Monday, November 10

Hardin County Animal Services Update

Suprise, Surprise -- There Are No Surprises for Hardin County Animal Services

In last weeks' politically correct Courier article about the City of Savannah moving forward with major improvements to their bare-bones Animal Control Department operations, they note that ‘The issue [animal control service] appears to have been dropped in recent month or at least put on the back burner by the county commission.’

Well, with their slash and burn actions earlier this year, the county commission has done all the damage they can on the issue. The Animal Services Department, as designed by the County Commission, has been in the hands of Mayor Davis, at least since the first of July this year.

Surprise, surprise –– there are no surprises when it comes to Hardin County Animal Services. As it has been over the last 4 years, it has been and is a sham and window-dressing.

For at least the last four years, the county commission has only approved token funds in the budget for 'animal control' in order for the commissioners to be able to tell the citizens that "we have animal control in Hardin County." But, the fact is, not the first penny has been spent over the last 4 years, by the county, to remove a stray or dangerous animals from the community or to operate even a minimal animal control program, let alone a modern one .

While it is true that the county commissioners approved a budget, in June of this year, that doubled last years funding for an animal services department and have purchased a pick-up to haul it around in, the Mayor, under whose office the department is suppose to operate, has taken no action to actually stand up or operate any department or programs.

In fact, Mayor Davis has only given lip service to any progress. The mayor has been quoted in past articles in the Courier as saying that there is progress ‘going on behind the scenes.’ Say what?

First I would point out that ‘behind the scenes’ and an open government, also know as ‘the Sunshine Laws’ can never be balanced in a representative democracy.

But then again the concerned commissioners that I have talked to don’t seem to know what, if any, progress is being made. This ‘progress’ must be way ‘behind the scene’ if even the commissioners themselves don’t know what it is.

Even after the under-handed rejection of the work of the joint task force they called The Hardin County Animal Control Committee, the mayor and some of the commissioners, in their dreams, are still holding out hope that the some concerned citizens and/or the City of Savannah will come to the rescue of the county, again, and maybe even do their job for them and pay for it.

Been there, done that and got slapped down –– I don’t think the folks who put almost a years worth of work in developing an outline for a minimal service program for the county, want any more of that. It’s past time for Mayor Davis and the County Commission to wake up and do their own jobs.

What ever happened to our founding fathers concept of ‘The Lord Helps Them That Helps Themselves?’

The Mayor has not even ran an ad for anyone to work in the department, let alone hired anyone and the county commissioners have not seen fit to addressed the issue at any of their meetings. I suspect that is because when they try to budget the approved funds into an operating budget, the budgeted funds won’t even cover their ‘dog catcher’ version of animal control.

At least one of the commissioners has recently been quoted as saying that, ‘maybe if we don’t do anything’, (as they have done in the past) ‘the problem will go away or the citizens will get tired of fussing about it.’ Dream on commissioner!!

To be fair and balanced, the only real improvement, if you went to call it that, has been in the Sheriff’s Department. Despite having no support from the mayor’s office, in the form an animal control officer, program or facility, the Sheriff has been more receptive to enforcing the at-large statutes, when property damage has occurred, and has actually had his deputies present aggravated animal cruelty cases to the district attorney’s office for prosecution.

Whether the district attorney can actually succeed in prosecuting the cases may well be another story, but the Sheriff’s Department seems to have taken more of the complaints of the citizens seriously and acted upon more of them. Maybe Sheriff Davidson recognizes, as the county’s Chief Law Enforcement Officer, that these are laws on the books and they must be enforced, even if our County Government doesn’t have any rabies/animal control programs.

After four months of this current sham and lip service, let us take the ball back in the court of the citizens, only this time we should not stop demanding that our county government do something positive about a rabies/animal control program until they actually prove to us that they are serious about resolving the problems associated with not having this vital safety and welfare service in place for the benefit of the citizens.

We all know, and so should they, that unless sufficient resources are put into the problem, which must of course must include some kind of shelter, the problem will continue to exist. This sham and window-dressing on the part of the county commission and continued lip service by Mayor Davis must stop and positive progress must be made, sooner rather than later.

It is time for the responsible citizens to get back to work and make it happen this time, for real, with the realization that, based on their past history, our local government is not going to do it themselves in any meaningful way, unless the citizens take some action to put it back on the front burner and turn up the heat to high, again.

