By JESSE TORRES
      SOLNEWS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
 

Putting a fitting cap to an already stupid year, my dog died the day before Christmas Eve.   Named "Whitey," after the infamous racial slur, the cocker spaniel half breed was put to sleep on December 23 after almost 12 years of barking at bees, burying toy alligators in various flower beds, and drinking out of the gigantic water bowl that is our pool.  He leaves behind a sturdy doghouse with peeling white paint, hundreds of buried bones, a relieved cat and a depressed owner who vows to make his next pet an AIBO.