The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1128559
B-6 Wednesday, June 12, 2019 The Press-Dispatch EAST GIBSON NEWS Submit school news: Email: egnews@ pressdispatch.net Deadline: Noon on Friday By Janice Barniak Oakland City Doggie Hotel owner Andrea Taborn offered shelter and pampered pets with the full spa treatment Sat- urday to benefit Gibson Coun- ty Animal Services. Discounted services like the "pawticure," a manicure for paws, and the "feet, face and fanny" package might be enough to bring out the four-footed clients, but their two-legged owners also had treats like free hot dogs and free raffles. Though Tayborn has been in animal care and rescue for 20 years, the event is near the one-year anniversary of her business, and the event al- lowed her to give back and cel- ebrate, she said. "It's really just to help the homeless animals," she said, taking a dog named Bear out of his cage for a haircut and nail trim. She said an Easter fund- raiser she hosted for the shel- ter a few months ago went well and she expected the same Saturday. GCAS Director Brenda Foley said it would help the fa- cility raise much-needed dol- lars. All area organizations dealing with pets jump in to help one another, she added. The next event to benefit an- imal services will be the Cruz- in' for Critters Car Show from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 23 at La- fayette Park in Princeton. The show will have food, music and door prizes, in addition to the show. DOG SPA BENEFITS SHELTER PETS Most wanted dog finds new home By Janice Barniak When Gibson County Animal Services named a dog the animal shelter's most wanted, putting his picture on a wanted poster, it was a lighthearted joke about how the dog they called Turbo continual- ly eluded their best traps and tricks. The sad truth, said Gibson County Animal Service Director Brenda Foley, is that most of the animals they deal with on a day-to-day basis are un- wanted, and yet residents in Oakland City continual- ly called in the same dog around the same stomp- ing grounds, hoping he'd get picked up instead of hit, and also hoping the unfixed Lothario would stop impregnating the area's female pets. That lasted a year, with shelter personnel bait- ing humane traps, and even, at one point, buying chicken strips to try to lure the wanderer. "It wasn't for lack of trying. We chased him all around town; set the traps in the three locations he was hanging. He was just too smart for it," she said. They would provide occasional sightings and near misses for the shaggy, small dog, like this one last year, "Today, he was smooth talking a cute little Chihuahua female down in the 200 block of Trusler. He was rather indignant we claimed his woman and took her away. Then decided to run his mad drive away along Morton and the North side of it. Lost him behind the IGA." As it turned out, she said, the dog was just as choosy about his human as he was about his food, and his search—and the shelter's—ended recent- ly when he met Rita Byrum, in mourning for a Po- meranian named Mitzy she lost on Valentine's Day of this year. "He'd been running our neighborhood, around Trusler Street. I took him a treat and we became friends," Byrum said. She's now adopted and fixed the new pet. "I call him Davey, but he'll answer to most anything." While Davey's playboy days are at an end, the Hugh Hefner of hounds will still have plenty to cel- ebrate Sunday for Father's Day, since he has a lit- ter of pups next door to his new home. The own- ers are trying to find homes for the offspring, and those interested can call Emersen Wilkerson at 812-582-9692. Bear gets the spa treatment Saturday at a Dog Spa Day at Doggie Hotel courtesy of owner Andrea Tayborn. From left, Gibson County Animal Services Director Bren- da Foley poses with the now-captured, Gibson County's Most Wanted Dog Davey and his new owner Rita Byrum, as well as Emersen Wilkersen, who is finding homes for Davey's puppies. Twice blessed: Sale a help to church and buyers By Janice Barniak According to organiz- er Jeanne Lee, the annu- al Oakland City donation only rummage sale that opened Friday and contin- ued Saturday at Crossroads Baptist Church in Oakland City is more than a boon to the people who get to clean out their closets and the church that accepts the donations. It's also a blessing to the buyers who have come out to peruse the furniture, clothes, toys, books and more over the weekend. "People get things here they can't afford to buy," Lee said. The sale stretches be- tween three inside rooms, a concrete porchway, a lawn and an area under a tent, but by the end of the week- end, Lee said there will not be many items left. People even called to confirm on the event lead- ing up to the sale from as far away as Evansville. "We collect all year," Lee said, adding now that they've been doing these for some time, people are excited about the pay-what- you-can ministry and look forward to it; some will call because they can't waste the gas money to come as far as Oakland City unless what they need is there. From the couch to the ba- by clothes to the discard- ed exercise machine, Lee said one person's discard- ed item can end up being the answer to another per- son's prayer, so the attend- ants feel good about the work they do. "They get to pay what they can. Some of these things people need, but they can't afford." Above: In the outdoor tent, home goods were available for donation. Right: An entire room of clothes brought out many parents who filled bags of clothes and in exchange donated what they felt right to the church. Historian will present on county research Thursday Lyles Station will host histori- an and author, Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox Ph.D., Thursday, June 13 at 6 p.m. Dr. Cox will be appearing to answer questions and hear com- ments on her research efforts of Gibson County sites to prospec- tively be included in the Nation Park Services-National Under- ground Railroad Network to Free- dom. Dr. Cox is the author of the books "The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America's Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Strug- gle for Equality," featuring Lyles Station, and "A Stronger Kinship: One Town's Extraordinary Sto- ry of Hope and Faith." She is al- so an award-winning historian on the history of racism and race rela- tions in nineteenth-century Amer- ica, a fellow at Harvard Universi- ty's Hutchins Center for A frican and A frican American Research, and a recent research associate at the Smithsonian's National Muse- um of A frican American History and Culture, where her original research underpinned two major exhibits, including one on black pioneers. The public is invited to attend. Landfill project advertises for bids By Janice Barniak Gibson County Commission- ers agreed to advertise for bids for a landfill surface drainage project, a step on the path to closing the EPA-monitored for- mer landfill that currently costs the county $ 80,000 per year. To close the landfill, the coun- ty needs to get the area at a two percent grade and maintain that slope. To do that would normally cost the county $150,000 in dirt alone, but Toyota Motor Man- ufacturing of Indiana has two stockpiles they offered the coun- ty as a way to fill, provided the county can move the dirt by the end of the year. Bids will be due at the July meeting, for a contractor to load, haul and pack the dirt. "Finding that amount of dirt would be very hard to do," said Holden of the opportunity the free dirt provides. The county is providing half the cost of closing the landfill and Gibson County Solid Waste provides the other half. Library board meeting now June 19 The Columbia Township Pub- lic Library's June meeting is be- ing rescheduled. It will now meet at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19. It was originally set for 4 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12.