Smith: What sort of beast would do that?

To Betty, my Australian shepherd, all the world’s a buffet. I try to keep her from scarfing discarded food and such when we’re out walking, but her nose is keen and her gulp quick.

So it makes me sick to hear that on Saturday morning, a dog lover reported finding possibly poisoned meatballs in and near the fenced, free-run area at A Place to Play, the park complex on Santa Rosa’s West Third Street.

City workers locked the dog park and Sonoma County animal-control officers found and collected eight raw meatballs from it and a wooded trail near it. I’ve been unable to confirm what made the meatballs suspicious beyond their mere presence, but I did hear that mixed into what looked to be ground pork were green flecks, possibly rat poison.

Thankfully, no dogs are known to have eaten any meatballs. A county officer Monday morning hand-delivered the collected ones to the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at UC Davis. The testing could take a week.

This may be copycatting of the scattering of laced meat earlier this year in San Francisco, where at least one dog, a Dachshund named Oskar, was killed.

Brian Whipple, interim chief of Sonoma County Animal Services, urges that folks walk and inspect fenced dog parks before unleashing their pets.

Kevin Davis, a supervising animal-control officer, urges extra vigilance at the Third Street park where the meatballs were found. “We can’t guarantee that every one got picked up. It’s a big park.”

The dog park was reopened to our trusting friends Monday.

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HOW MANY MEALS do you suppose volunteers have served, quietly and respectfully, over the past 30 years at the St. Vincent de Paul dining room in Railroad Square?

A guess of 2.5 million wouldn’t be too far off. Manager Jim Kelly and his helpers cook up a nutritious, hot lunch for anyone in need - adults and children - every single day.

People often ask what they can do to assure that the meals keep coming. The volunteers working hard on the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s “Harvest for Humanity” benefit gala Saturday at the Friedman Center recommend treating oneself to a ticket or two.

Just give a call to 586-8121, the number of the Rohnert Park thrift store.

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SEVENTY GOOD YEARS, Stephen and Rachel Corso have been married. Their three “kids” are planning an anniversary party in Santa Rosa and feeling grateful for much, including the way their hard-working Italian immigrant father helped and encouraged them to go into business for themselves.

Daughter Susan Corsi merrily co-owns and operates Betty’s Fish & Chips. Brother Albert went into the sheet-metal business, brother Ronald into the grocery trade.

Susan said her father, now 92, demonstrated the value of work as he built a good life in America by laboring in the World War II shipyards, farming, running a fruit stand with Rachel, working as a grocery clerk. All along, he urged his children to become their own bosses.

Susan may remind him at the 70th anniversary celebration that he’s her Frank Sinatra. She said, “I tell my dad, ‘If anybody did it his way, it was you.’?”

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.