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OPINIONS

Angela Gary
Look for me on TV next week
I wrote a few weeks ago about my new obsession with going to live tapings of television programs. I sent off postcards to most every show that is taped in New York City in hopes that I would get more free tickets for my upcoming vacation.

Editorial
Good to seecitizen’s care
Too often the only people at a city council meeting are city employees and reporters. Citizens usually stay away from these night-time meetings unless they are concerned about a specific issue that will impact them.

SPORTS

Directions to Area Schools

Leopards head into region battles
Banks to travel to Dawson, host GAC
The Diamond Leopards’ season is about to get a whole lot tougher.
After a handful of pre-region games, Banks is poised to go into a difficult region schedule.
The Leopards have faced two region opponents already but are about to take on some of the top teams in the area.

Neighboorhood News ..
JACKSON COUNTY

Boom town BraseltonTown may get 3 million-square-foot retail, distribution center warehouse
A request from three companies could bring a distribution center, warehouse and retail complex totaling more than three million square-feet to Braselton, along with a “Braselton parkway” to connect Highway 53 and Jesse Cronic Road parallel to Interstate-85.

South Jackson murder to be on America’s Most Wanted
A South Jackson County murder will be featured on an upcoming episode of the America’s Most Wanted television series.
Sherry Elaine Brady, 46, and her husband, Alfred Lewis Brady Jr., 58, both of Jefferson, were murdered earlier this year in their Ethridge Road home.

Neighboorhood News ..
MADISON COUNTY

Recreation expansion
County purchases 31 acres for recreation department
Madison County has purchased 31.54 acres of land to expand the recreation department.
The land, purchased for $172,409 from Marianna Miller, is adjacent to the recreation track and county road department.

Grocery store may locate on Hwy. 72
A grocery chain may be looking to locate a store along Hwy. 72 in the near future.
Realtor John Byram told the planning commission that a grocery store chain is currently eyeing a 20-acre parcel up for a business rezone along Hwy. 72. Byram declined to name the chain.

Poisoning kills seven pet dogs
Residents look for help to solve antifreeze poisonings
At first, as one drives down the private road of the subdivision, things seem normal. But, then, one will notice the lack of barking dogs in the yards. It’s an eerie quiet.
Dogs abound in the county, especially in rural areas where tire-biters are the norm. But, dogs are ominously absent on Eagle Drive.
It isn’t that the residents don’t like dogs. It’s because someone else apparently does not like dogs.
Antifreeze poisoning in the past five weeks has killed seven pet dogs in the area. Five of the deaths occurred in just two days, according to resident Linda Bray.
“All but one of the dogs were taken to the vet when they got sick,” she said. “The vets verified anti-freeze poisonings.”
The Brays lost their dog. — Spunky, a one-and-a-half-year-old Jack Russell Terrier.
“We found him moaning outside one morning last month and brought him in,” she said. “He vomited and then seemed to feel better. We thought he had just gotten ahold of some bad meat. But, he was so thirsty and drank so much water. Before long, he had become so weak, we took him to the vet.”
Spunky was the first dog to die.
Mark and Nancy Brooks found their three-year-old collie mix Smokey ill and vomiting. They immediately took him to the Animal Medical Clinic in Gainesville. There, the doctor gave the Brooks’ the bad news. Smokey had been poisoned with anti-freeze.
When Bray’s neighbors (who wished to remain anonymous) came over and said their two dogs had also died, worry and anger spread rapidly. The community immediately checked everywhere for a spill of anti-freeze, but found none.
“I don’t think this was an accidental poisoning,” said Bray. “Someone did this.”
Five weeks is not enough time to get over the feeling of grief for the families and they ponder who would do such a thing.
“It’s beyond me to think someone could do that to a member of someone’s family,” Bray said. “That’s what our animals are — they’re family.”
The Miles’ know just how they feel. They, too, still feel the sting of anger and the pangs of sorrow from the loss of their daughter Nicole’s dog, Destiny, a German Shepherd-Doberman Pincher mix.
Destiny was Nicole’s “project.”
“I picked her out as a puppy at the humane society in Gainesville,” she said.
Nicole’s mother, Sue, said her daughter took good care of Destiny. She paid for the dog food and had trained Destiny to obey and do a few tricks.
The neighborhood children loved to play with her. During the day, Destiny had the run of the neighborhood, but after dinner, Nicole would pen her up for the night.
One morning, Nicole found Destiny weak, moaning and lying in her vomit. As Nicole opened the pen, Destiny tried to get to her feet but could not. She called her father, Tom, to come and take Destiny to the vet.
“I felt awful about it,” said Nicole, a student at Piedmont College, “I had mid-terms and I had to go to class. I didn’t want to leave her.”
The Miles’ said they knew their daughter’s dog had been poisoned. They had already heard of the other deaths.
Mr. Miles said: “When I got her to Cornelia Veterinary Hospital, the vet confirmed it was anti-freeze poisoning, like the others. He told me he had seen another dog that had also been poisoned by anti-freeze. That dog had thrown up pieces of a hot dog and they tested it. It was soaked in anti-freeze. I don’t know if the dog was from our area or not.”
The vet told Mr. Miles there was no hope for Destiny. He recommended she be put to sleep to avoid any further suffering.
With a heavy heart, he agreed and said goodbye for the family to the dog that had brought so much joy to their lives in such a short time.
“It was so senseless, “ said Mrs. Miles with tears filling her eyes. “She was so loving, so gentle, so smart.”
Nicole said: “We all hurt. It was such a sad time.”
As the Brays, the Miles, the Brooks, the Hubbards, the Stewarts and the Gillans try to go on with their everyday lives, the threat of someone causing such evil stills hangs heavy over them all.
“For all we know, it could be the work of thieves,” Bray said. “Poison all the dogs and their job is easier.”
The residents have offered a $450 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible, said Mark Brooks.
“If anyone out there has heard of anything, heard someone talking about it, we want to know,” said Bray.
Residents put up reward posters, but they were soon torn down. Bray said that led the community to keep track of who comes down their private road.
“We have been very vigilant,” said Bray. “We have been taking down tag numbers and turning them over to the sheriff’s department.”
The Banks County Sheriff’s Office was notified of the poisonings early on and has stepped up patrols of the area, said Major Kyle Bryant, investigative deputy.
“Finding the person who did this is going to be a tough job,” he said. “Unless we can catch someone in the act, it’s difficult to prove.”
If the poisoning was intentional, the perpetrator could face a stiff sentence, Bryant said.
“If the person is convicted of cruelty to animals, the charges carry a one-year prison term and/or a $1,000 fine for each animal,” he said. “If aggravated cruelty to animals can be proved, it’s a one-to-five year sentence and a $15,000 fine. That adds up to a lot of time.”
Anyone with information concerning the poisonings is urged to contact the sheriff’s office at 677-2248.