I wrote a week before Christmas about Terry and Rick Divine, the 57-year-old twins who share a tent on an undeveloped parcel near the Corby Auto Mall and were missing their dogs.

County animal-control officers took Neeko and Dee Oh Gee for a 10-day rabies observation after Dee Oh Gee bit a woman. The Divine brothers said they tolerate living outdoors and scrounging food from Dumpsters, but that living without their dogs was misery.

That story brought a powerful response, from people who offered to help the dogs and the Divines and also from a few individuals adamant that the brothers deserve no sympathy or assistance.

Most upset was Leslie McNamara, Rick Divine’s former girlfriend and the dog-bite victim. “I will not have these guys make me out as some kind of crazy nut,” she said.

I’d reported that the Divines claimed that Dee Oh Gee bit because a woman was attacking them with a knife, and that the bite victim told authorities she was only defending herself from the dog.

McNamara told me she’d grabbed a knife from the kitchen of her small apartment because Dee Oh Gee bit her after she told the Divines several times to take the rambunctious dogs outside for some exercise. She said the brothers did nothing to call off the dog as it lunged at her.

McNamara said she’ll have nothing more to do with Rick Divine or his brother. “I am so seriously done with them,” she said.

The Divines now have their dogs back and they said they’re grateful for the dog food and other donations they received.

At county Animal Care and Control, Supervising Officer Bob Garcia said members of the community contributed money not only for the care of Neeko and Dee Oh Gee but of other animals at the shelter. Both dogs were neutered and microchipped, and the brothers received offers of help to better train and socialize them.

Garcia said some good came of the incident. “I’m hoping it continues in a positive way,” he said.

That makes at least two of us.