Animal Cruelty

Destiny Fout

I am an animal lover. All my life I have loved and have brought home animals to keep, to take care of, or find new loving caring homes for. I have had so many animals, because they were mistreated. I just recently found all of my dogs and my guinea pig new homes because I took all my dogs from people that mistreated them.

Dogs are such loyal, loving and sweet animals. Yes they can be mean sometimes but i believe most of the time, it's because of the way the owner raised them, or did not train them the way they should have. Often, people take advantage of them and don't give them the care that they need and deserve. There are so many stories out there of dogs who have suffered terrible treatment at the hands of cruel humans, however some dogs make it out, survive and thrive in their new loving caring homes. There are plenty of other animals that get abused, not just dogs

You wouldn't want to be tied up to something, or stuck in a little cage, with little to no space to move around, or little to no food or only get fed a little bit a day, and sometimes left with no water. Dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, any animal can get abused, mistreated, or taken care of poorly.

If you don't want to take the time out of your days to take proper care of your animals don't get one, they don't deserve that kind of life.

There are many ways to get help for animals if it's being mistreated, or abused. You could contact a local animal shelter. Blytheville offers two distinct operations:

• City Animal Shelter: maintaining the city’s animal shelter where lost, stray or abandoned animals are housed.

• Patrolling: monitoring the city for strays, abandoned, nuisance or vicious animals as well as responding to citizens calls for service involving animals.

Make yourself happy before others

by Destiny Fout, written October 21, 2021

I wondered if I'd ever be okay again…

Here I am a year later and never better. Everything does get better with time but for the longest time I thought people just said that to make me think better things were coming until I experienced it myself. I was the happiest person last year before March 2020. I started dating someone who I thought would be the love of my life. We were together for a year but it ended up getting very toxic because I loved him more than myself and lost myself while being in a relationship with him. He cheated on me throughout the whole relationship. He had been planning to get with the girl he left me for, two weeks after my brother passed and two weeks before Christmas. I was really hurt and thought to myself often, “Am I ever going to be okay? Am I ever going to be able to get into another relationship or love another person?” I finally got my answers. And if you're hurting and think you'll never be okay, or think you'll never be able to get into another relationship or love somebody... Here's your answer too. You will eventually get better.

It'll get easier with time, start going about things differently, start writing, making a to-do list or being more organized, start eating healthier, try new things, go out and meet new people, change the environment you're in. Do what makes you happy regardless of what others are going to think because either way if you're doing good or if you’re doing bad, people are still going to talk about your every move, so might as well just make yourself happy and don't worry about anybody else because at the end of the day no one’s with you 4L, you only got yourself.

Eventually in the healing process you'll realize not all men are bad because the man you chose did you bad, it just means your taste in men are bad. You shouldn't ever lose yourself trying to love someone else, because your mental health is so much more important than a man that's not going to be there every step of the way.

Check Yourselves! by Oceania Moore & Elizabeth Wicker, written October 21, 2021

The month of October is recognized as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There are so many stories of people who have survived Breast Cancer and some of these stories of strength and overcoming cancer can be found right here at Blytheville High School. Two brave survivors spoke with The Arrow to talk about their experiences with Breast Cancer.

The first woman interviewed was Ms. Marcia Cooper, the athletic secretary at Blytheville High School. She lives in Blytheville, Arkansas, but is originally from Pascagoula, Mississippi. Cooper said that when her doctors caught breast cancer, it was the size of a pin needle, but unfortunately she ended up needing to undergo a double mastectomy. She was also treated with chemotherapy, which lasted a year. Ms. Cooper has a corgi mixed dog, which she had for 10 years, that helped her through the tough times. Now for 6 years, she's cancer free! “ It’s good, it's really good,” said Marcia. Cooper advises that for people who are dealing with cancer just keep going to your doctors and get your mammograms.

Our other survivor's name is Lisa Cross. She’s the administrative assistant at Blytheville High School. She’s been living in Blytheville Arkansas for over 30 years.

When she was first diagnosed with cancer in December of 2006, she had to get a hysterectomy. Because of that procedure she also received a mammogram and it was then that her doctor spotted the cancer. When they spotted the cancer it was at stage one. Due to her losing her mother a few months before she had the hysterectomy she was in greater shock when she found out about the cancer. She had to do 33 rounds of radiation.

In 2019 her cancer came back in the same breast and almost in the same place. It shocked her because she didn’t think she would deal with breast cancer again. They had to treat it differently since it came back. They would have caught it earlier but she missed a mammogram in 2018. This time she had to go through chemotherapy. She took it for a whole year every 3 weeks. She struggled with hair loss, which is when it started to hit reality. She had a double mastectomy so she’ll know for sure the cancer won't come back. Her support system was so strong the second time which helped her get through the second phase. She tells all women to “check your breast“ She’s been cancer free for a year.

Although breast cancer is most found in women, men could also be diagnosed with it. About 1 out of every 100 men are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, which is why it's important for everyone to get regular health screenings.

Vicious and Dangerous or Gentle Giants

Tuesday, October 5, 2021 by Elizabeth Wicker

Many shelters across the country are filled with pit bull breeds. These dogs are labeled as vicious and dangerous, therefore they are forgotten about and end up on the streets or in animal shelters.Luckily, there are also people all across America that love these gentle giants. Pit bulls are unique and that’s their superpower. There is a whole month dedicated to shining light on the positive things about pits.

October is Pit Bull Awareness Month. It’s finally time for my furbabies to see how loved their breed is. This is the long awaited chance to show that the stereotypes about pit bulls are wrong and they're sweet and they have feelings and emotions.