By Donna Traywick

Mt. Olivet News

I saw the most disgusting sight last Friday afternoon coming down the ramp from Hwy. 6 to Hwy. 315 toward Water Valley. A car was stopped on the ramp when I passed, but then sped up and flew toward Oxford. Walking behind were two half-grown dogs that were looking around and trying to see their surroundings.

The labs couldn’t fit in my car, and I don’t know what I would have done with them anyway. Finally I had to drive on because someone else was coming behind me.

This was the same intersection near the home of Eric and Joanna Coaten, who had adopted a dog they named Cletus. He would lay under the 315 bridge all day and diligently kept up his post before going home at night.

Many people who drove by thought he was a homeless dog and would leave him bowls of water and food. All the time Cletus was eating at home and on his job too. In fact, he was just finishing up his shift about five o’clock one day when he was hit by a truck while walking toward his home on John Branch Rd.

He kept a watch on traffic under that bridge almost every day faithfully from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Better than most humans do on their jobs. 

It was my those two dogs left on the road Friday would find their way to someone who wanted to care for them. I knew Joanna had taken numerous animals in for care.

I have a message for the woman in the white car that dumped the dogs. What happened that made you come to Panola County to dump your dogs like trash? Did you even try to find them a home? Oxford and Lafayette County has an active Humane Society, did you know that? Did you feel a pang of guilty when you looked in the rearview mirror and saw them longingly trying to follow your speeding car?

As you disposed of their water bowls did you think about where they would get water on the side of a strange highway? Did you throw away the rest of their dog food when they were gone?

In a recent column Bonnie Smith asked readers if they remembered where they were in the Ice Storm of ‘94. I know exactly where I was.  My grandson Alex was three weeks old and they lived in Hernando and were able to get a generator.

With the Ice Storm approaching, I moved from my home on Hwy. 6 to stay with my 100 year old mother. It was a wise choice because both residences were without electricity for 21 days. I enjoyed it and spent most of the time lying on the couch and reading by flashlight.

Miss Jessie had her routine that she had followed for the last 90 years. She had a weak cup of coffee and toast. We had instant coffee but it was not the same for her. A friend brought us fast food from town one day, but she wasn’t a fan of fast food.

Finally, my sweetheart mother begged me to take her to the nursing home. In desperation I called my sister in Sledge and she sent some boys from the gas company to rig up some battery operated lights.

Each year when my grandson celebrates his birthday I celebrate with thanks all the things that electricity brings to my house.

March is Women’s History month. Send me candidates that you believe deserve to be honored.

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