Street Talk

Submitted by
Name: That Old Animal Shelter

Comments:
Okay, if my information and/or assumptions are wrong, let's get it straight. There is an entity on Chewy for an animal shelter located in Madison (searchable at the top center under 'Give Back'). If a person donates through this link, where is the money going? To the intended place? To unclaimed funds in Chewy land? The only option is to send Chewy gift cards (which I guess means account balance credits?). Is there a rogue ex-employee that administered the Chewy connection and has been accessing donations garnered through this link for their own use?

I don't know. I figured links through the site would be vetted and have to be updated every so often. Maybe they're not. Maybe someone is taking funds in the shelter's name and the shelter isn't getting them. If the current shelter is getting the funds, why is the current shelter not utilizing the Chewy site and putting items on their wish list so the public can order them to be shipped directly to the shelter? Chewy also has a place on the site to showcase adoptable animals. Why is the current shelter not utilizing this venue to reach a broader audience? If the current shelter does not want to use Chewy, then they need to get the current listing taken down so no one else is confused and sends funds to an unintended destination. If they are using Chewy, they need to use it better.

Added: October 12, 2025 02:40:35 PM

Submitted by
Name: Fund the shelter

Comments:
Maybe in the budget proposal the mayor could choose between an assistant mayor or a comptroller. I don't think any previous mayors had either position , but I may be mistaken.

Eliminate those one or both of those positions and use that money for the animal shelter. I realize the mayor would have to take on those responsibilities. It might limit his public appearances if he has to spend more time at city hall, but I think the public would be ok with that.

Added: October 12, 2025 01:25:00 PM

Submitted by
Name: Halloween

Comments:
So Mayor Bobby is taking over the Mad Paddle for Halloween ICYMI. Just leaving this here

Added: October 12, 2025 11:01:20 AM

Submitted by
Name: @that old animal shelter

Comments:
Your post contained inaccurate information- the local animal shelter is the Madison Jefferson County Animal Shelter. It is a poorly funded government service . It is NOT a Humane Society owned or operated facility. However the Humane Society is responsible for originally moving the shelter away from its horrifying inhumane standards of 20 years past. Gone are the days of piling massive number of animals into a make shift gas chamber to a difficult and terrifying deaths . It was our local humane society that moved the facility to no kill except for injured and ill pets or bite and dangerous animals. The Humane Society introduced sanitation standards and redesigned the facility for visitor and animal comfort. It had one of the highest adoption rates in the nation in part because fees could be kept low thanks to a volunteer shelter manager and numerous volunteer programs and a very kind - cooperative local veterinarian. Mandatory spay neuter was implemented and food programs were implemented for folks who wanted to surrender because they could no longer afford their pet. Things have changed dramatically with county and city government in control now. The shelter remains no or low kill. But fees are extremely high much because city and county officials refuse to fund the shelter safely for both pets and their human caretakers. If you can imagine that the jail would be required to fund 50%of its overhead while providing for safe oversight and care of prisoners you’d have a similar situation.

However the Society left the shelter - again - about 20 years ago in part because the city and county refused to fund needed services. They withdrew not just support dollars but volunteer staff and most importantly the shelter manager who received no salary what so ever from tax dollars or the society. As you can imagine the county and city officials were angry at the time. Since then the society has lobbied hard and continues to work to increase funding for the shelter. It is the only solution to piles of cans out front, over worked, underpaid staff who have a heartbreaking job.

I understand why the shelter asks for cash donations - they want those dollars for a medical fund - without those dollars animals they deem worth saving would suffer until euthanized. The city and county will not fund medical care for our citizens injured, lost pets. So if your dog or cat is found and is ill after being lost for week or injured from an attack or abuse or hit by car- it either suffers or is euthanized. This community wants its pets to be held safely and treated humanely. But your elected officials do not deem humane care for injured or ill pets worthy of adequate funding. Euthanizing is simply cheaper. And your injured pet doesn’t vote or tell relatives how cruel the mayor or commissioners and county council are. So elected officials have made the easy choice to dump their duties on the shelter staff. They are the ONLY government employees expected to raise funds to meet minimum public service standards. As much as I adore many of our county council and all our commissioners and at least or two city council- I remain shocked and deeply saddened by their choices.

