NOT QUITE READY FOR PRIME TIME…
LAWRENCE CO., KY. JUDGE/EXECUTIVE PHILLIP L. CARTER HAS OPENED HIS OWN ANIMAL SHELTER ON POORHOUSE ROAD, NEAR THE COUNTY GARBAGE DUMP. DOGS ARE ALREADY BEING HOUSED DESPITE A BARE BUILDING AND NO SUPERVISION.
CLICK ON PICTURE ABOVE TO HEAR THE ANIMALS ALREADY BEING HOUSED IN CARTER’S DOG HOUSE YELPING.
By Susan Salyer
SMOKEY VALLEY, KY. — On Tuesday May 2, 2023 the Lazer contacted Leonika Allen at the Lawrence County Humane Society, who owns and operates as the Open Arms Humane Shelter, about a dispute with the LC Judge Phil Carter and Animal Warden Jessica Perry.
News spread fast this week after it was made public the county government will no longer be a sponsor of the Open Arms Animal Shelter on Isaac Park Rd. The Lawrence Co. Humane Society, which operates Open Arms, has severed contact with the fiscal court over disputes about the operation of the shelter. The county will reportedly stop paying just over $1,800 per month it has been ‘donating’ to the shelter.
“When we met with Judge Carter we went as two representatives of the Humane Society Board of Directors,” Ms. Allen explained to The Lazer. “All decisions that were made to sever our relationship with the County was made by the Board, not one individual.”
“We just want to move on and hopefully it will be better for everyone involved, Ms. Allen said.
It is not known at this time if the county has followed state procedure or if the shelter is to be a ‘no kill’ facility as is Open Arms.
According to internet records Carter’s will be the third animal shelter in/near Lawrence County along with Trixie Foundation Animal Shelters, 1167 Kennel Creek Ln, Webbville, KY 41180. The Webbville shelter is actually located in Elliot County but very near Lawrence County.
Leonika Allen told The Lazer she would make a post on the website for Lawrence County Humane Society, later in the day yesterday and she did. Her comment was posted on the Open Arms Animal Shelter Facebook and provided for everyone to read around 5PM. It is reprinted below.
The Lazer has attempted several times to get a comment from LC Judge Executive Phil Carter, but no comment has been received yet. We will post the comment as soon as we get it.
Open Arms Animal Shelter official Leonika Allen statement:
“…Many or most of you have heard about the county setting up a shelter off Rt 32 in LOUISA. After much discussion and with sadness, the Humane Society has terminated our relationship with the County effective May 1, 2023. The letter states our reasons why. We are still a functioning shelter and we plan to stay that way. Just a new path!
We thank everyone for your support past and present as we try to care for the voiceless animals in our county. Please reach out if you need assistance!
Thank you! Leonika Allen…”
She continues…
“…With much sadness and a heavy heart, the Lawrence County Humane Society is announcing effective May 1, 2023, the Open Arms Animal Shelter will no longer be the shelter for the Lawrence County Fiscal Court.
You may wonder why we made this decision. In February, we found out the County had set up a shelter in the voting building at the entrance to the county garage on Highway 32. The County did not tell us. We heard it from a cashier at Walmart. We contacted the Judge’s office for clarification and were told by the Assistant Judge Executive it was for overflow when the Open Arms shelter was full.
We set up a meeting with Judge Carter to discuss this at that meeting, we were told we didn’t know how to run a shelter, we were always full and couldn’t take animals when animal control wanted to bring them, we had been a problem since the day we opened our doors and that all we do is ask for money on Facebook.
At that time, Animal Control had brought us 2 hounds with broken pelvises, a pregnant dog almost hairless from mange who vet said not to treat until pups were bor and weaned, a dog with nerve damage to his head, 2 dogs with ringworm and mange which are contagious conditions meaning they could not leave until cleared. All of these took a month or more to clear so they could leave the shelter, not to mention more vet bills.
Judge Carter asked us to write a proposal to address his concerns. We had a second meeting with him and presented a proposal for the county to help fund the cat shelter, giving the county access to TR grant money and room to accommodate more cats, and we would go on our own with the dogs. We told the county at that time we had room at the shelter for dogs and cats and it seemed like the county was willing to work together.
