Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

This is an open letter to the residents and public officials of the City of Manteca about Tom Hohn’s  pet dog Zeus at the Manteca Animal Shelter:

Dear residents and public Officials of the City of Manteca,

Tom Hohn is my backyard neighbor whom I met 12 to 18 months ago. I had the pleasure to meet Tom and his wife Denise in recent past including their American Bully named Zeus. Zeus is such a wonderful dog who is well trained, well mannered and well cared for by Tom Hohn.

Without knowing Tom or Zeus very well, I must say what I have observed in them is a bond like no other, a bond that goes beyond blood. Zeus is Tom’s best friend and you locked him in jail for being a good dog and dog owner! That is what I see from my home!

My wife Susan and I are in a state of disbelief that the Animal Control Officer would be so blatantly disrespectful to a man and his best friend. Forget about ordinance 1416 for a minute and recall why 1416 was brought about as a city ordinance. If it was to prevent people like Tom Hohn from exercising himself and his companion on a Thursday morning at a local public park in a fenced enclosure, then good for ordinance 1416! But I know that was not the intent of 1416.

My wife and I and my adult children have supported local Animal shelters and adoption programs over the years by adopting. We pay the adoption fee and/or make donations to help support those programs because they are good for the community as it relates to the well being of animals, animal control.

Over 25-plus years of marriage with Susan, we have adopted animals from the local programs because she loves dogs and cats – more than she loves me. Sue is the Queen in this house and we have adopted at least a dozen dogs and a dozen cats from local programs. Additionally since we have moved from Stockton to Manteca we have rescued 5 stray cats in and around the intersection of Goldpoppy and Eucalyptus streets. Apparently three were already fixed and two others we had to have fixed. All five took money out of my pocket which I was glad to do because that is just the right thing to do.

So please do the right thing and let Tom and Zeus reunite and ride into the Manteca sunset with a citation and/or correction notice and save your resources for the real bad guys.

This morning, my wife told me Tom stopped by and said, “If I don’t get Zeus fixed in the next ten days they will euthanize him!” Really? Get real! I will not support that decision no matter what! Give Tom his dog back! God help us all!

Michael S. Defillo
Manteca
July 6, 2011