Click to stay at dog pound

Published 10:54 am Friday, August 28, 2015

The dog warden isn’t leaving after all.

About two weeks ago, Lawrence County Animal Shelter warden Bill Click abruptly resigned following a dispute with the Lawrence County Humane Society over charging an intake fee for cats.

On Tuesday, however, Click asked the Lawrence County Commissioners to rescind his resignation, which they did in a 2-0 vote at its Thursday meeting. Commission president Les Boggs had to leave the meeting early for another meeting.

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A new shelter for cats opened a few months ago at the dog pound, but since there is no designated stream of revenue for caring for cats, the animal shelter started charging $15 to take in an adult cat and $7 for a kitten. The dog pound is funded from the annual tags owners are required to buy in January.

For years the county pound had one of the highest kill rates of any shelter in the state. Recently, volunteers there formed the non-profit Friends of the Lawrence County Pound, working to find rescue organizations to take dogs that are not adopted out. They provide the same for cats, although there are only three agencies that offer those kinds of rescues.

“I had a lot of people, private citizens not involved in politics, called me and asked me not to give up what we started,” Click said. “I didn’t know we had so many people supporting us on cats. I’m going to stick around for a while.”

In other action the commission:

Approved a contract between the county department of job and family services and the Collins Career Center for the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership;

Received notification of the Wayne National Forest plan to reroute a section of the existing horse trail to create a more scenic route;

Approved sending a letter of support for the acquisition of St. Mary’s Medical Center by Cabell Huntington Hospital.