Let the phones calls, letters and personal contacts begin, again.

If the mayor and commissioners don’t think that the stray animals problems are a real problem, they should know that a large number of discontented concerned responsible citizens are. In fact, if they like their jobs, these type of folks can become a major problem for their future employment.

To paraphrase our Declaration of Independence - If something is wrong in our government, those that can do something about it, have a duty and responsibility to do it.

The citizens of Hardin County, which include the citizens of Savannah and the other municipalities, can and therefore have a duty and responsibility to do something about the lack of real concern by the mayor and county commission about the animal welfare problems in the county.

Let’s roll! Bring your lunch and plan on staying until the job is done right this time around.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

Uncle Ted

Monday, November 3

Responsible Citizens

Let's set the stage for 2010
Now that the, as some have said was one of our most important, elections are finally over and the national and state stages are set for the next two to four years, it is now time to start thinking about setting the stage for, what I would say, is going to be one of the most important elections for Tennessee, in general, and for Hardin County, in particular, in August 2010.

In just 21 months the citizens are going to be voting on whether to maintain our status quo of plantation mentality or to move the county in a more positive direction toward a true representative democracy . We will decide who is going to be setting and executing policy in Hardin County, thru 2014, with the county general elections.

The mayor, the Board of County Commissioners and most of the other elected officials, if they want to be re-elected, will have to stand before the citizens and account for their stewardship of our county government, which includes the citizens safety and welfare.

The question will be asked, have our public servants, our mayor and commissioners in particular, served with a servant’s heart or a master’s heart. We’ll have more on that subject in future articles at the appropriate time.

But first, there are a few points that need to made about the citizens stewardship of their duties and responsibilities in a representative democracy. Remember that we were taught in Sunday School that the Lord helps them that helps themselves.

The questions you can ask yourself about yourself – and be honest – is "Am I a responsible member of the community and a responsible citizens?" "When I do cast a vote, am I well informed about the issues and/or candidates?"

Some will say that with their busy lives they don’t have the time to participate. Some will say that it doesn’t matter, because they will do what they want to and "I don’t have the time to get involved." Some will say, let someone else keep up with that, I don’t have the time.
There is a saying in free societies: "You get the government you deserve."

In our grade 6-8 citizenship classes our children are taught that the most important right citizens have is the right to vote and that by voting, the people have a voice in the government because the people decide who will represent them in ‘their’ government.

They are also taught that the right to vote is a duty or responsibility as well as a privilege and that persons who do not vote lose their voice in government. Most important, these 6-8 graders are taught that before voting in an election, each citizen should be well informed about the issues and candidates.

Assuming you graduated from the 8th grade, in these citizenship classes you were also taught that, between election, to be responsible members of your communities, you can volunteer your services to help obtain needed improvements. The citizens can offer their knowledge, time and talents to different local organization or committees and that participating in town meetings, public hearing and community projects, like Hardin Metro SPCA among others, is important for community improvement and for finding out the problems that need to be solved.

To help in this area we are rolling out a new project that is designed to help inform the citizens about some of the key issues facing Hardin County. We have named Phase 1 of the project – Uplift Hardin County – with the goal to provide the citizens of Hardin County with an insight into key issues that impact our County and thus our families.

While we are developing and prioritizing the key issues, we will be using the various media outlets and other vehicles, including a web presence and discussion groups, to get the citizens input on the key issues and advise them how they can help determine the outcome.

Our mission is to be fair and balanced by providing all sides on key issues and becoming a reliable source for useful information for the citizens to make informed decisions about the current and future direction of our community and their role in it.

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." Helen Keller

Respectfully submitted for your consideration


Ted G. Cook

Sunday, March 30

To Be or Not To Be - Readers Write 3/27 - The Courier

In last week’s Courier, I was quoted as saying that I was "sorely disappointed" in the outcome of the recent Board of Commissioners monthly meeting. Well, duh!

"Sorely Disappointed" may have been the politically correct way of expressing it , but, it does not even come close to expressing my frustration with some of our county commissioners.

What really ticks me off is their naivete in the political bushwhacking of a year or so’s worth of sincere effort by some dedicated folks to address the long neglected animal welfare problems of Hardin County, in a meaningful and progressive way.

You want to talk about taking three steps forward and then getting knocked back, you should be trying to keep up with the proposed development of animal welfare in Hardin County, especially after the March meeting of the Hardin County Board of Commissioners.

