Taking the good news with bad
2/6/10 | 13 comments
Renee Ordway

Taking the good news with bad


By Renee Ordway
Special to the NEWS

Some weeks it’s harder than others to determine whether things fall into the good news category or the bad news category.

Here are a few examples of where the line got fuzzy for me this week:

A study released earlier this week showed that the number of Maine people seeking emergency food assistance is skyrocketing. The report indicated that 36,800 people across the state are looking for food assistance from pantries and shelters every week. That’s double previous estimates of 18,000.

That’s a bad statistic.

The good news is that there are places like the Good Shepherd Food-Bank in Auburn and countless other agencies across the state where volunteers are stepping up to the plate, so to speak, determined to try to keep pace with the demand.

Good news was released from the Bangor Humane Society this week.

Starting Monday, Feb. 1, the staff at the humane society began to hand out vouchers to eligible low-income pet owners. Those receiving the vouchers could have their pets spayed or neutered at area veterinarian offices for the low cost of $25 for a cat or $35 for dogs, plus get the animals free rabies shots.

In case you’ve forgotten, one female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens in seven years, and one female dog and her offspring can produce 67,0000 puppies in six years.

Last year the humane society accepted 774 owner-relinquished dogs, 310 stray dogs, 3,363 owner-relinquished cats and 581 stray cats.

The low-cost spay-neuter program is good news.

Based on previous-year estimates, staff thought the $17,000 earmarked for the program would last two to four months. During the first two hours that the humane society was open on Monday, after just a brief blurb in the paper about the program, $3,000 worth of those vouchers had been handed out.

By Friday afternoon, $13,000 worth had been handed out, and Executive Director Suzan Bell anticipates the money will be gone by early next week.

The bad news here, of course, is that demand is so high for those needing and eligible for the assistance. The good news is that as of Friday afternoon about 225 pets that otherwise might have never been spayed or neutered now will be.

Some good news for me professionally this week was that I was reminded I still have some decent news sources and tipsters in the pipeline. That’s important stuff in this line of work.

The bad news is that one of them — the same one who told me last October of the woman who bought five cases of bottled water with food stamps, then dumped the water out in the parking lot, returned the bottles for cash and bought cigarettes — let me know that last week another customer bought $75 worth of vanilla extract with food stamps. Not exactly fine wine, but with a 35 percent alcohol content it apparently will do in a pinch.

That’s sad on so very many levels.

On a much lighter and much more personal level, I think I did a decent job of pulling out a couple of last-minute parenting emergencies this week in grand style. That’s the good news.

My 13-year-old son called me from school on Wednesday informing me that he and his fellow middle-school basketball teammates had put together $30 as a thank-you for their coach.

“Very nice,” I said.

The bad news, he informed me, was, “We need a parent to go buy something with it. Now.”

With instructions involving a country music CD and some fast-food gift certificates I dashed to the mall area of Bangor. The bad news here is that I seem to forget that there is no such thing as a fast dash to anywhere near Hogan Road or Stillwater Avenue even in the middle of the day in the middle of the week.

The good news is the coach now can listen to Alan Jackson while eating a Happy Meal or two and I wound up with a purse full of $1 bills.

On another near miss, but in the end a successful parenting sprint, 10 minutes before my son’s designated school lunch break, I noticed his peanut butter sandwich and orange still on the kitchen counter.

Bad news.

The good news is that before I ran out the door to try to get it to school on time, I looked down at my feet and, honest to God, wondered whether I should stop to take off my slippers and put on my boots.

Not necessarily a big deal, just popping quickly into the school office, after all, and I am one of those work-at-home-in-my-sweats parents.

Slippers at noon are OK for us.

The bad news here is that my slippers don’t match. They are the same style and nearly the same size; they just are not the same color.

The good news is I knew that my showing up at school with mismatched slippers on my feet might embarrass the kid and so I kicked them off and pulled on my boots.

The bad news here is that somehow I’ve gotten to a place in my life where apparently it wasn’t going to embarrass me to wear mismatched slippers in public.

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Comments
13 comments on this item
On 2/6/10 at 6:10 AM, jakemulligan wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Good news was released from the Bangor Humane Society this week.

The bad news is that the taxpayer is providing food and shelter for these people while they use what money they have to feed a dog or cat.

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On 2/6/10 at 7:29 AM, Larryt39 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The Bangor Humane Society is the best. Every donation is much appreciated. So, give give and give a little more. Our pets are family all the way, and hopefully, everybody will continue to take good care of them. The society does a great job, however, they need all the support possible. And, thanx Renee for highlighting this issue of the people seeking food assistance. It appears things are going to get worse as time passes. Larry T. Doughty, South Brewer, larrytdoughty@yahoo.com. www.ourstory.com/larrytdougty

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On 2/6/10 at 8:04 AM, stewie wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Good news is I'll soon be opening a couple of the many new medical marijuna diner/dispensries that will be coming online in Maine. I'm planning one for Presque Ise and one near Bangor/Brewer. My attorney is preparing the necesary paper work for the Buzz and Munch 1 and 2. As soon as legally possible well have them up and running. They will be modeled after a business's I visited in California and Colorado. Good hash a splief is on the way.

