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Opinion Letters Letters and comments for June 9, 2011
Letters and comments for June 9, 2011
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Letters and comments for June 9, 2011
Keeping shelter whole
The mayor, city manager, city council and budget committee for the city of La Grande put funding for The Animal Shelter back into the city’s budget, and the Blue Mountain Humane Association and the staff at the shelter truly appreciate that. We appreciate the many citizens who spoke out on our behalf. Their support is very important to us. The $9,500 the city allocates to us makes up more than 6 percent of our operating budget; we couldn’t have lost that much from our budget without making cuts. As our board members considered what cuts they would have had to make in order to balance the shelter’s budget, it became very obvious that the ones who would be hurt most would be the city of La Grande. After all, it stands to reason that the city that brings the most animals to the shelter would be most affected by any cuts. Some of the options we were considering included no longer taking in stray and feral cats for property owners; cutting hours and possibly a staff position; and when the dog kennels were full we would have had to turn away owners who tried to surrender their dogs. Our education program would have been cut entirely. Thankfully we did not have to make those cuts. Those of us on the board and many members of the community feel that the animal shelter is an important part of what makes La Grande a great place to live. We are grateful that the government officials in La Grande agree with that. We encourage citizens of Union County to stop by the shelter at 3212 Highway 30 and see the exciting changes that are taking place and what we are doing to make the shelter a better place for the animals in our care.
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