Courthouse sees office heads out in kitten rescue operation
Community, News June 30, 2022
ELLIJAY, Ga. – In a day reaching back to times gone past and idyllic tv shows with firemen retrieving a kitten from a tree, Gilmer saw a minor operation that reached major officials at the county courthouse today. A rescue operation was undertaken involving Fire Chief Daniel Kauffman, Sheriff Stacy Nicholson, Maintenance Director Eric Playford, and Animal Shelter Director Daniel Laukka standing in the heat with several county employees and, eventually, employees from Georgia Power. Instead of up a tree, this kitten was trapped underground.
Pushed into an in-ground electrical box, the kitten was able to be lured into a cage and rescued.
All of this effort came for a rescue operation of a small, black kitten who had fallen into an underground pipe. According to the Sheriff’s Office, “It all started with a plea from a courthouse customer to help a trapped kitten.” Those who helped discovered the stranded, starving kitten that had found its way into an empty pipe for future underground power lines.
So began two hours of efforts to first lure the kitten to the vertical section of pipe and then to push it towards an underground electrical box with open space and a lid. Animal Shelter Director Daniel Laukka told FYN that when he was first called, he had no idea what he was driving to. Once on scene, he said that the heads of the different departments and offices quickly tried to entice the kitten back to where they assumed it fell in so she could be pulled out. However, the pipe had a three-feet long vertical section, thus the idea to encourage her to latch on to a towel.
Later, the plan changed as Georgia Power was able to help officials access a large electrical box with enough open space for a trap to be lowered in. It was then that they pushed the kitten through the pipe with cables, a towel, and a small camera inside the pipe. Once in the concrete box, the plugged the pipe and had the trap waiting with some canned food for bait. Laukka said at that point, it didn’t take long at all for the kitten to enter the trap and be rescued.
Named “Piper” for its discovery location, the black kitten is now at the Gilmer County Animal Shelter recovering. As if this story didn’t have a happy enough ending, Laukka confirmed that the citizen who originally reported hearing the kitten when entering the courthouse said they would also like to adopt Piper.
Officially rescued from her time in underground pipes for future electrical cables, the newly named “Piper” is recovering at the Gilmer Animal Shelter.
Laukka said it is a real blessing to have her adopted out so quickly as she would require a cage all to herself. He noted that the Animal Shelter has checked the kitten for a chip or any sort of identification, but it appears to be a stray. He said, “One of the citizens that live near the courthouse has brought us about five kittens over the last few days from that area. So, it could be from that litter.”
Although scared at first, the kitten has responded well to interaction so far, he noted it seems very young and, with its good response, doesn’t seem to be going feral. He noted that if you can get hands on kittens before roughly 8 weeks old, they can be tamed before getting too feral. He also stated that situations like this, with animals trapped in underground areas, are very rare in the county, making this a bit of an adventure for both the animal and the humans looking help it.
When asked if she would have been difficult to adopt due to superstitions and thoughts on black cats, he said that many people also hear these rumors and specifically look for black cats to help balance out any difficulty due to fur color. But, the shelter is currently at about 85 percent capacity in the middle of “cat and kitten season.” In May, the Animal Shelter took in over 150 cats and kittens and June has seen another 100.
Continuing operations to share animals with other shelters for adoption are helping, but he noted that progress is also being made on the county’s expansion at the shelter. Laukka said he has been finalizing the architectural process and hopes the county will be bidding the project out in the coming months with construction possible to begin this fall. This project was reported on in February 2021 when major donations from citizens kickstarted the process to first plan, then design, and now go through architects for the bid specifications, and soon to be constructed.
Now rescued and recovering, the trapped kitten has since been named “Piper” due to her time in the underground pipes.
River Park changes continue with county and Georgia Power
Featured News, Featured Stories, News May 12, 2021
ELLIJAY, Ga. – River Park in Ellijay has been uplifted and changed numerous times with upgrades over recent years, from the massive facelift to the playgrounds to upgrades to the walking path and ballfield relocations.
Those changes are continuing this summer as previously approved projects are continuing their progress towards completion. One of those projects includes Georgia Power updating the underground utilities. In February 2021, FYN reported that the county was discussing an easement for excavation and subsequent repairs to areas of the park to install underground utilities.
At that time, County Attorney David Clark noted the county would be making some minor changes to the agreement before returning it to Georgia Power for final approval.
Now, the easement returned to the Commissioners with a change requested. That change that has been going back and forth involves protections for the civil war memorial in front of the civic center. Chairman Charlie Paris said today that the plan does involve some above ground equipment. In the original plan, one of these spots was very close to the memorial. The new plan has the equipment moved. However, Paris said its not enough as he has requested that Georgia Power move it further away from the memorial in order to preserve the site.
Paris said that Georgia Power could have an answer by tomorrow’s meeting. It was originally reported as citizens could be seeing construction at the park and mistake it for construction on the pool. The pool project has seen constant delays and stoppages over the last year as the county officially halted the project early in the COVID-19 pandemic in order to reassess finances and the economic effect of the virus. In March of 2020, the pool project halted.
Then the Commissioners returned to the project in early 2021, but saw another delay as the engineering firm became quarantined in February. But after the short delay, with specifications set, the county approved advertising for bids on the project.
Now, the county is amid the advertising window and accepting bids. Members of the board are considering holding a Special Called meeting in the last week of May as another item may need attention as well. While the board did not officially set a date today, they did say they would be discussing dates.
With the pool construction back in full swing and Georgia Power also seeking to upgrade equipment on site, River Park is continuing its climb in upgrades and renovations through this summer as citizens are continuing to visit the park for sports, training, and personal healt
Pool project hits another delay with COVID
News February 2, 2021
ELLIJAY, Ga. – Reports during a special called meeting of the Gilmer Board of Commissioners (BOC) indicate that the county’s pool project hit another delay this month.
Loy Jarret reported to the board that the engineering firm the county is using has been hit by the COVID virus. Due to this, at least a two week delay is coming to the pool construction project.
According to Jarrett, a large portion of the project is finished but the firm is now awaiting recovery and quarantine periods to end and for the firm to reconvene in order to finish the project. This means Gilmer will also see a delay in the promised 3 weeks originally promised. This could come closer to 6 weeks now.
The board is hoping to have the engineering finalized in February before returning to scheduling on the project which has been plagued with delays and issues including many from the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak and resurgence.
The pool project is attempting to continue under conditions after a major delay saw the Commissioners halt the project completely after demolition of the old pool last year. The commissioners, at that time, wanted to wait and see what the virus outbreak, quarantines, and self isolations would do to the county’s economy.
In the same area of the county, at River Park, the commissioners also approved an easement for Georgia Power to begin excavation and subsequent repairs to areas of the park to install underground utilities. According to County Attorney David Clark, the county will be making some minor changes to the agreement before returning it to Georgia Power for final approval.
With that, citizens could be seeing more immediate construction work in the area of River Park stretching through different areas. This construction work is not a part of the pool project, but rather Georgia Power performing this installation.