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/medical-marijuana/

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On 2/6/10 at 8:05 AM, Coolfusion wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The good news is Baldacci is leaving.. the bad news is Olympia and Collins are staying for awhile.

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On 2/6/10 at 9:49 AM, neptunia wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

There will always be a small sample of people who abuse the food stamp system, but most people do not. The story your 'source' told you about the person buying water and dumping it out for the deposit is simply ridiculous. In order to buy the water with food stamps that same person would have had to pay for the deposit with cash at check out. Food stamps do not cover deposits on returnables. No one would then go pour the water out to get the nickel they just paid back. These are the kind of stories that only serve to stir up anger hatred and shame for people (food stamp recipients) who don't deserve it.

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On 2/6/10 at 9:55 AM, cjnemo wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I agree completely with Neptunia. Nice job repeating in print the myth of people on assistance buying items with a five-cent return (like bottled water) only to dump contents, so they can get the accumulated nickels. The law requires that these deposits be paid in cash when purchased, and if the inflammatory tale you again bring up was true, the retailer was breaking the law. Has the concept of 'doing a little research' ever occurred to you before writing?

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On 2/6/10 at 10:40 AM, gregdebeck wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

~To Neptunia and cjnemo......I was standing in line at a checkout one day and the lady in front of me bought 10 gallons of water and paid for them with food stamps. No big deal except that as she turned to leave she proudly said "there, now I can go home and change the water in my fish tank". I've worked in food retail for 30 years and can tell you that there is a LOT of abuse in the food stamp program. For people who deserve it and use it the way it was intended it is a godsend, however, not everyone who gets it deserves it or needs it.

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On 2/6/10 at 11:57 AM, Taltos7791 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

And once again an inflammetory tale told to spread fear and hatred of those in need abusing whats given to them. Tell me whats so very wrong with a person taking care of their pets?? Not every family that gets assistance was planning on needing it... so why should their pets suffer just so people can rule their lives and tell them how to spend whats given them right down to the last cent. Are you trying to say that these people should surrender their pets to be killed? Lets make no mistake about it, the humane society eventually has to euthenise animals that are not adopted or cannot be adopted for whatever reason. They cant take them on and feed and shelter them indeffinately... So I think it's rather kind that people in a rough spot take money given to them to help keep thier pet/family members taken care of... If you owned pets yourselves maybe you wouldn't be so quick to hand them over without ever knowing who will take care of them or if they are to be killed. Walk for a minute in the shoes of someone in need before you carpet bomb them for the choices they are forced to make...

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On 2/6/10 at 1:14 PM, barn183 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Why does everybody have to be soooo damn judgmental all the time......sad and old

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On 2/6/10 at 1:47 PM, SantiniSpagoandSpike wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

The study on the food shortage is good news...at least those people applying for assistance will not starve!

The "sad" story about the woman who bought bottled water and then returned the bottles for cash and bought cigarettes is not only sad, but now the State of Maine can understand that any rule of law seems to be able to be a potential for driving a semi-tractor-trailer rig through. People will always find ways to abridge the rules no matter what. How can this be controlled?

Pets are precious in every way, and they actually do return the love we give to them; sometimes even though we do not pay much attention to them as we should. I could type here for an hour or so, but I think the message is clear, sometimes oversupplies of various animals have no choice but to end up at the Humane Society. When I was little, I would walk up our street (Howard) to Mr. Crowell's brown-and-cream bungalow home to his Humane Society shelter and often get a cat or a dog to bring home...for .25 cents donation! We have four pets at our home and they all have lives to live. So do all other animals deserve this right - neutered or not.

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On 2/6/10 at 1:48 PM, gregdebeck wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

~ To Taltos7791........I have no problem with ANYONE having pets. Pets are wonderful and provide a lot of comforting company, in fact I have a dog and cat myself. In my previous comment I was talking about FISH. Water for cleaning a fish tank can be very easily gotten from the tap. I know that some tap water has chlorine and other chemicals in it which need to be treated in order to make it safe for the fish. Any pet store will have tablets which make the water safe and they do not cost much at all - certainly not as much as the fish cost in the first place. If you want to use bottled water to clean your tank by all means do it but DON'T use my tax dollars. If this sounds cold, I'm sorry, but the food stamp program was implemented to provide basic food staples for people in need not for people to p*ss away at our expense. I have NO problem with people who NEED them or DESERVE them, and I know that the vast majority of people who use them do need them, and deserve them, and DON'T abuse the system. I DO, however, have a problem with people who have become a leach on society and just sit on their a** and expect handouts from the Gov't and when they get them abuse the system. Tell me Taltos7791, are you one of these people? Is that why you are so defensive?

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On 2/9/10 at 8:23 AM, JacobM wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Bad News- We have an invisible epidemic called HUNGER in Maine.

Good News- After 20 years, media is finally shining light on it. Kudos for exposing a truth, kudos to Good Shepherd Food Bank and their 600+ hardworking partner agencies for helping Maine communities.

Interesting News- Less than 1-2 % abuse the system, this means the other 98-99% are actually in need. Get off your couch and help your neighbor, quit yer whining!

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On 2/9/10 at 8:41 AM, markko wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

gregdebeck, if you were so outraged by the person who got fish water using food stamps, why didn't you ask them about it?

You said you were standing right there. Why wait to come here and complain about it?

Go to the source.

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