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Some pig!That’s right, we couldn’t resist a “Charlotte’s Web” tribute to Wolfy 2, a young Duroc that trotted off with a blue ribbon and championship title last month at a prestigious swine show in Turlock, Calif.
The 285-pound female was shown by Azalea sixth-grader Justin Terry. Eleven-year-old Justin said later he’d gone into the ring hoping for at least fifth place. But Wolfy went into four-squeal drive and beat out 45 other Durocs for top honors in her class.
It was the first show for Wolfy and the fifth for Justin, who belongs to the Pigs-N-More 4-H Club of Roseburg. He plans to continue entering other pigs in various shows this year. Wolfy meanwhile is slated for sowdom. Justin plans to breed her in June; her first litter probably will arrive in October. Bet those will be some piglets.
Rose
Molar dilemmaWe’d like to award a golden toothbrush to the federal judge in Boise, Idaho, who decided that a prisoner will not get a root canal and crown for his cracked tooth.
Former Medford resident Dennis B. Hammons is being held in Idaho for fraudulently obtaining a passport in his dead brother’s name, as well as other charges linked to a drug ring that began in Douglas County in the 1970s.
Hammons cracked his tooth on a jail meal in September 2006. An abscess developed and Hammons complained of severe pain. Yet he declined medication for pain, according to his dental records. He also didn’t want the tooth pulled. He wanted a root canal and crown.
District Judge B. Lynn Winmill last week decided the procedures weren’t medically necessary, and that the defendant “is not entitled to have his treatment of choice.”
That makes sense to us. In February, News-Review Reporter Marissa Harshman reported that 150 adults and children showed up for Roseburg’s Donated Dental Day. People in dental distress started arriving at 2:30 a.m., four and a half hours before the clinic opened.
Criminals should be treated humanely. But we don’t think they need the most expensive dentistry options when so many people of all ages have to go without any dental care.
Rose
That’s entertainment Looking for something to do this weekend? There’s a three-day quilt show and a Sunday Earth Day event. You can take in an Umpqua Actors Community Theatre musical or check out a Friday Fun Night at the YMCA. Get back to nature at an Arbor Day Celebration or try your luck at the Tiller Carnival. Attend a Party for the Planet or get moving to country jamboree or ragtime music. Feeling boostery? Support your favorite speller at Saturday’s Douglas County Spelling Bee or give a hand to Miss Douglas County and Miss Outstanding Teen contestants. Check today’s Best Bets and What’s Up calendar for details.
Thorn
Beastly treatment We understand that obligations can get away from us all at times. We also understand that a 20-year-old woman with two children and no job has problems that require all her resources.
What we don’t get is how she could allow her two horses to darn-near die for lack of food and basic care.
Roseburg’s Jessica Attaway, a former Sutherlin Stampede rodeo queen, told a Douglas County Circuit Court judge last week she tried her hardest to look out for the horses. But the director of a Dixonville horse rescue group countered that the horses were found near death last year, teeming with parasites. Each recovered after Strawberry Mountain Mustangs intervened.
Attaway pleaded no contest to first-degree animal neglect and has been sentenced to serve 160 hours of community service at an animal shelter. Her story should serve as an example to all who find themselves unable to meet their animals’ needs. Please ask for help, sooner rather than later. Your animals can’t do it themselves.
