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The Straight and Narrow Road

There lay a straight and narrow road ahead of me. The pavement is unadorned; it is littered with debris. All around me are dead shrubbery, not a single hint of green. I can see other paths far off in the distance. Those paths are beautiful and awe-striking. Many walk those roads, despite the fact that I’ve seen and foretold of the doom at their destination. Their roads are downhill, and very easy to tread on. My path ascends uphill, creating much difficulty. Yet, while weary, I press on because I see a great light, and golden gates in the clouds. There, a crowned man beckons all to come, and flee the path of immorality and death. Few obey, but those who reach Him are richly rewarded. Though I grow tiresome, and many fall away from the straight and narrow road, I continue on, strengthened through the call of the crowned man. When I reach the top, I am greeted by the crowned man in scarlet robes. He says to me “Well done, my good and faithful servant, in whom I am well pleased.” I rejoice greatly with all those who came before me. Here, we spend all of eternity praising our Master for saving us from everlasting torment.
Logan Flagler
10-23-24
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Using GPS

Throughout my career, I have used GPS in several organizations that I have overseen.  Here are a few war stories:

In Portland, we received a call that one of our vehicles had kicked up a rock and cracked the caller’s windshield.  We checked the location of the incident against the GPS of the vehicle that the guy reported.   We found that the vehicle was on the other side of the County when the incident occurred.  We discovered that people get their windshield cracked and begin looking for a government vehicle on the road to blame the incident on and get a free windshield replacement.

In Jacksonville, we received a call about one of our drivers driving recklessly.  We pulled up the GPS data and found that our driver was driving 50 miles per hour in a 35-mile zone.  The caller was right.

Also, in Jacksonville, we deal with a lot of impatient callers who are calling in to see where the truck dispatched to their address is.  We can look at the mapping software and advise them.  It was not uncommon that we’d see the vehicle pulling up in front of their house and advise them to look outside the window.

GPS finds the best use for new drivers who are unfamiliar with your city.  It helps them get around.

GPS systems help advise your dispatcher as to which vehicle is the closest to the incident location.

We lost one of our employees in Fairfax County.  He had pressed the emergency button on his radio, and we were able to find the location of his vehicle via GPS.  When it started getting dark, we dispatched a helicopter and asked him to shine his flashlight straight up, and the helicopter pilot was able to direct our search to him.

GPS is a wonderful tool.  I used the it in Jacksonville to map the locations of raccoons that had tested positive for rabies.

In Salt Lake City, I used GPS to map the locations of dogs that had been declared dangerous.   I have heard of communities that have online mapping to let neighbors know where the dangerous dogs are in their neighborhood.

You would be remiss if you didn’t take advantage of the tools that are available to you.

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Linda

I had a young lady come into my animal shelter asking for my help to euthanize a sick infant kitten.  When I was done, we both cried for a while.  She was attending college on this side of the (state) border, and I was attending college on the other side.

She told me that while she studied, guys would approach her to get a date.  To ward them off, she would say, “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogency.”  That appeared to be sufficient to run them off.  I thought momentarily and said, “Well, visidual organs are not necessary proof of its evolution.”  For a moment, she thought that she had finally found a guy who could match her intelligence.  She didn’t know that was the topic in my genetics class the previous day.  I really like intelligent women, so I didn’t bother to set her straight.

When we went our separate ways, she told me that she would find me one day and materialize back into my life.  It’s been fifty years.  I worry about her coming into my life now because I’ve lost my good looks some time ago.

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Advisory Boards

Community leaders will create advisory boards to oversee governmental operations to show their openness to community input.  The one thing that many of these boards have is attracting people with special interests.  Those same community leaders aren’t smart enough to know what they have done.

It is difficult to direct a governmental operation when your advisory board does not share your vision.  The no-kill movement exasperated the problem for animal shelters when their advisory boards were led by animal rights nuts demanding that the shelter meet its 90% live release rate to satisfy the board’s directive to become no-kill.

It is very easy to get onto an advisory board.  In most cases, you just express your desire.  Since most hard-working people aren’t interested in nightly meetings, special-interest folks will pack the board.  Usually, each county commissioner or city council member appoints a person for each board.  I witnessed incidents in which members of an animal rights interest would send letters and emails to specific council members to direct their appointee.

Keep in mind, the only purpose for creating advisory boards is to make the commission or council feel better about themselves.  They have no idea as to what they have unleashed upon the departments.  I have not witnessed many effective boards because most of those boards fail to represent the citizens at large.

School Boards and Animal Shelter Advisory Boards seem to draw the moths of the liberal hivemind to them as an automobile speeding down the highway with its highbeams on.

Imagine being given the task of solving the deer overpopulation in your community and recommending a kill solution.  That is going to make your life with the animal rights members of your advisory board difficult.  I remember hunting with my father as a child in Utah.  That seemed like a good place to move to.

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Its not their fault!

I was reading comments following the recent incident of one of our police officers shooting a dog.  Many people conclude that the dog was not to blame.  On that, I agree.  Dogs become confused, especially when some stranger is yelling at them.  Time and time again we see evidence that many pet owners are not smart enough to own a dog.  Any reasonable person would realize that the best way to control your dog is with a leash.   If you can’t figure out the purpose of the leash, you should not take your dog into a crowd.

