Dog in a Box, Woman in a Hole

Stacey Champion, the woman who tried to send a puppy by U.S. mail from Minneapolis to Georgia, keeps digging herself deeper and deeper.

In a hearing Monday, her request to have the dog returned to her was denied. I'm not going to focus on the dog and how cute he is -- there's enough of that already, and as always happens in cases like this, dozens if not hundreds of people have stepped forward to say they want to adopt this dog (but oddly, for some reason, not just any dog that needs a home).

During the hearing, Champion said the dog was meant as a birthday gift for her son, and went on to say: "I was deprived of my son not having his gift for his birthday. I felt really, really bad as a mom."

Anyone who thinks for half a minute will realize that what the postal workers deprived her son of was a dog dead from exposure and dehydration, after it had traveled in an unheated airplane hold.

Champion testified that she had put water for the dog into the box, which appears to be untrue, based on the evidence. She did put air holes into the sides, but they were covered with tape. And she did more than omit the fact that a dog was in the box -- she told the clerks the box contained a toy robot, which shows she knew it wouldn't be possible to send the box if the workers knew there was a dog in it.

Clearly, Champion lacks what we might call adult judgment.

At the same time, I almost feel sorry for her. The Star Tribune is not allowing comments on the story, which is always a good indication it will bring out the ultra-crazies, beyond the usual crazies who populate their pages. Puppies in danger! And guess what, she's black, too, so add that to the pile-on. (If she were white no one would ascribe her actions to her skin color, of course.)

She has drawn a big target on herself that will never go away. Every time someone searches her name for a job or whatever reason, this is what they're going to find.

I wonder if she can use the target to cover up the hole she's gotten herself into.