Credit where it’s due

Because I don’t write as well as most of the scribes on the Voices page, motivation has to be strong to inspire an attempt. I am motivated by last Wednesday’s Voices page to make a contribution.

We do need impassioned people like Kim from Dover to point out what some might think trivial, as in the case of the use of roadside herbicide. Here’s hoping the responsible party or parties will consider her plea to abandon that practice. Certainly we don’t need more poison in our world.

And then Editor Brenda Looper is really good for a chuckle, which most of us could really use these days. Her column, “All cranked up,” fit the bill. What I really wanted to comment about started with her moving account of the loss of her pet cat, Luke. I saved this column so that I could respond. My usual busy-ness prevented that from happening sooner, but now that I’m going through a somewhat similar grief cycle, having lost “Mystery,” pen is in hand.

It’s appropriate at this point to credit some people who do a wonderful job trying to help hapless animals who through no fault of their own find themselves in sometimes terrible predicaments. Let’s start with our own City of Little Rock’s Animal Services and the Animal Village led by Tracy Roark. He and his staff are fabulous to work with, having saved hundreds of lives (and counting). Our vet, Dr. René LaVergne of Westrock Animal Hospital, has become a dear friend as we come wagging in our little desperate packages way too often around closing time. You can’t beat his staff for caring. Then there’s my neighborhood in west Little Rock which, for 20 years, has been more than willing to help a homeless cat or dog. They are great.

It’s my turn to thank you and others who just try to make the world better, because you do.

KAY CARPENTER

Little Rock