My wife and I and our two dogs (our “kids”) were visiting our property on Turtle Lake recently. This is on County Road 205. We had family and friends over; there were kids and a bunch of dogs. Later, my wife and I were cleaning up and were careless about watching our two litter mates.
One of the dogs ran across the road and was hit. A witness said the truck, a charcoal gray late-model Dodge pickup, was driving at a high rate of speed. Almost everybody drives that road like bats out of hell, but if this person would have been driving the speed limit (35 mph) we think our dog could have been avoided.
The witness told us he saw the incident. He said the driver did stop to see if the dog was dead, but did not check her tags. The truck then drove off.
I wanted to write for two reasons: To tell this cold-hearted driver what I thought, but also to thank our neighbors who went out of their way to help us. A neighbor named Michael and his daughter spotted our Daisy dead in the ditch. He checked the tags and called us, and he helped me pick her up. They were so kind; later they brought a dozen roses.
Our neighbor Tim Kroes came down his driveway and saw me crying and trying to dig a grave in soil that was hard clay. Tim came back with his son Dylan, brought a shovel and gloves, and they helped us dig a grave out of the kindness of their hearts. Tim’s wife Susan also came by to console us.
We know this happened because we failed to protect our dog, but going on a county road shouldn’t automatically be a death sentence. People drive that stretch of road like they are in a race. Please slow down before you kill another dog or a person.
We saw the worst and best in people that day, Thank you to those kind people. We will always be grateful.
Deborah and Val Whitley
Durango
