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"Miracle" January 16,
2008
Argus-Champion
Photo and Article by Ken Schuster
Stowaway rescued after week in truck
NEWBURY, NEW HAMPSHIRE - Fort Payne, a rural town of about 13,000 people,
is tucked away in the hills of northeast Alabama. It's the home of Gametime, one
of the world's largest manufacturers of playground equipment. Their equipment
will be installed at the new Velie Memorial Playground, due to break ground
behind the Newbury library this spring. Gametime contributed $47,000 to help get
the project rolling. Apparently, they unintentionally contributed something
else.
After five days on the road, covering almost 1,500 miles, the truck full of
Gametime equipment
 arrived
in Newbury Dec. 19. Town Administrator Denis Pavlicek and playground committee
member Holly von Svoboda were nearby and delighted to see the playground concept
start to take physical shape as the front-end loader began its job.
Suddenly, Dennis and Holly were startled by a flash of white that flew off the
truck and into the snow. Dennis looked wide-eyed at Holly and said, "Did you see
that?" They agreed that what they saw was a tiny white kitten, but it was moving
so fast they couldn't be sure where it went.
They followed the tracks leading to a probable small access under a yellow
building about 100 feet away. By this time, Police Chief Bob Lee had joined the
tracking party. Calling and coaxing was unsuccessful. Dennis obtained a
Have-a-Heart trap, and put it near where he thought the kitten might be hiding.
By then, all the equipment was off the truck. A few hours later, our first
blizzard of the season began. The trap was empty.
The next morning, Dennis got a call from Chief Lee.
"I have the cat!"
In the midst of the snow, wind and bitter temperatures, Bob had kept his vigil
on the trap.
The white, sky-blue-eyed kitten was "skin and bones." Bob called the Fort Payne
police to see if anyone had reported a lost kitten matching the description. No
luck. They took the kitten to Newbury veterinarian Diane Richie's Compassion
Veterinary Clinic in Bradford. Because of its unknown history, the kitten had to
be quarantined for 10 days. Diane thought that after such a traumatic
experience, it would take some time for the kitten to accept humans. However, 10
days of a nice warm place to sleep, good food and lots of friendly strokes paid
off with a kitten thtat turned out to be a "love bug" that just wanted to be
held.
After a short discussion with her husband, Alex, Holly von Svoboda happily
brought their new family member ("Ala" for Alabama) into her home on the first
day of 2008.
Kristyn von Svoboda, 16, holds her newest family member, 6-month-old Ala, who
stowed away on a truck from Alabama to Newbury.
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If you or someone you know would
like to make a donation to The Velie Memorial Fund,
please send to:
The Velie Memorial Fund, Inc.
Lake Sunapee Bank
Newbury, NH 03255 |
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