There was a tremendous turnout at the Durham Board of County Commisioners meeting last night, due to a hearing on a proposed ordinance that would ban most tethering of animals and give animal control more tools to prevent abuses. Those who spoke in favor of the ordinance probably outnumbered the opponents by roughly 5-1. I was proud of Durham for the first time in my adult life! (Just kidding. On a related note, that was a nice speech tonight in Denver by Michelle Obama). The movement to bring Durham County in line with other progressive jurisdictions around the country has been almost single-handedly spearheaded by Amanda Arrington and the Coalition to Unchain Dogs, which has now built over 100 fences for area dogs who had previously lived their lives at the end of chains.

They are having their second annual benefit concert at Durham’s Central Park on Saturday, September 6…

(For the record, this is not an authorized promotional video for the concert. Check out their website for some truly terrific videos of dogs whose lives they’ve turned around.).