Hunters deliver spankings via cyberspace

Last week I criticized the act of "sport" hunting and man-oh-Manischewitz, did I ever receive some e-spankings.

One of the common complaints of reader mail from the pro-hunters was that my critique painted all hunters with the same brush (drunken bloodthirsty louts), which really is unfair. Also brought up was what a "hypocrite" I was since I probably eat meat, wear leather shoes and would jump at the chance to end an unborn child's life.

And you know, I really did have to look closer at where my emotional/moral attachments lie and what my daily actions consist of. Although the sentiments in the letters from the pro-hunters were equally as abrasive as my anti-hunting opinion, they prompted me to do some soul-searching.

I looked in the mirror and saw a black leather boot-wearing, imported British sausage roll-eating, pro-choice, extremely good-looking human being cursed with the urge to protect wildlife, thanks to the childhood introduction of "Bambi," "Dumbo" and all those other early Walt Disney movies where something dies.

Yes, I need to be stronger and take more of a directed stand toward living as cruel-free as possible. Thank goodness my husband and I have attempted to break the cycle by raising our daughter as a nonmeat eater. Her colon can thank us later.

I've been thinking about my daughter a lot lately in light of a criminal act allegedly committed by Semaj Booker -- you know, the 9-year-old boy who stole his neighbor's car and led police on a 90 mph chase down state Route 512? The one who made his own way to Sea-Tac Airport in pre-dawn hours and somehow got onto a Southwest Airlines jet in hopes to get back to his beloved Dallas? The one who tried the same thing again in May? The one who was found recently at 4 a.m. inside a stranger's bedroom and then lied to the police about who he was, what he was doing and where he lived?

This is another frightening example of the system failing at-risk children right before the world's eyes. After the SR 512 and the Southwest Airlines incidents, he was turned away from Remann Hall, a Tacoma-based juvenile detention center and school for law-breaking boys and girls.

He has violated court orders prohibiting him from breaking curfew or leaving the Puget Sound area, yet after the May incident Judge John McCarthy extended his probation in lieu of incarceration.

So after this latest law-breaking episode, Semaj, now 11, has been deemed an occupant worthy of Remann Hall, where he should have been accepted at first attempt. Not that I favor incarcerating youngsters as a rule, but Semaj needed to be someplace that could have instantly provided the structure, discipline and safety parameters that he was lacking.

At least now at Remann Hall, Semaj knows he's safe. He knows that no one is going to let him slip out of the house at 4 a.m., and that's got to feel good to a child somewhere in the psyche.

Maybe Madonna should adopt him. She doesn't live in Texas but she does know how to ride a mechanical bull and could provide a variety of strong male figures for Semaj.

OK. No more ha-ha. Semaj has been traumatized and needs to heal.

I would say to Semaj that I totally understand his unhappiness here. I almost ran away myself as a new teen transplant. I was terribly homesick, everyone hated me because I was from California and I was constantly cranky because the bottom 5 inches of my jeans was always wet from the incessant rain. The Pacific Northwest ain't for everybody, but if he can just stick it out here for seven more years, he can legally go anywhere he wants to.

Semaj -- write your book. Tell your story, make some dough and get a real boarding pass. Who knows? The light rail to Sea-Tac might even be finished by then.