Every effort that the person attempting to control the dog made it worse.  Their excitement just further excited the dog.  During the two separate altercations that the police had with the dog, I did not hear a single person say “no” to the dog.  That is the first step in training dogs to be around people; to stop aberrant behavior.  This incident failed at all levels.

When the officer approached the dog the first time, the leash was on the dog, but no one was holding the leash.  Someone was stepping on the leash.  The officer should have seen the risk that he was entering into and demanded that someone take the leash into their hands.  It might have helped that he didn’t start with “his cop voice.”

In the second incident with the dog, the dog was off-leash.  The person near the dog could be clearly seen with the leash in her hand.  This makes no sense; the person had to be pretty stupid to take the dog off leash following the dog biting an officer just moments before.

Still using his “cop voice,” but a little more excited, the officer was yelling at the woman to hold the dog.  In addition to the woman being stupid, she was also very slow.  The dog began approaching the officer and the woman’s efforts to stop the dog only seemed to excite the dog more.

As slow as the woman was, the police officer was very quick in pumping four rounds into the dog.  Although the dog didn’t immediately die, it was in pretty bad shape.  I don’t know at what point that dog realized that he was acting badly; it is further evidence that people should be tested first before they are allowed to own a pet or have children.

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What do we seek?

22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 1:22–25.

  • 1 Co 1:18 | For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
  • Mt 12:38 | Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
  • Ga 5:11 | But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.
  • Lk 2:34 | And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed
  • 1 Co 1:30 | And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
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The four primary characters in Proverbs.

There are four primary characters in Proverbs: the wise, the fool, the simple, and the scoffer. The wise embrace God’s covenant. Fools, on the other hand, are opposed to God, yet they are not beyond hope. The simple are those who remain uncommitted to either wisdom or folly, and because of that they are easily misled. Scoffers are proud and arrogant and scorn God’s ways. Other voices in the book include Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly, each of whom personifies the characteristics of her name, and the Woman of Excellence, with whom the book concludes.

Lydia Brownback, Proverbs, A 12-Week Study, ed. J. I. Packer, Dane C. Ortlund, and Lane T. Dennis, Knowing the Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2014), 7–8.

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Officer Involved Shooting

Our local police responded to a parking lot full of people.  From police footage, it appears that most of the people were homeless.  One police officer approached the group and was attacked and bitten by a dog.  It appeared to me that the dog was on a leash at the time.   The officer was walking off the attack when he came back into view of the dog again, which was now off-leash.    Another officer approached the dog’s owner yelling at her to control her dog.  Her attempt was feeble, at best.  He promised her that he would shoot the dog if she didn’t gain control of it.  She didn’t and the dog attacked again and was shot four times for its efforts.

In most circumstances, I would feel sorry for the stupid dog and its owner; but, people don’t realize the impact that has on the officer.  As an animal control officer, I could have taken the dog without killing it.  That’s what we do.  But, I don’t expect a police officer to handle the situation as I would have.  Police officers are trained to think with their guns when they are in danger.  So, given the circumstances, it was a righteous shooting. Although, a Taser would have been my first choice.

Before you start thinking that I’m all full of myself, keep in mind that most animal control officers don’t carry guns.  So shooting a dog isn’t an option.  If we are experienced animal control officers, we get out of our vehicles with a ketch-pole and leash in our hands.  The prospect of getting bitten doesn’t worry us as it does police officers.  Of course, we also get more experience facing down a face full of doggie teeth.

I recall using pepper spray on a Rottweiler once.  The owners complained to the police about my use of pepper spray and when the police sergeant came out to talk to the dog’s owners, the dog attacked him.  He came just short of shooting the dog.  Once the sergeant calmed down, he told me not to worry about the complaint.  I was a little embarrassed that I stepped out of the vehicle without my ketch-pole.  After all of these years, I still feel bad about using the pepper spray.

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Taking God’s Name In Vain.

When we become Christians, we belong to God.  He has placed an invisible brand across our foreheads, taking possession of His flock.  He has placed His name on us.  It is not enough to declare who we are, God expects us to show it.  When we don’t act like one of His children, we blemish His name; thus taking His name in vain.

I pray that we let our light shine; and that we wear His name well upon us.

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The First Climate Protester

When I was very young, maybe around 4 or 5 years old, I would get angry with my mother and go out and sit in the street in front of our home.  I might have been the first climate protester.  My mother would come outside to pull me out of the street.  I was too young to understand that sitting in the street was a stupid thing to do.  Well, actually, maybe I did.  I never once considered turning around and going back out into the street after my mother intervened.  I had gotten her attention and I was good to go.

The problem with modern-day climate protesters is that no one cares enough about them that anyone, except angry drivers, would pull them out of the street.  Once they have been pulled off the street, they get up and resume their spot in the roadway.  I find myself asking, “Where are their mothers?”  Would someone please love them enough to stop them from doing stupid things?

Sure, I want to breathe fresh air, but not from beneath the undercarriage of a passing motor vehicle.