VICK—OUT OF THE CLICK IN A BLINK

By Stacy Karron

Ellen, one of Michael Vick’s victims, wears the permanent physical scars resulting from her involuntary life as a breeder for the savage “sport” of dog-fighting. Ellen is amongst twenty-six of forty-seven dogs seized from Michael Vick’s property, lucky enough to have been rehabilitated and now up for adoption. The other twenty-one dogs had to be euthanized as their injuries were irreparable and their temperament far too challenging.

Like an annoying deer tick, I’m going to cling to Michael Vick’s story until his ends justify his means, which is more a play on words and less likely an eventuality. In Vick’s case the ends remain to be seen, where reparation is concerned, while the means can never be justified.

So, I’m going to continue to follow Vick’s story until he marvels the world with a complete one-eighty. But like my play on words, one-eighty will more likely be the number of dollars left in Vick’s bank account after all is said and done.

Vick was transferred to the Leavenworth Federal Prison Camp in Leavenworth, Kansas. The Prison Camp is a minimum-security facility, adjacent to the infamous Leavenworth Maximum Security Penitentiary.

The former Atlanta Falcons quarterback was sentenced to a mere twenty-three months in prison on December 10, 2007, in Richmond, Virginia. His sentence was lengthened when he failed a drug test, testing positive for marijuana, after pleading guilty to the dog-fighting charges.

Vick transferred to Leavenworth to participate in a prison-monitored drug rehabilitation program. If he completes the program, he could be released from prison after twelve months, which would cut his sentence almost in half.

If released after 12 months, Vick would be out of prison at the beginning of 2009 at the earliest. That could put the quarterback in position to be ready for the 2009 NFL season, which starts in September.

Before Vick plays football again, he will have to clear several obstacles. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely after he pled guilty to the dog-fighting charges. Fingers crossed, Goodell will suspend Vick for life and he’ll never play professional football in the U.S. again.

If Vick is given the opportunity to play professional football in the NFL again, he’ll have to persuade whichever team is foolish enough to take a gamble on him that he’s worth the risk. Vick would have to stay out of trouble and pass frequent drug tests so he’s got his work cut out for him.

Little has been said about restitution for the innocent dogs, many of which had to be euthanized because they were so badly maimed or too aggressive, as a result of their vile treatment.

Yet, while Vick pales in jail, animal fighting continues. We must be opportunistic and use Vick’s notoriety, humbled as it may be, to crusade against animal fighting in the U.S. and abroad.

I do hope that Vick’s suspension from the NFL is permanent, however if he returns to play professional football again, he should be ordered to make lifetime monetary restitution to animal shelters, in part to help pay for education programs that teach children and adults the importance of compassion to all living things, particularly for those people who do not view animal fighting as criminal or morally wrong.

Though so many dogs did perish at the hands of Vick and his cohorts, some of the “luckier” dogs that did not have to be euthanized have been carefully rehabilitated and are now up for adoption to experienced homes.

I’m sure Michael Vick would love some mail while he wades and wallows in the muck and mire of Leavenworth, so feel free to send him a letter and let him know what you think of him or how you feel he should make moral and financial restitution for his abhorrence.

Inmate Michael Vick
c/o Leavenworth Federal Prison Camp
1300 Metropolitan Avenue
Leavenworth, KS 66048

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