Michael Vick and Sochi
Local and international news, and it’s not good:
The Greater Raleigh Sports Council is an organization whose mission is “to foster a healthy economic environment by promoting the region as a leading site for sporting events. . . .” To that end, the Sports Council has invited Michael Vick as a Special Guest to its 2014 Evening of Champions. Really?
The Sports Council website states that “His presentation includes what he learned from his mistakes and the consequences, and how he has worked to change his life,” including a link to learn of his involvement with The Humane Society. I didn’t realize Vick and the HSUS had an arrangement but I’m so stunned by his upcoming role at the Who-Cares-Anyway Evening of Champions that I don’t have the psychic energy to scrutinize those public service announcements. I do hope he has rehabilitated himself, but it stretches my imagination to think of him as a speaker of any repute.
What to do? Enough people have objected to his invitation to this event that a petition on Change.org has garnered almost 72,000 signatures as of 2:00 EST. If any of you bloggers feel similarly, here’s the url:
Local news aside, and assuming that he really is interested in showing kindness toward animals, I’d rather see Mr. Vick flown to Sochi, Russia to assist animal rights workers who are racing against the clock to rescue stray dogs “from exterminators hired by the government.” According to the Humane Society International’s website, “HSI became involved in Sochi last summer when city officials announced a plan to kill 2,000 dogs ahead of the Winter Olympics. The international outcry forced city officials to abandon that plan.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/sports/olympics/racing-to-save-dogs-roaming-around-sochi.html?hp
Sit, Stay and Read 