Help The Helpless!

This is a letter to the editor I was asked to use as a topic for discussion I have not included the writers name.

To the Editor:

My husband and I decided today that we would go to the dog pound. We were considering adopting a new companion; however, what we found was very disturbing. First, we had to make two trips due to the fact that the pound has unreasonable hours of operation. Secondly, upon entering the kennel, the majority of the dogs were in one medium-sized kennel. The only dogs not kenneled together were a mother boxer mix and her three newborn puppies in one cage and an old pit bull in another. The dogs were soaking wet, including the newborn pups. None of the animals had any bowls of water or food available at the time. I have to admit, I am a sucker for sweet dog faces and have rescued many dogs. I don’t always keep them for myself, but I always find them a good home. It broke my heart to see those tiny puppies with their skin-and- bones mother, soaked and with nothing soft or dry to rest on. I am not an extremist when it comes to animals, however, I call them how I see them and this was just plain wrong. Who runs this pound anyway? I know that all of the pounds I have been to allow for volunteers and even a small area for the dogs to roam outside daily. It isn’t that difficult to clean them up on a Saturday and take them to a grassy area in town for an adoption day. These dogs deserve good homes and with the nasty environment and strange hours of operation, it is as though we are denying them ample opportunity to encourage their adoption.

All the dogs need are some kind people to donate supplies or money and some advertisement, such as WKSR Swap and Shop. None of these things will happen, though, if the operators won’t try. My husband would be willing to make a Web site for the pound, so we could take pictures of the animals available for adoption and post them to the Web site. I know that businesses around town would be willing to become sponsers. All I am trying to get across is that it seems as though there is a problem with the pound service here, and a problem will never fix itself without a little effort from us. Hopefully, as a community, we can work together to help. Thank you for your time and consideration,

Giles County Own Version Of Sergeant Schultz

Many of us old timers remember the character of Sergeant Schultz from the "Hogans Heroes" TV show. Sergeant Schultz was the Sergeant of the Guard at Stalag 13 the prison camp where Col. Hogan and his gang were held as prisoners of war. Sergeant Schultz was a good hearted, bumbling guy who when confronted with evidence of the prisoner's covert activities would simply respond by saying, "I know nothing–NOTHING!" in order to avoid being blamed for things having gotten out of hand and being sent to the Russian Front.

It seems our County Executive has been tutored by Sergeant Schultz and while she doesn't always remain true to his catch phrase of "I know nothing-NOTHING" she certainly is loyal to his spirit.

Last week after being confronted in the Insurance Committee with clear evidence of "stonewalling" by her and the Financial Management Officer her response, as reported in the "Pulaski Citizen" was a very angry, "I don't have anything to do with it" or "I know nothing-NOTHING". If the County Executive doesn't have anything to do with the County spending hundreds of thousands of dollars wastefully what in the world does she have to do with?

After she committed to giving a statement of explanation to the newspaper on Friday there was still no statement available as of Tuesday five days later. After she committed to make the requested public records public, as of today they are still being kept secret.

If the County Executive doesn't have anything to do with the business of the county would someone please explain what she is being paid over $80,000.00 a year to do?

There is much yet to be revealed about the shenanigans taking place in the County insurance embarrassment. One thing already revealed is there seems to be more Sergeant Schultz's trying to hide their involvement and cover their posteriors than there are Col. Hogans. Allen Barrett