It is said that "a thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed." That has never been so true as it has with the way about half of our county commissioners have handled the development of even a minimal animal control program for Hardin County. A lot of rhetorical words and no action.

Talk about a dysfunctional and confusing organization. There have been several times over the last few years when the chairman of the county commission (Mayor Davis) has felt it was necessary to advise me that the Thursday night planning meeting was the time to discuss the pros or cons of the business on the agenda, and the Monday night regular meeting was the time to vote or take whatever action they were going to take. He usually backs it up with a two minute egg timer.

I must have gone through a time warp. The matter before the commission this month was for discussion and possible action on the unanimous recommendation of the Animal Control Committee that a full-time director of animal services be hired to work with the committee to create a working, affordable program.

On Thursday night there was not the first comment from any of the commissioners, except Commissioner Bryant’s inquiry as to whether or not they were going to vote on it tonight. I’m not sure of the reasoning behind the question, but you would have thought that after all this time Commissioner Bryant would know that the voting takes place on Monday, not at the planning meeting on Thursday.

A little history might be in order. If you will remember, after several of negative ads and Readers Writes articles in The Courier last year, animal control was finally put on the commission’s agenda in July with the budgeting of $50,000 and appointment of a Hardin County Animal Control Committee, with representation from both the public and private sectors.

The whole purpose of having representation from both the public and private sector was to remove politics from the equation and come up with the best people and affordable programs possible to establish a meaningful and functional animal welfare operation in Hardin County.
Guess what? It didn’t work.

This committee is composed of the county mayor and three members of the Hardin County Commission, three members representing the City of Savannah, and one member from the Hardin County Health Department, Horse Creek Wildlife and Animal Sanctuary and the Hardin Metro SPCA.

Without going into a lot of details of their recommendations here, suffice it to say, the end result was a lengthy comprehensive report, including executive reviews of extensive reference material that presented the obvious results.

That obvious goal was to change the behaviors of our residents by encouraging the community, including our local governments, to abide by or obey state law, to care properly for its animals and spay and neutering is the answer to animal control .

Little did they know, or didn’t want to say, that changing the behavior of some of our county commissioners by separating politics from progress was also going to be critical. The commissioners all took an oath of office to uphold the laws of the state of Tennessee, but some of them have their own personal agenda instead of the citizens’ agenda.

It is sad to say, but, several of the commissioners admitted at, or after, the December meeting that they had not even read the report and voted against it because they didn’t understand it.

Commissioner Stacey Stricklin and Commissioner Wally Hamilton, who supported the committee’s recommendation to put a director of animal services in place to develop a program at the commission meeting in December, seem to have come out of a coma to become a pot-hole obstacle in getting an effective animal services department started in Hardin County, sooner rather than later.

Commissioner Stricklin, along with Commissioner Jerrolds and others, now contend it is inappropriate to hire a director without already having a fully designated animal control plan in place. That’s a complete 180 on the chicken or the egg question.

When asked by one of the other commissioners, just who on the county commission is supposed to put the animal control plan together, Commissioner Stricklin, who voted to establish the Animal Control Committee, replied, "the Budget Committee, I guess." Now that is a scary thought. This is the same committee that bushwhacked the last animal control efforts by the county. Their solution would probably be, "Here is $10 dollars, go make it work or get the private citizens to pay for it."

Commissioner "Get-A-Shotgun Animal Control" Cagle, who opposes the use of any county funds for any animal control program, seems to think that animal control should be funded by the community "holding fund-raisers and be operated by volunteers, like the Hardin County Fire Department does." He must have forgotten that the Hardin County Fire Department has a full time fire chief (director) and support staff. I think that is what one would call forced reasoning.

Then you have Commissioners "Jam-Up" Bryant and Jerrolds who still seem to have an issue with consolidating the schools in their district and have assumed the roles of obstructionists, even though they both profess their concern for stray animals and animal welfare.

Commissioner Jimmy G. Grisham professes that there are no animal problems in District 5, which is the Morris Chapel area. This could be because some of his family members are in the animal breeding business and he fears the suggested registration and licencing of breeders of dogs—or that he wouldn’t recognize an animal problem if a rabid stray was chewing on his leg.

After all was said and done, although nine of the commissioners present voted against the recommendation of the Animal Control Committee nominee, five of the same commissioners voted against Commissioner Howard’s nominee, too.

