Committee Cat Fight.

The Public Safety Committee was presented with a proposed ordinance from the Spare Cat Rescue organization on Monday evening at the regular monthly committee meeting. The proposed ordinance would allow a mechanism to care for, monitor, and feed free roaming, feral cats.

The current animal control ordinances prohibit a household from owning more than five animals. It also defines ownership as feeding or providing shelter for an animal for more than three days.

Spare Cat Rescue is a local organization that advocates Trap, Neuter, and Release. (TNR). Kaleen Cole spoke for the organization and told the committee that they have grants available to carry out their mission, but the fact that it is technically illegal to harbor feral cat colonies in Carthage puts those grants out of reach. Feral cats are typically not able to be adopted according to Cole.

Committee member Dan Rife was supportive of the concept, but argued that the ordinance would open the door to dog owners to ask for similar treatment. The committee voted to continue study of the proposal and bring it back at a later date.

Here’s the dilemma.

Say there was a dozen adult cats livin’ in an abandon buildin’ somewhere downtown. The snow is a foot deep and there are two litters of kittens whinin’ for somethin’ to eat. Some kind hearted type decides they can’t just let ‘em starve to death, and starts bringin’ food.

These aren’t those cute, tame little cats that lie around on the floor in the corner, they are basically wild.

After three days of this, accordin’ to current City code, these critters belong to the caretaker and that breaks the five animal limit. The City doesn’t wanna arrest the cats or the caretaker, both prob’ly actually provide a service to the community. The simplest solution, which has been the unofficial policy of the past, is to ignore the situation. But now the cat’s out of the bag.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

.

---

Weekly Columns

HERE’S A TIP

By JoAnn Derson

• Stick a return-address sticker on the inside of your eyeglass case. If you leave it behind somewhere, you’ll up the odds of having it returned to you.

• To remove grass stains, try dabbing with rubbing alcohol and blotting with a white, clean cloth. Repeat as necessary.

•"Make a drink cover with aluminum foil. Cover drink tightly, then poke a straw through the foil. This will keep pesky bugs away from your beverage. And you can jot your name on top, to boot. We’ve done this at our barbecues for ages." -- T.C. in Minnesota

• To clean your oven, simply fill a small dish with ammonia and set it in the oven overnight. In the morning, you’ll be able to wipe the baked-on foods away.

• "Baby oil will make a stainless-steel sink look superb. Just squirt a little on a paper towel and use it to shine the sink and surrounding area." -- A Reader, via e-mail

• One way to untangle jewelry is to set it in a shallow dish of baby powder and then try to work out the kinks. The powder acts as a lubricant, but won’t make your hands or fingers feel messy or greasy.