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The Progress
Editorial
August 25,2022
From the Staff
Let’s find a home for Gypsy;
Remember to have your pet spayed and neutered
By Christie Pool
Staff Writer
christie@pickensprogress.com
In April of 2021, Gypsy, a young,
short-haired black dog was found tied to
a tree. Pickens animal control saved her.
She was brought into the shelter where
she was checked by a veterinarian, given
all of her vaccinations,
spayed, micro-chipped and
house-trained.
Sadly, Gypsy, who has
been in and out of the sys
tem for about a year, has
now spent over 230 days in
the shelter. During that
time she has become a staff
and volunteer favorite, de
scribed as “everyone’s best
friend.” Despite being a
wonderful four-year-old terrier mix,
Gypsy has been overlooked at the shelter,
“because of the way she responds to peo
ple from behind the kennel door. She has
n’t had a chance to show off her true
personality. Sounds cliche but once you
open the door to get this girl out of the
kennel, she is relaxed, happy and ready
to play,” say volunteers.
While Gypsy needs a family to love
and care for her, we encourage everyone
to prevent Gypsy’s plight from befalling
other dogs and cats by having their pet
spayed or neutered. There simply aren’t
enough loving homes to care for all of the
unwanted pets in our community.
Be Paws We Care, a local organization
whose mission is to help reduce or elim
inate the unwanted, unplanned homeless
pet population that ends up in the shelter,
is having a spay/neuter certificate sale
this Saturday at Lee Newton Park. See
flyer on page 9B. Thirty certificates are
available at this sale, $35 for cats and $45
for dogs. The certificates are redeemable
at “All the Fixin’s” in Ball Ground. Can’t
afford the $35 or $45 to have your pet
fixed? Low income residents, senior cit
izens over 65 and veteran pricing is avail
able.
The Humane Society of the United
States estimates approximately 6.3 mil
lion animals enter U.S. animal shelters
nationwide each year. Of those, approxi
mately 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 mil
lion are cats. Thankfully, they also
estimate that the number of dogs and cats
entering U.S. shelters annually has de
clined from approximately
7.2 million in 2011.
Each year, they estimate
that 920,000 shelter ani
mals are euthanized
(390,000 dogs and 530,000
cats).
Such a terrible shame.
More than 500 puppies
can be born from one un
spayed female dog and her
offspring in just seven short
years.
Even if you aren’t a dog or cat lover,
the cost of unwanted pets to us as a soci
ety is too much. It is not cheap for a gov
ernment to run a shelter, pay for
employees, take care of the animals that
don’t have homes and euthanize them if
they can’t find homes.
Thankfully, the local shelter doesn’t
adopt out any pet unless it has been
spayed or neutered. As this policy con
tinues through the years, its impact will
be far-reaching in terms of reduced lit
ters.
So while Gypsy, who has a huge heart
and loves other dogs and toys, is still
looking for her forever home, those of us
who can’t provide that to her or any of
the other pets in our local shelter, we can
do something. We can donate to Be Paws
We Care to help them in their mission to
reduce our local unwanted and un
planned pet population.
And maybe, just maybe there is some
one out there reading this who is just
what Gypsy needs. For more information
about pets available at the shelter, call
706-253-8983.
Photo/Lisa Pelletier
Tell us your thoughts with a letter to the editor. E-mail to news@pickensprogress.com
See letter submission guidelines on the Letters to the Editor page or call us 706-253-2457.
Senior Momen ts
No regrets
Do you have a “bucket
list”? That is a list of things
you might like to do before
you kick your proverbial
bucket and are not around to
do them anymore.
Have you ever said you’re
going to do something only
to never get around to it?
This is an all-too-common
feeling, but it doesn’t have to
be your reality. Creating a
bucket list is about much
more than putting pen to
paper. You also need to shift
your mindset into one of ac
tion and accountability.
I have heard many stories
from friends whose spouses
have passed away before
they could take that special
cruise or trip abroad. Maybe
it was just to visit a scenic
place here in the US. The
point is that we should have
no, or very few, regrets in the
final acts of our lives.
If you don’t have a bucket
list, you may be over
whelmed at first but read on
to get the 411 on how to cre
ate your own list.
Decide on your medium
Before you start, you need
to know how you’re going to
make your bucket list. Some
people like to write it the old-
fashioned way with pen and
paper, while others prefer a
digital list on their phone or
tablet, they can bring with
them anywhere.
