To the editor:

This letter regards the proposed anti-tethering city ordinance and responds to the editorial titled “A Short Leash” (Journal-World, June 17).

Tammy Grimes is the founder of Dogs Deserve Better, a nonprofit organization dedicated to freeing chained dogs and 2003 first place winner of the Pet Protector Award given by the ASPCA.

It was under Tammy’s direction that I headed up a local educational campaign known as “Have a Heart for Chained Dogs” on Valentine’s Day 2003. It was during this campaign that I gathered the home addresses of more than 40 people with chained dogs within the city limits of Lawrence. On Valentine’s Day I visited each home with a homemade valentine, dog biscuits, information on the Dogs Deserve Better organization, and a letter offering financial assistance for fencing, resources on house-training and an offer for adoptive services if the dog was not wanted by the owner. Of all the Valentine packages, none of the recipients inquired of the offers. In the case of people who consistently keep their dogs on chains, education does not seem to be the key to keep it from happening.

Nelson Mandela once said, “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” It is my belief that this ordinance does just that for the hundreds of dogs currently living in Lawrence on tethers and subsequently denied the most basic right of all — freedom.

Megan Willesen,

Lawrence