Something up at animal control
As we often do, the Daily Journal recently ran a story we got from our sister newspaper in Fort Bragg, the Advocate-News. Since it is a once-weekly newspaper and they only post to their Web site once a week by the time we get the stories and then publish them, the news in them is sometimes dated. In the case of the story we ran recently about the county animal control department, the story had changed considerably. Events had caught up with and surpassed the Fort Bragg story and since we weren't covering what was a situation with animal control on the coast, we trusted the Fort Bragg paper's version. Coincidentally, I had gotten a call from a gentleman who said he was concerned that animal control and its new director Bliss Fisher were not getting the support they needed in the budget process and would we do some sort of coverage. He suggested we talk to Bliss since she was having a really hard time. Just then I saw the story from the Fort Bragg paper saying she had resigned. I put the animal control department on the back burner until today at Schat's when Dick Winkler of the Ukiah spay-neuter group known as SNAP came to talk to me saying that Bliss had long ago rescinded her resignation and that the Fort Bragg article was inaccurate and was strictly from the point of view of some activists in Fort Bragg that were being unreasonable. He said the inland folks loved Bliss and could we do something to correct the article.
SO... I get back to my office and I also have more phone calls from people upset that we ran the Fort Bragg story. One was from the same gentleman who called originally to ask me to do a story about Bliss very upset with me for not following his advice to begin with. I looked on the Fort Bragg site and they had another story updating the first one, but I decided I would call Bliss first. She said the coast folks' point of view was unfair and that her staff no longer shows her the articles from the coast because they are so upsetting. I asked her if she would let me interview her and she said absolutely and that she would much rather meet in person. She asked if I could see her at 2:45 p.m. today and I agreed to go down to the shelter in Ukiah and meet with her.
At 1:11 p.m. a secretary in the county Pubic Health Department called to say that the director Carmel Angelo wanted me to know that Bliss Fisher could not meet with me and that the department would be sending out a press release this afternoon.
SO... that's all I know right now. Presumably this afternoon some time Angelo will send out a press release. What it will be about I have no idea but it looks like they don't want Bliss talking to the press. I suspect they have a hornet's nest of animal activists on the coast they're trying to keep happy and guessed that maybe Bliss might say something to me they don't want aired.
Since I will be at the Redwood Empire Fair this afternoon and evening I don't know if I'll be in the office when this press release is issued. But I'll let you know as soon as I do what the next chapter here is.