A dog neglected, its rescuer prosecuted

I hope no prosecutor in this region will ever emulate the shameful conduct of District Attorney Richard Consiglio of Blair County, Pa.

Consiglio prosecuted Tammy Grimes, a woman who rescued a dying chained dog while its uncaring people went dirt-bike racing, yet he adamantly refused to charge the owners with neglect under the Pennsylvania animal cruelty code.

Consiglio squandered thousands of taxpayer dollars on a misdemeanor trial that lasted three days. He used the forum to grandstand against a vigilantism that he said would, if unchecked, plunge our great nation into chaos.

What was the terrible thing that Grimes did? When neither the humane society nor the police would, she responded to the call of a distraught neighbor who had watched the emaciated and dehydrated dog lie helpless for three days in mud and rain, unable to rise.

After Grimes (who is founder and director of Dogs Deserve Better, Inc.) realized authorities were not interested in prosecuting the owners or protecting the dog, she refused to give the animal back to those people who had neglected it. When threatened with arrest, she said, "It's his skin or mine" and chose to sacrifice herself.

A movement to expose the district attorney's misplaced priorities will begin now and continue for two years until election time.

Joseph Johnson II

Barrington