Only in Boulder

Daily Gamera:

A Boulder salon owner is facing a $1,000 fine for dyeing her miniature poodle pink — and the woman said she plans to fight back.

Cici is a "breast-cancer awareness dog" who's been showing off her pink coat for three years at Zing Salon, 1100 Spruce St., said Joy Douglas, who owns both the salon and the poodle.

"Cici is being stripped of her civic duty," said Douglas, who is scheduled to face a judge in Boulder Municipal Court this morning in response to a March 1 citation. "And I don't plan to take it sitting down."

Douglas has insisted she didn't break that law, because she uses beet juice — and occasionally Kool-Aid — to "stain" her dog Cici's coat. She said she never has used chemicals, and her pooch never has had a reaction to the stain. . . .

There is a rationale of sorts behind the law:

The full text of the law, according to the city code, reads: "No person shall dye or color live fowl, rabbits or any other animals."

Boulder's animal control officials said the regulation originally was passed to keep people from dyeing chicks and bunnies around Easter.

Totally unrelated update:

A federal judge today will hear arguments today [sic] on a motion to allow attorney David Lane to question Vice President Dick Cheney under oath in connection with an alleged assault in Colorado two years ago.

Steven Howards, who lives in the Denver area, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Cheney in Beaver Creek in 2006.

Howards and his attorney have argued that Secret Service agents have given such varied accounts of the incident that the only reliable source of information would be Cheney himself.

Attorneys for the vice president have refused repeated requests for a deposition.

Update II: Cheney may have to testify.