If you would like to see the complete recap of the commissioners’ vote, you can find it at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheNewSavannahJournal/. I think you will find it, as Mr. Pickard noted, "at best a fiasco."

Speaking of Mr. Pickard—a private citizen with a deep seated passion for animal welfare in Hardin County, who puts his money where his mouth is—has paid for 6,573 animals, as of the end of February, to be spayed or neutered for the citizens of Hardin County.

Can you imagine the animal population of Hardin County if Mr. and Mrs Pickard, through Horse Creek Wildlife and Animal Sanctuary, had not volunteered this help to the citizens of Hardin County? Especially since low cost spay and neutering is one of the recognized essential programs in any effective public animal control program by our local government.

In closing, I would challenge all those citizens who have taken advantage of Mr. and Mrs. Pickard’s generosity, or have an appreciation of their effort, to step out of the shadows and contact your county commissioner to demand that an Animal Services Department be established and fully funded by Hardin County government, sooner rather than later.

Respectfully Submitted for Your Consideration.

Uncle Ted

Thursday, March 20

The County Commissioners Do It Again.

From Page 1 of the Courier - March 20, 2008 - RON SCHAMING--News Editor -

Headline - Animal control proposal falls apart - Privately funded spay-neuter program canceled in frustration

A plan to establish an animal control department self-destructed Monday as members of the Hardin County Commission balked at the hiring of a director.

Commissioners had earlier agreed to advertise the job, with an expectation from an appointed study committee that once the post was filled, the director would work with the committee to create a working, affordable program. That proposed program would then be presented to the full commission for consideration and funding in the coming fiscal year.

It all fell apart, however, when insufficient votes materialized to hire either the study committee’s handpicked recommendation, former Florida police sergeant Kevin Skoffic, or Commissioner Charles Howard’s nominee with local roots, Debby Blackwelder.

With two of the 20 members absent and 10 votes needed, Blackwelder received four and Skoffic nine.

The failure prompted Hardin County’s most notable animal protection philanthropist, Ron Pickard of Horse Creek Wildlife Sanctuary and Animal Shelter, to suspend its free county-wide spay and neuter program, "Control Animal Population," or CAP, effective April 1.

"The whole thing, from my perspective, was that it was at best a fiasco," Pickard said Tuesday afternoon in a telephone interview from Florida. "Last night, a number of commissioners tried to play politics with it."

Pickard, who serves on the animal control study committee, said Horse Creek has spent $375,000 on CAP since its inception six years ago, and credits the program with slowly reducing the number of unwanted cats and dogs in Hardin County.

"I just can’t sit there every month and write a check knowing how these (commissioners) think," he said.

Commissioner and animal control committee member Adam Coleman’s nomination of Skoffic, who now lives in Hardin County and works in retail, ran into rough water when Commissioner Stacey Stricklin attempted to table the matter but withdrew his motion after discussion.

Stricklin, along with Commissioner Mike Jerrolds, contended it was inappropriate to hire a director without already having a fully designed animal control plan in place.

"The purpose of hiring a director is to set that direction," Coleman answered.

Months ago, commissioners were given a thick, detailed notebook compiled by the animal control committee addressing issues involved in implementing an animal control program. The estimated first-year price tag was $175,000.

Pickard contends that handbook was the general animal control plan.

"They either can’t read or didn’t read it," he bristled.

Ted Cook, interim director for the Hardin-Metro Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said he was "sorely disappointed" in the outcome of Monday’s meeting.

"Whoever is going to be running the department is the best person to develop it" with the county animal control committee, he said.

But, "we’re not going to give up. We’ve still got to have animal welfare," he said.

Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Davis said there is no doubt in his mind that county residents require animal control services. He predicts the setback does not spell the death of discussion on the issue.

In accordance with the objections of the dissenting commissioners, he said the new immediate goal is to work to develop a concrete, fully detailed animal program for consideration, including written authorization to use the Savannah Animal Control Department’s facilities. Only after that is accomplished will hiring a director be on the agenda.
The mayor said he now hopes to have the issues resolved in time to be included in the 2008-09 budget, which starts July 1. Last week, he hoped to have an operational animal control program in place by mid-April.

End of Article

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

Uncle Ted

Friday, March 14

"Minimal" Animal Control - Mayor says.

