Monday, December 8, 1986/The Battalion/Page 3
State and Local
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'razos shelter turning adopters away
Official: Pets not best holiday gifts
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By Carolyn Garcia
Reporter
H you’re planning on giving little
ohnny or Suzie a pet for Christmas,
don (. An official at the Brazos Ani-
■ Shelter said that agency is turn
ing potential adoptive parents away
daiiv
■atty Arreola, a humane educator
with the shelter, says Christmas is
notithe time to introduce a new pet
to the family, whether you have chil
dren or not.
■When a pel is introduced into the
household, it needs love and atten-
■ and time to adjust,” Arreola
said There is just too much excite
ment during the holidays.”
^rreola recommends that anyone
wishing to give a puppy should get a
box and fill it with pet needs such as
leash, a bowl and maybe even a
1-care book, and wrap the box up
for opening on Christmas day.
^■■hen, she says, go a week after
lChristmas and pick out a pet.
I Arreola said that too often pets
are subjected to stress and often
unintentional abuse when given as
gifts on Christmas.
■if adoptive parents have chil
dren, we strongly suggest that they
don’t get pets as gifts,” she said.
“Children are too active and excited
and this might stress out the pet.”
Arreola points out the dangers
that puppies can get themselves into
during the holiday season, such as
eating tinsel and ribbon or chewing
electric cords.
Arreola said the Brazos Animal
Shelter prefers no gift-giving at all
unless the individual receiving the
gift can come pick out his own pet.
“A lot of times people bring us
pets that were given to them as a
gift,” she said. “They tell us that the
particular pet is not right for them.
They are usually embarrassed and
sometimes feel resentment toward
the people who gave them the gift.”
Arreola said the animal shelter
will let people pick out pets a week
before Christmas and will hold pets
for them for a few weeks after
Christmas when things are usually
less hectic around the house.
She said that before a pet can be
adopted, certain guidelines must be
met.
Everyone wishing to adopt a pet
must fill out an application and at
tend a personal interview.
Anyone who lives in an apartment
may be asked to bring in a copy of
the lease and may even be given a
letter for the landlord to sign, Ar
reola said.
“Too many times people get pets
and either don’t know they are not
allowed to have a pet or try to sneak
them in, only to find themselves be
tween a rock and a hard place when
the landlord finds out,” Arreola
said. “And it is the puppy that loses.”
The adoption fee, Arroela said, is
$40 for a cat and $45 for a dog. This
includes a rabies shot, a physical,
and a free or discounted neutering,
she said.
She said people who are getting a
pet should stop to consider their
schedules and ask themselves if they
really have time to properly care for
a pet.
“People are very surprised and
sometimes don’t understand when
they are denied an adoption,” Ar
reola said. “When this happens, and
if there has been a misunderstand
ing, they may appeal the decision in
writing. . . .
“These animals have already had
a hard life. When they leave here, we
want to be sure they are going to a
loving home.”
Arreola said it’s important that ev
ery family member comes to visit the
pet before the adoption to assure
that the transition for the pet is as
smooth as possible.
Animals have personalities just as
people do, and it is important that
each family member get along with
the pet, she said.
Texans remember
Pearl Harbor raid
on its anniversary
S Artists on death row create Christmas cards
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UNTSVILLE (AP) — The Christmas cards
are not unlike many others that speak of good
will toward men and put forth the holiday ideals
ofhope and love.
TBut the six artists who drew frisky stallions,
snowy scenes, lute-playing angels and fat Santas
are not typical. They’re death row inmates.
■They were drawn by guys who were con
demned to die and are considered worthless . . .
by society,” said Lisa Haberman of Houston, a
volunteer organizer of the “Holiday Notes” pro
ject. “But they are beautiful works of art and
show that they have something to offer.”
jThe cards are being sold by Lois and Ken Ro-
lonof Burleson whose son, Larry, 29, is one of
the death row artists. T he couple organized the
ptojectand had the cards printed.
Ken Robison said almost all of the 1,200 cards
that were produced in an initial printing have
Jensold and another batch will be printed if the
pets keep coming in.
Proceeds from the cards sales go to fund
HOPE, an anti-death penalty group started by
the Robisons. Some of the money is sent back to
the artists, but they get more out of the project
than money, Robison said.
“The margin of profit on the cards is not
much,” he said. “One of the main things is that it
gives the guys an outlet for their creativity, some
thing they can be proud of and see in print.”
The cards, printed on standard heavy card pa
per in black-and-white, carry a picture and mes
sage on the front with the artist’s name and
prison number on the back.
