Sam Spiteri can keep his therapy pony
Three year old Sam Spiteri of Caledon, Ontario can keep the miniature pony he uses in therapy for his spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. The local council's granted the family a zoning exception that trumps the complaints of the family's neighbours who complained of the smell (they also border a cow-pasture!).
Disabled boy can keep his pony, Caledon rules (Thanks, Alex and Christine!)
Caledon councillor Annette Groves told the Post that the boy should be allowed to keep the therapy pony.“While you have to enforce the rules, there are times when you have to use discretion and have to remember that you’re a human being and have to have some compassion,” she said.
“That would be the case in the case.”
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there are times when you have to use discretion and have to remember that you’re a human being and have to have some compassion
Can we tattoo that on all our elected officials? Like backwards on their foreheads.
I would like to think that the extra attention garnered by media and internet coverage had no bearing on the local council's decision. Who knows? Maybe it didn't.
thanks, I needed to hear some good news tonight.
Like #2 said, while I can't be 100% sure that their decision wasn't influenced at all by the inevitable deluge of "OMG DON'T TAKE THE POOR KID'S PONY AWAY :(" mail from across the entire free world, at least the right decision was made, which is an event growing rarer and rarer in occurrence these days.
That's fantastic!! Good to hear some politicians act from the heart for a change.
w00t!
I read that headline as: "Sam Spiteri can keep his crappy pony."
Time for bed.
I thought of a comment, but Antinous @1 has said it for me. Except that I'd extend it to 'anyone in a position to make decisions affecting someone else' - a lot of such people aren't elected, but are civil servants, junior managers or the like.
I've long fought against the tendency to believe that just because organisations have rules, every problem that ever arises has to be hammered into a shape where those rules can be applied without thinking to it. Rules are there so that the 90% of problems that are in a sense 'easy' can be dealt with without wasting time, freeing decision-makers to deal with the 10% of problems that require some thought. All too often though, the people involved in applying the rules start to believe that the rules have to apply to every possible problem, so (a) start inventing extra rules, and (b) refuse to consider any problem on its own merits. What started as a fence to keep out trivial issues becomes a crutch against the weight of responsibility for decisions.
One of the most common real-world examples? ISO 9000 quality-assurance systems - not of themselves a bad idea, but almost invariably put in the hands of a company or department's most anal-retentive control freak, because he (rarely she!) likes the job and nobody else wants to do it. A year later, everyone regrets this as they fill in Form 3/STA/542-C to order a new box of staples...
Hurray. Some evidence of rational thought and common sense in an elected official.
Hope Sam and his pony have lots of good times together.
(and that the pony learns to shit over fence into the neighbor's yard....)
I read that as "Disabled Kid Can Keep His Pony. Calendon Rules!"
Ths s bsltly fntstc nws!
hp tht th nghbrs s bd tht thy ds thmslvs n gsln nd lght thmslvs n fr.
Thy r ptrd hmn sht.
oy, just be happy that something good happened, it has nothing to do with that. Really.
there is a 'felt' missing there between neighbors and so.
Ugh, typing in a frenzy.
Antinous @1 FTW!
And everthng is as it should have be.
Every time I read about this story they always manage to throw in the "They live right next to a cow pasture." Having worked with cows and pastures before, the pastures and the surrounding areas don't suffer from any significant odor issues. The barn on the other hand....wooo.....
anyways I'm glad the kid got to keep his pony at home ^__^.
A fair and right outcome.
Somebody interview the neighbors! Can people really be THAT cynical, detached and horrible?
Thank god someone is talking some sense. Huzzah, Anette Groves!
Seems to me that given Sam's situation and the lengths and efforts his parents are going to for his health, therapy and wellbeing, that they are probably overwhelmed. Any decent, caring set of neighbors would key into this fact and instead of bitching about the odor, pitch in and at least help with cleaning up after the pony...IMHO.
Yay for them following the spirit instead of the letter of the law!
@17: Yes. Yes they can.
@1
People need that statement plastered in every public place. If you pound it into the heads of the selfish and stupid for long enough, eventually most of them will learn to be decent human beings.
I'm glad the boy gets to keep his pony, and I hope this therapy can bring him the muscle control he needs.
W I N ! ! ! !
YAY! I'm so happy :D
We Can Haz Pony!
It always makes my day to see common sense win.
Thank goodness, I also enjoyed hearing this good news amid all the economic gloom and doom. Being nice to people doesn't have to cost anything!
@ Simon Bradshaw: "Rules are there so that the 90% of problems that are in a sense 'easy' can be dealt with without wasting time, freeing decision-makers to deal with the 10% of problems that require some thought."
Them there words was so purty, I was inspirated to immortalize 'em on my blog for all of posterity. *sniffs back a tear of gratitude*
Thank you. Thank you. So happy! :')
Ah, fantastic news.
I hope pony and boy will be very happy together from now on.