If you don’t want to make a dollar contribution that’s fine but call the mayor, city and county councils and commissioners and tell them to do their damn job. It may be hard to find the money - but it’s a lot harder to stare into the eyes of a suffering pet and decide it’s just going to lay there and whimper in pain because you simply don’t want to take some of the commissioners, or office supply budget or whatever. Honestly I still believe if each department cut their budget by a small 500-1000 dollars you’d see a huge change in adoption fees and certainly no cans piled up out front. Make the calls. They can find the money if the public insists. But if not you can expect your shelter staff to do everything and anything they can think of to find simple humane care. So that’s why there are fans and requests for cards.

Added: October 12, 2025 09:56:32 AM

Submitted by
Name: Downtown merchants
From: Madison
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
This is how this worked. They went in there with those votes. They knew that Thevenow would vote no. They told Carla to vote no and decided the rest of them would have yes. The whole thing was set up from day one. Many of them refused to talk to anyone or answer questions. I spoke to one who told me they were middle of the road. The only thing in the middle of the road is roadkill.

I can't believe the Republicans even had the nerve to show up at soup stew chili and Brew today after what their party did.

As far as the organizers of soup stew are concerned, I don't know who sets this up but they have no clue what they're doing! I saw a coffee shop within a half a block of two coffee shops that are here all the time. That should never be allowed! That takes away from existing business downtown. They were several other booths that were similar sitting we're almost right in front of restaurants that mimicked their menu. They need to move the whole thing down on River front. Our riverfront including that vacant lot should be used for festivals and gatherings. They don't belong on main street hiding shops with booths and taking away business from restaurants. The chamber of commerce is supposed to be here to support the merchants and restaurants. Not take away from them!

Added: October 11, 2025 03:14:50 PM

Submitted by
Name: Petition
From: Madison
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Since the Mayor ignored the community petition maybe a petition for a recall electronics might get his attention. It's a sad time we live in now when special interest groups are overriding the community.

Added: October 11, 2025 03:22:49 PM

Submitted by
Name: Granny
From: The Neighborhood

Comments:
@Superfly You say with tongue in cheek!

Added: October 11, 2025 09:34:23 AM

Submitted by
Name: Fred Shimfessel
From: Madison

Comments:
Everybody knows I'm a die hard Democrat. However, don't think a Republican could primary Schaefer or Lucy and have the Republican machine thump em. Because there is no machine. Any Republican in Miles Ridge could beat Schaefer right now. Same goes for Lucy in her district. This local Republican party is not as strong as you think. They only had 75 people show up to its annual Lincoln Day Party. It was the usual suspects. Most of those suspects were involved in this extremely unpopular Riverfront Development debacle. Most of these people in normal times would never be able to to get elected. They just had a R next to there name and got elected. It wasn't because of talent. Ex: I think a strong female from Miles Ridge who wants to make a difference could wipe the floor with Schaefer. So don't rule out a new crop of Republicans could come in and make positive change to the community.

Added: October 11, 2025 10:41:09 AM

Submitted by
Name: Superfly
From: Madison
E-mail: Contact

Comments:
Woman democratic activist from South America wins Noble Peace Prize! Donald Trump highly pleased!

Added: October 10, 2025 11:47:17 PM

Submitted by
Name: This is Rich

Comments:
@ Common Sense please, I can tell you this whoever is the next mayor and Council has got one great huge Financial mess to clean up. No matter how much lying, no matter how many lies they told. It's going to be ugly. And nobody will know until they can get in there and see.

Added: October 10, 2025 06:40:07 PM