One best-seller is the card, “Notes of Hope,”
by Joseph Starvaggi, featuring a Christmas angel
playing a lute. Starvaggi, 34, was convicted of
killing a Montgomery County deputy sheriff in
his home during a 1976 robbery.
Another is Larry Robison’s drawing of two
white doves. The younger Robison is awaiting a
new trial on a capital murder charge filed in the
1982 slayings of five people near Fort Worth.
Robison’s father said the card tells something
about his son.
“Actually, this may sound a little strange, see
ing what he’s convicted of, but he’s always been a
gentle person and it (the card project) helps to
portray his own personality,” Robison said.
The artwork gave the condemned men a break
from their boring routine, said Billy G. Hughes,
34, whose card featured a stallion tugging open a
Christmas package with his teeth. Hughes was
convicted in the 1976 shooting of a state trooper.
Haberman also commented on the contrast be
tween the crimes of the inmates and the art on
the cards.
“You see a lot of art, poetry and writing com
ing off the row from guys you wouldn’t think of
as sensitive, artistic types,” she said.
(AP)—JoAnn Nelson remembers
the shaky voice of a radio an
nouncer; John Grady recalls taking
cover in a drainage ditch; and Dallas
city councilman John Evans remem
bers losing 1,777 shipmates.
See related story, page 7
These are the memories of Tex
ans who recalled the Japanese bomb
ing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Eighteen ships were sunk or dam
aged, 188 U.S. aircraft were de
stroyed and 159 others were dam
aged in the 7:55 a.m. attack.
The United States lost 2,403 serv
icemen, while 1,178 others were
wounded.
Some of those killed were ship
mates of Evans, who was a 19-year-
old gunner aboard the USS Arizona.
A 1,760-pound bomb dropped by a
Japanese aircraft penetrated the
decks of the Arizona and exploded,
lifting the entire bow of the vessel
from the water, Evans said.
Nineteen of the dead were Evans’
friends. Evans, 64, said he has
avoided returning to Pearl Harbor
since then.
But after 45 years, he decided to
make peace with the tragic mem
ories. He planned to join 300 other
survivors of the Arizona and their
families Sunday for a private memo
rial to commemorate the 45th anni
versary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
“I couldn’t go back,” Evans said.
“You can be a hard, tough guy all
your life, but 45 years later you still
feel it. I still dream about it. 1 keep
thinking about all those boys I went
through boot camp with. I wonder
why I didn’t die there, too.”
John Grady of Austin also said he
is grateful to be alive.
Grady was an airplane mechanic
stationed at Hickam Field when the
Japanese attacked. He was ordered
to move three planes during the at
tack. He moved two safely, but had
to jump out of the third when the
plane’s hydraulics were shot out.
The 69-year-old retired painter
said he jumped in a drainage ditch
where he and several other soldiers
stayed until the attack was over.
“To put it mildly, it was mass con
fusion,” Grady said.
“It sounded like everything in the
world was exploding,” he said. “It
was unreal.”
JoAnn Nelson of Wichita Falls,
the wife of a state district judge, also
remembers thinking the attack was
not real. She lived in a Honolulu
suburb at the base of Diamond Head
on Oahu.
“It was like being in a movie,” said
Nelson, who was 13 years old when
Pearl Harbor was attacked. “It isn’t
really real. It never entered my mind
I could be killed.
“My mother woke me up. I didn’t
really understand what she was tell
ing me, but I could hear the radio.
(The announcer’s) voice was shak
ing, but he said to ‘keep calm, every
body.’
“We all rushed outside. We were
all looking up. We saw six airplanes
and we couldn’t see who was who.
We saw one go down in flames.”
When Nelson returned to the con
tinental United States, she volun
teered as an air spotter and Red
Cross worker.
Grady fought in the Pacific The
ater and was on the island of Guam
when the war ended.
Evans was shipped out of Pearl
Harbor and served through the end
of the war, when he left the Navy
and moved to Texas. But he refused
to return to Dallas for years and lost
track of the other men from his
hometown who survived the attack.
“I couldn’t go home for a long
time and face the mothers of my
friends,” Evans said. “I couldn’t look
into their eyes, them wondering why
I lived and their sons died. I won
dered for a long time why I didn’t
die there, too.”
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Seniors want to travel, to go, to learn, to grow.
And they want a carefree environment that
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If you are considering a retirement move,
please give us a visit or a call. We are a warm,
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2410 Memorial Drive/Bryan
823-7914
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