Find inspiration
What makes you feel
alive? What have you always
wanted to do? Finding inspi
ration is easy. Talk to your
friends and family. Step out
side your comfort zone.
Bucket lists are very per
sonal. What you choose to in
clude on yours doesn’t have
to conform to any rules or ex
pectations. Be true to your
self and your wants.
Be realistic
Challenge yourself to
think outside the box and do
things that make you uncom
fortable. Yet, be mindful of
practical limitations and set
backs. A good rule of thumb
is to include a variety of
things. Yes, there should be
once-in-a-lifetime things, but
that shouldn’t be the entire
list.
List 10-50 items
Start by creating a list
with 10-50 items. It’s okay if
you can’t think beyond ten
things. A bucket list is dy
namic. It’s always evolving,
and you can always add more
things. Just put pen to paper
(or start typing) and get
started.
Set dates and get started
Set dates to do these
things. Don’t just write down
the things you want to do but
start planning them out. If
you want to travel to a nearby
city, decide on the best day to
do that in the next month.
Make these plans a reality.
The hardest step is the
first one. You’ll discover that
checking things off your
bucket list is addicting. Soon,
you’ll find yourself looking
forward to your next trip,
your next after that, and so
on.
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main Street, Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457
www.pickensprogressonline.com
DAN POOL
Publisher/Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County, Georgia.
Entered at the Post Office at Jasper, Georgia 30143
as Mail Matter of Second Class.
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Other Voices
Tree’d By A Pack of Dogs
By Sue Tatum
June 1947,1 was 10 years
old and number six in a fam
ily of 10 children. We lived
on a working farm and it
seemed like there was always
something to do. It was a
treat for me one day when
my mother sent me on an er
rand to our neighbors, who
lived a mile away. I enjoyed
walking and I welcomed the
time to myself. I didn’t have
much of that in my large fam
ily. I loved my family but I
did like some time alone to
daydream.
I arrived at the neighbors
and walked a few feet up the
driveway. Their dogs came
from behind the house bark
ing. I stopped, waiting for a
member of the family to
come out and call the dogs
off. The dogs advanced fur
ther down the yard and still
no one came our as they al
ways did. The dogs advanced
a little further and at that
point I decided there was not
anyone at home. I started
backing down the driveway
and the dogs started down as
well. Then I turned and ran.
Bethany Church was
nearby and there were several
pine trees in the churchyard.
I ran for those trees as fast as
my legs would carry me.
There was not a tree with
limbs that I could reach. I
never looked back but I could
hear the dogs coming. I made
for the first tree and still don’t
know how I managed to
climb it. It was a huge tree
and I couldn’t reach around
it. I made it just in time. The
dogs were under the tree
barking furiously and jump
ing trying to reach me and I
was screaming.
Mr. Josh Tatum, another
neighbor, was in a field
nearby hoeing when he heard
me and the dogs. He came
running with a hoe in his
hand and tried to ran them off
but they wouldn’t budge. He
then took his hoe and tried to
pull them away from the tree.
He would get one off and by
the time he reached for an
other the first one was back.
Mr. Blalock, another neigh
bor, came along in his truck
on his way home from work
and stopped to help. The two
of them could not get the
dogs away from that tree. Mr.
Blalock finally backed his
truck up to the tree and I ei
ther jumped or fell into the
bed of the truck and he took
me home.
Mr. Tatum told the story
more than once in my pres
ence and said, “I believe
them dogs would have killed
you if they had gotten to
you.” It was their nature to
chase when I ran and also
their nature to keep me up
that tree. They were, after all,
hunting dogs.
June 1947, a date I won’t
forget as long as my memory
serves me. I have thought
about this many times over
the years. I came to the con
clusion it would not have
been humanly possible for
me to outrun those dogs,
much less climb the tree I
did. They must have stopped
at some point, giving me a
head start. I wonder if maybe
they stopped me at the end of
the driveway considering that
their territory then couldn’t
resist the chase. I do know
they were close on my heels
when I managed to climb the
tree and were jumping trying
to reach me. I must admit
even today, I have an unrea
sonable fear of dogs.
[Sue Tatum resided in
Pickens County for many
years before moving to
Cherokee County. This is
an excerpt from a book of
family memories she com
piled, “Will and Callie
Blackwell Family,” which
are stories that date back to
the 1930s.]
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