An Update On The Woodbury Animal Shelter Story

Howdy. Short post for today, since I’m currently taking care of my Dad, who does not feel well.

I had a chance last night to speak with Woodbury Town Supervisor, Kathryn Luciani, about the incident at the animal shelter. I appreciate her reaching out to help confirm what had happened, and her explanation that the Shelter is making changes. I’m hoping the Board will highlight some of these changes at a future meeting. That’s ultimately what I was looking for when I asked them about it the other night:

What’s going to be done differently?

Given that Woodbury residents just went through an acrimonious relationship with Supervisor Palermo, followed by a Supervisor — Thomas J. Burke — who was described to me as “Woodbury’s Trump,” the perception of the Woodbury Town Board is probably the lowest it’s ever been.

Plus, there’s always the paranoia (justified or not) that some of the local politicians only have the interest of real estate developers who want to build, build, build, while Woodbury residents go through annual water restrictions.

Which, is why I think so many people, myself included, wanted to cover the pay adjustment for the Supervisor. That’s not an excuse to dismiss that. I still think the Supervisor job is a part time one, and hopefully the voters of Woodbury get to decide once and for all — regardless of who the Supervisor is — if they agree.

The Supervisor’s pay is an issue that’s almost as old as some of your kids, or some of you reading this. It goes back to 2006. You know what was happening in 2006? That was the year Steve Irwin died. And if you don’t know who that is, my point has just been made.

So, I do think the Supervisor is right to point out that there’s a frayed relationship and a lack of trust from previous boards, thus putting everything they do under a microscope. That’s totally fair because it’s a fact.

I’m an animal lover. I support the push to get a new shelter built, and I appreciate that the Town is investing money in the current shelter. I don’t think you’re going to find many people around here who have a problem with that. We want the Monroe-Woodbury area to be a welcoming place for everyone, no matter how many legs they use to get around.

But. I want to stress that there’s no need to get into the specific details of what happened with the accident at the shelter also. I agree with the Supervisor it was traumatizing for the people there, and when it comes to mental health, I take that sort of thing very seriously.

Everything on this planet is on fire now. So if you and I can avoid pouring gasoline on people, we can better survive this together.

The traumatic nature of the event, according to the Supervisor, was part of the board’s hesitancy in discussing the issue at the meeting when I had asked them about it. There was a concern about looking like they were throwing someone, a shelter employee who had just suffered a traumatic experience, under the bus.

I totally get that. So at least on this issue, that’s where my questions are going to end.

Of course, if something else happens at the shelter — and we all hope it doesn’t — I’ll be sure to ask questions because that’s my job as a reporter. You tell me what’s going on, and I’ll ask around and try to get things verified from as many sources as I can. For the shelter story, I spoke with three people, the Animal Shelter, and I also asked the Woodbury Village Police for comment to confirm what I heard was true.

I don’t care about politics. I just care about the facts. And the facts in this case are hard to talk about.

So we’re going to move on. To something way more exciting, like what the fuck is going on with the garbage in the Village of Monroe.

I’ll give you a hint: Apparently people don’t know how to throw things away.