Confessions of a Pack Rat

People who know me like to talk behind my back about my obsessive thrift shopping. I admit that I am powerless against the lure of a decent bargain and will go many miles to visit a quality used record store. Needless to say, the opening of the new Goodwill Store in Boone was cause for celebration around the Eason household (well not for my wife, she thinks I’ve got too much useless junk as it is).

Bargain hunters like myself mark their calendars and wait all year for this weekend. That’s when the Watauga Humane Society holds its 26th annual two-day rummage sale at Boone National Guard Armory (across from the Watauga Parks and Recreation Department).

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is currently being investigated by federal and Virginia authorities in regards to a dog-fighting operation run at a house he owns. The Falcons will come to Charlotte for a game against the Carolina Panthers on November 11. Photo courtesy www.atlantafalcons.com

Some of the great finds that I have made at the Humane Society Rummage Sale include a Sony turntable (for all of the used records I have accumulated), a brand new inflatable camping mattress, and an illustrated edition copy of John Steinbeck’s Tortilla Flat.

The best thing about the sale is that when I come home with armloads of somebody else’s junk, I can always tell my wife that I’m just trying to save the homeless puppies and kitties. In my experience, using the words “puppies” and “kitties” has a more heartwarming effect than using the words “dogs” and “cats.” Dogs and cats knock over your garbage cans in the middle of the night. Puppies and kitties just look up at you with their huge sad eyes, imploring you to pick them up and pet them.

The rummage sale at the armory is the biggest single fundraising event of the year for the Watauga Humane Society. The organization hopes to raise $20,000 through the sale of clothes, books, furniture, bikes and never-used exercise equipment. Animal lovers of all ages were doing their best to find items to donate earlier this week (hey, is that my wife with a box of old records heading to the Armory?).

That’s one thing you can say about animal lovers: They are resolute in their belief that even homeless cats and dogs deserve our love and protection. You have probably seen them in front of Lowe’s Hardware, every Saturday even when the weather’s cold and raw, trying to find homes for homeless animals. They know that even a temporary home for a week or two might mean the difference between life and death for many of these animals.

That’s something that Michael Vick and some of his NFL supporters might want to keep in mind this summer. In case you haven’t heard, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick is being investigated because authorities raided a house he owns in Surry County, Virginia. There they found 66 dogs (mostly pit bulls), a dog-fighting pit, bloodstained carpets and items commonly associated with dog fighting. Vick, who let his cousin use the house, denied knowledge of dog-fighting on his property and thus far no charges have been filed against him.

At least one confidential source has come forward and called Vick one of the “heavyweights” of the dog-fighting world. In an interview with ESPN, he described Vick as a player who routinely bets tens of thousands of dollars on dogfights and has done so for at least seven years.

If you are not familiar with the grisly subculture (I will not call it a sport) of dog-fighting, groups of people get together at private dogfight parties where they gamble and watch dogs maul each other until one of them is incapacitated or dead. At Vick’s property in Virginia, police found dogs with “significant scarring,” eye problems and a “rape stand” where female dogs are tethered in order to facilitate breeding among dogs who have been trained to be vicious toward one another.

Astoundingly, some of Vick’s NFL cohorts have come to his defense. Washington Redskin’s Clinton Portis stated in an interview with WAVY-TV, “I don’t know if he was fighting dogs or not. But it’s his property, it’s his dogs. If that’s what he wants to do, do it.” When reminded that dog-fighting is a felony in Virginia, Portis added, “Then I think he got cheated. You’re putting him behind bars for no reason…over a dog fight.”

Here’s a news flash for any professional athlete that thinks that it is no big deal to engage in an activity the sole purpose of which is to kill or maim dogs: You can get caught drunk driving and I don’t think Mothers Against Drunk Driving is going to picket your house. You can be convicted of hiding a loaded handgun under your car seat and I don’t think any anti-gun groups are going to try to get you fired from your job. You can flunk all the drug tests in the world, and the only people who are really going to care are the authorities in your particular professional sport.

But if you mess with animals, well, all I can do is quote Mr. T and say, “I pity the fool.”

And I really don’t think Vick has to be convicted on dog-fighting charges for it to be the end of his career as it once was. His mere association with animal cruelty is enough to turn off most football fans. That scurrying sound you hear is the feet of advertisers shuffling backwards out the door. During his career Vick has had lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Air Trans Airway, EA Sports, Coca-Cola, Powerade, Kraft, Rawlings and Hasbro. Coca-Cola ended its relationship with Vick a few years ago and Air Trans Airway dropped him after his recent “pot in a water bottle” fiasco at an airport in Miami. The rest of them are probably looking for ways to negate ongoing contracts with him.

As a quarterback, Vick has never been one to stay in the pocket. Don’t be too surprised if animal lovers boycott anything associated with Vick this year in an attempt to hit him in the pocket anyway.