This newspaper office fielded calls all day long last Friday after our printing press broke down, delaying publication of that day’s edition.

You wanted to know where your paper was. Some of you even sounded as though you were in a mild panic.

For that we thank you — your concern. Although we never plan these things, it reminds our staff that you appreciate what they do to publish The Panolian when you call and want to know where it is.

Pressman Morgan Parducci, who on Monday was able to replace the minor part that caused the major problem, even noticed it while he was shopping for the suitable replacement switch.

“It was like they were rooting for us to get up and going,” Parducci said after returning from his shopping trip.

We appreciate your concern and support. Sometimes when everything is going smoothly, we take each other for granted.

Remember that the “Race for Paws” that starts Saturday’s Springfest activities will benefit the Panola County Humane Society.

That’s a very few people who accomplish much to make up for the widespread neglect of responsibility in this county for God’s animal creations.

Yvonne Taylor was the very capable spokesperson for PCHS at the Tuesday meeting of Batesville’s mayor and aldermen (there’s a related story elsewhere in this edition). I spoke with her briefly and confirmed that PCHS continues to shepherd dogs through an adoption process that starts at the Batesville pound and ends with a healthy, happy dog in the hands of a loving family, usually somewhere in the northeast.

PCHS pays for the medicine to get the dogs healthy at the pound, then pays for spaying or neutering, then places the dogs with a foster home here while arrangements are made for transport through animal adoption organizations. (Yvonne said that she is currently hosting five dogs at her Sardis home with a couple scheduled for transport this weekend).

The clincher is that a dog that was essentially thrown away along a Panola County roadside or dropped off and abandoned in town finds its way to a loving home in New Hampshire or wherever and the new owner has paid $300 or $400 for the privilege of adopting it. (None of that money, by the way, comes back to PCHS — that money goes to the transport and adoption organization.)

These adoption stories have happy endings, but it is only a partial solution. It is expensive and requires much volunteer fostering. The transport/adoption is just one attempt by PCHS to save dogs that would otherwise eventually be put down.

“We can’t save all the animals; we don’t pretend that we can save them,” Yvonne told city officials Tuesday.  

You can help support PCHS just by coming out and cheering on the Race for Paws runners and walkers starting at 8 a.m. Saturday. About 300 entrants have paid between $20 and $35 in entry fees, most of which will find its way to PCHS coffers.

It’s more fun for the walkers and runners when people come out to cheer and jeer, call out to participants they recognize and such. Participants who have fun at an event spread the word about it, attracting more entrants.

The route starts from the Square, up Court to Potts Street, to Church, to Bates, to East, to Park, to Watts, to Broadway, across the railroad tracks and back down Broadway to Atwell, to College, to Goff, to Broad, to Baker, to Panola and back to the Square. Whew, easier to walk than to list!
But if you find yourself anywhere in the vicinity at racetime Saturday, give them a cheer.

We learned Thursday morning of the death of Georgia Seale who had worked at The Panolian for Hunt Howell and Bud Pearson when I first started here in 1971.

She immediately befriended me in spite of myself, overlooking my brash, often asinine observations. She also ran interference for Mrs. Ruth Bradley, then the society editor who occasionally managed to enrage readers without intending.

Over the years I came to admire her and her husband Harvey as a perfect couple, a view that has only been substantiated during her long illness as he has stood so resolutely and lovingly beside her.

A phrase that I occasionally hear to describe salvation is that someone had “expressed a hope in Christ.” Don’t know that I ever heard it better stated, as in, “… if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

So I do not mourn for Georgia, now realizing her Hope, free from the illnesses of this body and the tribulations of this life.

I sympathize with Harvey, her daughters, grandchildren and many friends who are now removed from her sweet presence, if only for a short time.