A few bad apples spoil it for the rest of us.........................

It would seem in today's society, with all of the crime shows on television, that everyone would get that when you trespass it is important to leave things JUST THE WAY YOU FOUND THEM so nobody knows you had ever been there. If you manage to keep up the pretext, you get to keep up the trespassing and life is good for all. Well someone broke this cardinal rule, didn't clean up their dog's unmentionables and now we are all getting kicked out of the dog park, slash, baseball field!

Okay! I can agree with the guy that was standing guard, "It is" (technically) "a ball field," But hey! My dogs didn't mind this fact a bit. Besides, I've ran around bases and the outfield of ball fields for many a summer and trust me, one would never confuse me with an actual baseball player. This never caused me to be baned from the field (though I am sure there were one or two people that might have thought I should have been, being such a discredit to the game dropping the ball like I was known to).

As we were having one last visit (the signs are GOING up, are NOT UP, so technically we were not violating anything posted) I couldn't help but notice how torn up the field was, and every single mark was made by a cleat. A normally behaved dog would never be able to do that amount of damage to the grass no matter how many time he/she ran around the outfield, and yet WE are the ones getting kicked off. I even agreed with the sentry that maybe we should stay off of it during the season, but what could possibly be the harm in using it off season? WAS IT NOT MY TAX DOLLARS THAT PAID FOR AND BUILT THE DARN THING IN THE FIRST PLACE? Why should it sit vacant all but two months of the year when it could be bringing so much joy to others? All he could do was feed me the line about it being a ball field again. As the dogs were taking their farewell romp, I envisioned starting a protest. We could picket all the games and drown out the cheers for the team with loud barking, singing dogs. When we won, the headlines would read, "BALL FIELD GOES TO THE DOGS " wouldn't that be great?

I guess the time has come for me to get politically involved, and plead the case with the Mayor that our fair city has a need for a dog park. If he would give me the back corner of the city park to use as space, I am willing to raise the funds for the fencing and doggy disposal bags. Maybe we could even hire the guy from the ball field to watch over things and make sure no one goes in there with cats or kids? Just a thought... Before I get too far ahead of myself, I need to make an appointment with the Mayor and come up with a short survey he can put on the city newsletter so he can see how many citizens feel the need for an official dog park.

My gut tells me many of them will say, "why bother," and just keep using the ball field. I am working on building my confidence in the Mayor as well, because when I requested the city place more waste barrels on city streets to accommodate those of us that do pick up after our dogs and really hate having to cart our packages for blocks and blocks of our walks, the request fell on deaf ears. If all else fails, I am looking into how much it would cost for secret sign removal once the season is over and school is out for the summer. Do you think they charge by the screw?