Since the last meeting, there has been little communication. Any communication has been on our end. We have contacted the County Judge and the Animal Control Officer several times and told them we had room available. We received no response or an OK.
Early on, the county brought us 3 hounds which had been in their shelter for a month and no animals have been brought to us since. We were told if we don’t bring animals to you, we aren’t paying you, even though we have taken several animals from the citizens of Lawrence County after they called us saying they got no response from the County or County told them they were full.
We have provided animal sheltering services to the Lawrence County Fiscal Court for 29 years. During this time, we have worked with several County Judge Executives, Animal Control Officers and Magistrates. For the past 29 years, we have received $1833.34 dollars a month with which we were expected to operate the shelter, pay the bills, employ workers and do maintenance on the buildings and property. In 2022, it took almost $130,000 to operate the shelter and this would have not been possible had we not received the support of our local community, rescue partners and individuals from all over the country. Thank you for always supporting us and trusting us to take care of the unwanted animals in this county.
During these 29 years, we received an average of six hundred animals per year. That is approximately 17,000 animals that were treated humanely and given another chance for a better life. We not only helped the animals in this county but we also helped many people. We helped individuals with veterinarian bills and helped spay and neuter personal pets where people were not able pay for these
services. There was barely enough to keep the shelter running and many times we as individuals helped our citizens.
We are very lucky to have as one of our volunteers, Bev Pack, who has tirelessly advocated for the people and cats of Lawrence County. In 2016, she wrote for the first grant to help the cats and people in the county. 1318 cats have been spayed or neutered through the voucher program. These vouchers are for individuals that have cats in Lawrence County. 904 Trap and Release cats have been fixed and relocated to places where they are fed and now live in safety, including 30-40 cats residing at the shelter. Bev Pack continues to apply for grants to help the animals of Lawrence County. We thank her for all she has accomplished.
We are still a functioning shelter with animals in our care. It is in our best interest to move on from this partnership due to lack of respect and communication. We will continue to take animals from Lawrence County citizens.
We will need to make up the $1833.34 a month we will no longer receive from the County. We appreciate everyone’s past support and hope you will continue to stand with us and support us so we can continue to help the voiceless animals of Lawrence County…”
The LC library has millions in surplus it has to spend and the animal shelter is broke. The library’s focus is , how are we going to spend our surplus millions. This is a shame. Hey library how about a feeding program for the shelter animals instead feeding the #2 ranked obese children.
I can not believe you just said to feed the animals and not the children! Just another Lawrence Countian showing how little they care about children. Sickening!
The library does not have millions of dollars in surplus. It has a years worth of operating funds. The “surplus funds” were what paid for our new wonderful and well used library. And the feeding program is a federally funded program that is administered by the library. You are pretty low to diss an agency for trying to feed kids….
I’m betting you don’t “donate” time or money to anyone or anything that doesn’t feel your pocket or your ego. And yet you feel like you have the right to do that to others.
I don’t think Phil can legally cut funding. I would think the county attorney can look over the contract.
There was no contract, Phil gave them a donation every month! Which they decided on not taking anymore….
Wrong Phil didn’t give them money it was the county taxpayer’s money not Phil’s let’s Keep it Real
So Ol Phil has found someone else to fight with??? He’s fought against the library, the City, the utilities company, the school, the wrecker company that could cost the county millions, in a lawsuit right now, and many more and now he’s attacking the animal shelter. All he does is fight and destroy. The magistrates won’t say nothing to him or they are next on his hit list. He tell anyone who wants to hear, they vote the way he wants them to vote. Sad.
I think the article is correct. All they do is save cats and ask for money.
They made every administration, not just the current Judge, look as if they didn’t support the shelter because they didn’t get the money they wanted.
If you are not a shelter that euthanizes cats and dogs this is what happens. Yea I’m not for euthanizing hem either but we don’t have enough tax dollars to go around. I’m glad the county has opened their own shelter which the County has fill control.
Phil’s found a way to funnel even more county funds into his & his cronies’ pockets? Seems like a mighty fine time for an investigation.
Phiiiil rules!! 100 pct behind Carter.
The Trixie shelter is not supposed to be taking in animals at all unless the dozens of court charges against it have been resolved. That place should never take in animals again!