Of course this position of Mayor Davis is 180 degree different than that of the Animal Control Committee, which he chairs. Well, duh!!
And then you got this "If all goes according to plan" crap. There isn't a plan, yet and April is a dream.

For you folks who don't read the Courier 3/13/08;
Headline - Page 1 - County could get 'minimal' animal control


If you think Hardin County has been going to the dogs, some relief may be on the way.

Monday, the Hardin County Commission meets to consider hiring a director for a planned Animal Services Department. If all goes According to plan, county residents should have someone to call upon for help with animal control problems by mid-April, says Hardin County Mayor Kevin Davis.

The city of Savannah currently operates its own animal control department. Davis said the county expects to use the city’s animal shelter at least initially, but it was unclear Tuesday what cooperative arrangements might be in the works between the two local governments.

Davis said he envisions a "minimal" animal control program in the county, one that allows county residents to leave unwanted dogs and cats at the shelter.

"I don’t think the people should be scared" there will be a dog tax or that dog catchers will be coming into residents’ yards and picking up pets off front porches, he said.

Hardin countians can, however, expect that their needs regarding the capture of vicious dogs will be met, and that there will be an educational aspect focusing on the benefits of taking advantage of existing free or low-cost spay and neuter programs, he said.

"We’re not going to be Horse Creek Wildlife and Animal Sanctuary," he said, referring to a private, 2,000 acre facility on Tenn. 69-S in Hardin County.

A major goal of Horse Creek is to provide shelter, basic medical care, and adoption services for abandoned and abused domestic animals.

Horse Creek is not designed to accept animals from the public.

The goal is to work with the local animal shelter to ensure the best use of available facilities for animals in Hardin County. Spay and neuter programs, and training of animals to make them good pets are foremost in Horse Creek’s plans, the organization’s website states.

Davis said around 25 people applied for the new Animal Services Department director job. A committee comprised of the mayor, County Commissioner Emery White, Savannah City Commissioner Bob Shutt and Ron Pickard of Horse Creek Wildlife narrowed down the field of candidates, conducted interviews and will make a hiring recommendation to the county commission.

In other business at the 6:30 p.m. public meeting at the Hardin County Courthouse, commissioners will consider applying for a grant to benefit the county fire department, discuss changing the speed limit on Old Road from 55 mph to 25 mph, and make appointments to the Sheriff’s Civil Service Board and the Tennessee River Resort District Advisory Committee.

Stranger Than Strange

Stranger Than Strange

At last nights planning meeting the agenda included the long awaited hiring of a Director of Animal Services.

The chairman briefed the commissioners on the recommendation of the Hardin County Animal Control Committee relating to the results of their search for someone to head up the new department.

The agenda listed it as "Discussion and Possible Action on Hiring a Director of Animal Services."

The strange thing, after the briefing and the introduction of the to be Director Mr. Kevin Skoffic, the chairman opened the floor to the commissioners. Not the first comment or question was put forth either from the commissioners or those in attendance. Strange, just plain strange. No Discussion. Good sign or bad sign? Good sign, I think.

Uncle Ted

Friday, January 18

Job Opening for Director of Animal Service in Hardin County

The following ad was hidden in The Courier this week-

NOTICE OF JOB OPENING

HARDIN COUNTY DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL SERVICES

Hardin County is now accepting applications fro the position of Director of Animal Services. Applications and position qualifications may be obtained in the office of Hardin County Mayor Kevin Davis, 465 Mail Street, Savannah, TN. Applications must be accompanied by a resume and will be accepted in the County Mayor’s Office until 4:30 p.m. on February 1*, 2008.
*(Changed to February 8, 2008 after it was pointed out that the 1st of February was one day after the last scheduled Courier Ad.)

Hardin County is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

The following "position qualifications" were obtained from the Mayor’s Office -

DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL SERVICES
JOB QUALIFICATIONS

Absolute Requirements:

High school diploma
Supervisory experience in animal control necessary
Minimum of one year of work experience involving public contact
Good oral and written communication skills
Ability to plan and organize
Computer literate
Valid driver’s license
Background search permits deputizing and bonding
Compassion for animals

Preferred Requirements:

Advanced education
Certified in euthanasia
Criminal scene and cruelty investigation

As a matter of information, if you should contact the Mayor’s Office for a copy of a Job Description for this Director of Animal Services you will find that their isn’t one.
Respectfully submitted for your consideration,
Uncle Ted