The professional in me gets pretty perturbed about the following state of affairs. The facts: a nonprofit board president serves three terms (that should be a yellow flag on its own count) and after not finding anyone willing to run for his position (another yellow flag) puts his dog up for the position (a really BIG yellow flag). A, a RED FLAG, the dog wins! Another RED FLAG, no one seems to know the winner is a dog! Thanks Claire for the heads-up and our friends at NPT. Here's the story from the Washington Post.
February 18, 2011; Source:Washington Post | This is not a shaggy dog story. The Hillbrook-Tall Oaks Civic Association in Annandale, Va. elected a dog as its president. Ms. Beatha Lee had been nominated for the post as a relatively new resident in the neighborhood, interested in the outdoors, and with "experience in Maine overseeing an estate of 26 acres." Beatha was elected at the annual meeting, though oddly it appears no one looked around the room for Beatha or asked, “Will Beatha please stand up and say a few words?”
Rather, after the election, the residents ate ice cream, watched a karate demonstration, then decamped. Apparently, it was some weeks before they learned of Beatha's canine DNA when a news story in the association's newsletter about Beatha showed the cute little Wheaten Terrier promising to "govern with an even paw."
Why did Beatha run (perhaps against her own wishes or not even knowing them) for office? She was the pet of the former president who had termed out after three consecutive stints as association president. He had been begging neighbors to take the "often-thankless" position, but no one was interested. Younger, newer families begged off because of the challenge of long commutes and kids. Older residents said they were "burned out after losing a bruising zoning battle against a Montessori school in their neighborhood."