101-yr-old Pak prisoner seeks early release
Lahore: A 101-year-old murder convict in Pakistan has sought an early release from jail citing several age-related ailments, a media report said on Sunday.
Mehndi Khan was 86 when a murder case was registered against him, The Express Tribune reported.
As the Home Department did not send any response, Khan approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking orders to the authorities for his early release.
On his petition, the LHC ordered the Home Department on July 15 to take a decision within three weeks. Khan, lodged in Gujrat District Jail, is serving life sentence handed to him in a murder case registered against him in 2006. His counsel said that the petitioner was suffering from various ailments. (AP)
Guide dogs helping blind runners stay fit
West Sand Lake (US): Social distancing rules can make exercising a challenge for a blind runner who needs a volunteer tethered as a guide. But Thomas Panek has no problem because his running guide, Blaze, is a Labrador retriever. I’m doing all the things a person would normally do, except I’m doing it with the help of a best friend who happens to be 77 pounds of love wrapped in soft yellow fur, Panek said.
Panek, a blind runner with a wall full of ribbons from marathons he ran with a human guide, developed a canine running guide training program five years ago after he became president and CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind in suburban New York.
Last year, he became the first blind finisher of the New York City Half Marathon to be guided entirely by dogs.
Now, he said his dog Blaze plays an essential role in maintaining a healthy lifestyle amid gym shutdowns and other pandemic restrictions.
The running guide program is incredibly important right now not only for physical health but emotional well being, Panek said in a recent Zoom interview. For people who ran in the past and had to stop running because of the pandemic, this enables them to continue to exercise.
Panek has always been a runner and continued to compete in road races after he lost his sight to a genetic condition in his early 20s. Like other blind runners, he relied on volunteers holding a short tether to lead the way.
I’ve had several guide dogs and I’ve always wanted to run with them, but I followed the rules, Panek said.
Conventional wisdom said dogs would be unable to navigate safely while running, and that their health might suffer. No guide dog program in the world would allow you to run with your guide dog,” he said.
He set out to change that when he took the helm at Guiding Eyes and visually impaired runners asked him to consider a running guide dog program.
I talked to my trainers and most of them said it’s not possible, but I said let’s try it and see what happens, Panek said. The first step was redesigning the dog’s harness.
The traditional guiding harness is leather and metal, more like a saddle from horse and buggy days, Panek said.
You hold on and get pulled along. It’s not ideal for really moving. And it restricts the dog’s shoulders.
Trainers worked with the canine equipment maker Ruff Wear to develop a lightweight padded nylon vest that allows the dog a full range of motion. (AP)