Black Out Adoption Event," you can pay a reduced fee of $50 to take home a black adult animal. No wait -- that doesn't sound right in 2005. Maybe you can take home an "animal of color...."

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but am I the only one uncomfortable about this Humane Society promotion? Especially considering what Columbus has endured in the last year or so? If dogs are as color-blind as I've read they are, shouldn't we teach humans to be the same way?

Go back to what Joan Sammond said in the Humane Society news release. When a majority of animals are black, your eye "automatically" goes to one that is not -- and that's the one you supposedly adopt. Some folks in Sumter County could take this event to mean we should discriminate against minorities.

So why doesn't this logic of "automatically" going for a different-colored item apply outside pet adoption -- say, to human beings? Well, I guess it did once. If you saw the PBS documentary Monday night on the problems in integrating Southern schools, you might know what I mean....

I'm left wondering how far Joan Sammond's logic goes. Do African-American people only adopt black-furred pets? Do white people only adopt non-black pets? And should we check the folks who adopt parrots, to see if they're really space aliens?

Is there a deep, hidden message about Columbus race relations when large numbers of black animals are left at the Humane Society's kennels, while pets of other colors are adopted? Maybe there are other things in town we should check - such as whether students stay away from Shaw High School, because of home black jerseys.

BLOG UPDATE: Since I brought it up, WRBL reported Monday the attorney for David Glisson has filed a response to that $100 million lawsuit over the death of Kenneth Walker. Richard Hagler apparently earned his legal fees - because the response went beyond, "Ha Ha Ha."

Richard Hagler contends in his court papers David Glisson has legal immunity from the lawsuit by Kenneth Walker's family. He could be right, you know - since for 13 months, Glisson's claimed immunity from talking to almost every Columbus news reporter.

Richard Hagler goes on to claim the city of Columbus should pay David Glisson's legal bills, over the Walker family lawsuit. Considering the city government also is being sued for damages, the next city manager could wind up asking voters to approve a TEN-cent city sales tax.

Now other fast facts (or fiction?) from Monday:

+ Parts of Columbus and Albany had spot power outages at 5:00 a.m. -- apparently because preset thermostats came on during the coldest morning of the winter. This never happens at 5:00 p.m. on 100-degree days in July. Let's start a campaign to donate used blankets to Georgia Power....

+ The Social Security office in Birmingham donated 450 used computers to Lee County Schools, beginning with Beulah and Smiths Station. These should be wonderful in business classes - to figure how quickly a student's start-up will cost in federal taxes.

+ Instant Message to the staff of the new Columbus "Library Café:" Don't be ashamed about charging sales tax. Without a sales tax, you wouldn't even be in that new building.

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