You know, I don’t live in Lawrence county anymore I couldn’t take it anymore. But I heard a lot of people while I was there for 20 years talk really negatively about Phil Carter, and I think if anything he might just be misunderstood. I have interacted with him several times during the time that I lived in Louisa and if nothing else I believe he has a good heart and good intentions. I don’t think that he would ever intentionally do anybody wrong or hurt anyone or be self-centered enough to be doing something just to serve himself. That’s my opinion, and I really do think that he has good intentions and I hope that every endeavor that he undertakes goes well for him and his family. I hope that other people will look past the negative perspectives of others and not judge him unless they deal with him personally and draw their own conclusions. Good job Phil!
Phil is doing the right thing. Keep up the good work Phil.
YEP, we have extra/surplus millions of tax dollars that the LC Library has to spend. They have to try hard to come up with ideas to spend it. Thats why the library has everything a small town like Louisa could dream of. They’re running out of spending ideas. The librarys overflow of millions of tax money should be spent on an animal shelter. How could anyone disagree with me. The library has millions of our tax dollars it doesnt need but the animal shelter is broke and disfunctional. I think Phil is trying. The library board thing is a start. The LC Library director makes 80,000/year. Some colleges library directors doesnt make this much.
Again Keeping it Real if they have so much money they don’t know what to do with it give it back to the TAXPAYERS
Of course, you would criticize the library. Books aren’t much good for someone who can’t read!
If you’re going to talk about people making too much money, how about Phil’s 3779.04/biweekly pay (http://sh030.global.temp.domains/~toolzzmy/2022/07/19/lc-fiscal-court-releases-salary-schedule-fletcher-says-lawrence-county-school-starts-on-august-10-2022/)? He even has an assistant judge exec that makes a combined 2030.78, and we all know he does Phil’s job for him. All Mr. Carter does is show up at events to make himself look good.
If we’re really talking about overpaid, look at Robbie Fletcher. $135,000 a year and the next highest paid employee is 88642.44. This is in a county where the average teacher salary is about $35,500. Fletcher made $113,0842 in 2021-2022, with a pay raise of $21,916 to his $135,000. That’s a 16% pay raise.
http://sh030.global.temp.domains/~toolzzmy/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/annual-salaries-22-23.pdf
https://education.ky.gov/districts/FinRept/Documents/Superintendent%27s%20Salaries%20(2001-2023)%20ADA.xlsx
The state sets the public officials’ salaries. If you have a problem with how much the County Judge makes, then contact Frankfort.
Keep up the good work Phil!! The money bleeding shelter doesn’t need support as they only want to let people who they want to nit pick adopt an animal, and if you have one already your not suitable to have another
You better check your facts on the teacher’s pay. About half make 60,000 or more.Keep feeding the kids and KY will take over the #1 obese ranking. Theyre # 2 now in the whole country. Look at the facts. Sure sounds good feeding our starving kids. Fill er up !!! Strive for #1.
Anyone who thinks the kids will get fat on the meals they get from the library must not have seen the meals. No child of any age, anywhere, should ever go hungry. I would blame chips, pop and junk food for that. Maybe, you should try doing something about the abuse of food stamps. We have a great library with excellent learning opportunities for all ages. They used the extra tax money well. To my understanding they are no longer getting as much tax money. Yes, our county officials and superintendent are way overpaid. The money could be used for the roads that have not been fixed in years. But the subject here is the animal shelters. There are always two sides to every story and then the truth. It has always been hard to get the shelter to take an animal. It didn’t matter if it was an animal that belonged to you or a stray. $20 for a stray? Aren’t bullets cheaper? Plus, the gates are always closed. Their hours are horrible if you work and not open on weekends. Dogs are sent out of state. Mine was. I reported her missing the very first day possible (Monday), took them her picture, told them she had an ear infection she was being treated for and that she was fixed. I put flyers up everywhere only to have them disappear. I called daily. It was hard to get them to answer. I went there on my days off to look for her. They denied having her. I saw her picture, with my complete description, when they sold her and sent her to New Jersey. Of course, she was full breed. They have done others this was also. So get over yourself and your obesity issue. It has nothing to do with this ongoing problem. Jessica has done a wonderful job and has reunited many animals with their owners. All her pickups are posted and honestly attempted to get back to the owner.
How about a recycling center? We need that more than another shelter.