SALEM Society launches fund drive

The group will continue to rely heavily on Angels for Animals for advice and support.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Salem Humane Society Inc. is looking for people whose pockets are as deep as their love for animals.
Pete Johnson, vice president, said building an animal shelter somewhere in the Salem area will take "a fund-raising effort the likes of which the city of Salem has never seen."
With the Salem Area Humane Society evicted Thursday from the animal shelter along U.S. Route 62 west of Salem in Perry Township, Salem Humane Society Inc. set up headquarters in the adjacent house, and has begun fund raising in earnest.
Although Johnson's group plans to operate a shelter, it cannot be at the Perry Township site, because the court has ordered it sold.
Director search: Johnson said the group's immediate priority is to hire an executive director.
"We need someone with a passion for animals, someone who has good organizational skills," he said.
Johnson said the group has leaned heavily on Diane Less-Baird, president and founder of Angels for Animals, a shelter in Mahoning County, and will continue to seek advice and assistance from her organization.
He said his group will raise its own money and be independent of Angels for Animals, not a Columbiana County branch of it.
"We're not doing that, but if we were, there'd be nothing wrong with that," Johnson said. "Diane, a farm girl and a cat lover, and her best friend, a horse lover, started a shelter years ago, with a few cages in Diane's barn.
"Now Diane and Angels for Animals have raised millions of dollars for a new shelter," he said. "There's only a few anything like it in the world.
"We're certainly not even considering a facility that big, but Angels is our model shelter," he said. "They have helped us immensely, and we aren't shy about that."
Education: Johnson said his group's goal is education, responsible pet ownership, pet care and a shelter for lost or stray animals.
"We will run a no-kill shelter, but realize that humane euthanasia is unavoidable with the large population of unwanted and stray dogs and cats," he said.
"Only responsible pet ownership and care will prevent the need for euthanasia, and our mission is to take that message to the community," he said.
Dispute: Judge C. Ashley Pike of Common Pleas Court ruled Dec. 18 in a legal dispute between the Salem Humane Society Inc. and the Salem Area Humane Society, each battling for control of annual funding from the Robert Atchison Trust, established in 1959 to benefit animals.
The judge chose Salem Humane Society Inc., made up of some members of the older Salem Area Humane Society, to receive the trust money.
With annual funding from the Atchison Trust, the old group has for decades run the Perry Township shelter.
But the trust fund money was suspended by Judge Pike in October 1999 after some members of the old group complained the agency was being fiscally mismanaged and that animals at the shelter were receiving substandard care.
In November 2000 the new humane society was formed and it sought to be awarded the trust fund money, leading to Judge Pike's Dec. 18 decision.
Both groups say aid from the trust fund, now worth $1 million, is crucial to funding a shelter.
Unable to secure a stay of its eviction notice, the Salem Area Humane Society on Thursday vacated the Perry Township shelter.
Mary Lou Popa, president of the ousted group, said volunteers and area residents stepped up to adopt all the shelter's animals.
XDonations to Salem Humane Society Inc. may be sent to P.O. Box 101, Salem 44460. The society's new telephone number is (330) 332-2600. Memberships are $20 for yearly individual, $30 for yearly family, or $200 for life member.