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  Our meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mimi Curran.  David Rice was unable to attend and asked her to chair the meeting.  The minutes from the May meeting were read and approved.  Everyone agreed that many changes had taken place in just a few short months.  Mimi passed around a get-well card for everyone to sign for Richard Strickland who had hip-replacement surgery the day before.

Sandy Porter and John Waldo from Minerva Planning Group did a short presentation on their non-profit organization “The Assisi Foundation of Coastal Georgia”.  They are putting together a 2003 calendar for dogs and a 2003 calendar for cats and a journal to honor and memorialize adopted “pets” throughout the community.  All proceeds from the sale of these calendars will be shared between Coastal Georgia organizations dedicated to caring for animals.  We agreed to help with the sale of the calendars in order to earn some extra money for the Center.

  Jennifer Bale did a short presentation on PETA’S “Ban horse-drawn carriages” cause and passed out some information.  Jennifer is one of the many people concerned about the carriage horses in the area being abused by making them work long hours and in the heat of the summer.  David told Mimi to explain to Jennifer that he had spoken with the county attorney, Gary Moore, about the carriage horses and we are looking into the possibility of passing a county ordinance curtailing or at least limiting the amount of time, and the time of day, that the horse-drawn carriages can be active.  Jennifer encouraged everyone to contact PETA or the Georgia Department of Agriculture and complain about the cruelty to these horses.

Jennifer also discussed the problems she has had with Dr. Stobaeus and asked that if we knew of anyone who also has had a problem with Dr. Stobaeus to call her.

Marcia handed out statistic sheets for the months of June, July and August.  We reviewed and discussed her memorandum to Chief Bob Pittman  dated September 5, 2002.  We were all amazed at the comparison statistics from 2001 to 2002.  Marcia explained that she felt that the large increase in incoming animals was due to the fact that neither McIntosh County nor Brantley County have animal control centers and we are taking in their animals.  The one uplifting statistic is that our adoptions have tripled and our adoption rate is above the national norm.  However, the number of animals being euthanized is staggering.  We all agreed that more has to be done to educate the public about sterilizing their pets.

David asked Mimi to pass out a letter he received from Commissioner Cap Fendig regarding the long list of problems we are still having with the building.  Marcia is having an extremely hard time getting anyone to do anything about these problems.

 Marcia informed the Board that she has had to halt the spay/neuter clinics for the time being.  Appointments are booked up through May of next year.  She has been handing out CHATS coupons as much as possible but until we can get another vet to help out we cannot schedule any more sterilizations.  Dr. Hornbuckle volunteers one afternoon a week and it just isn’t enough to keep up with all the adoptions.

Mimi informed the Board that she had received a resignation letter from Dan Lewis.  She stated that she would post the open position in the paper and accept resumes for the Commissioners to review. 

The next meeting has been set for Wednesday, October 23, 2002.