CHEERS to everyone who helped track down a runaway dog from the City of Plattsburgh. Valeri Raugi, who lives in the West End, was away recently, caring for her seriously ill father. While she was gone, her two dogs escaped from the family's fenced-in yard. She told us in an email about the reaction: "Within two hours, search parties were mobilizing, thanks to our closest family friends and their Facebook friends. They drove the city streets, pounded the pavement, walked the woods, and they looked for the two dogs. After approximately one and a half days, several miles logged and many text messages sent between our dear friends, two young women — students at Plattsburgh State — corralled Humphrey at the Price Chopper parking lot." The students, Brooke Perry and Sarah Tompkins, had been shopping earlier in the day and saw the dog running up and down Upper Cornelia Street and Route 3. They chased him down in the Price Chopper parking lot. "They were concerned for his safety and took it upon themselves to save his life," Raugi said. "Their determination and commitment to the cause paid off! Perhaps you can imagine the sheer relief and immense joy I felt upon receiving Brooke's phone call while I was in California helping care for my father." The dog was treated at Peru Veterinary Hospital and is now safely at home. "We are still missing our little Dempsey," Raugi wrote late last week of her mostly black Chihuahua-German Pinscher mix, "but remain hopeful and continue to be ever so thankful to everyone — named and anonymous — for all their efforts to help bring our dogs back to us."
CHEERS to WIRY Radio in Plattsburgh for its longtime tradition of airing birthdays and anniversaries each morning. Station Manager Bob Pooler, who reads the notices, says the celebratory messages have been part of the station's offerings probably for as long as it has been around, which is since 1950. He said it was likely started by announcer Chet Bosworth, whom Pooler describes as wonderful and a gentle man. Families and friends mail, email and drop off notices to the Plattsburgh radio station, and every one that is received is read on air. Then the traditional song encourages listeners to "march around the table" in celebration. We add a Cheer to Rambachs Bakery, which supplies a free birthday cake each day to someone whose name is drawn at random, and to Batters Up Bakery, which recently started donating an anniversary cake. Anyone who grew up in the area has probably listened in as birthday names — from school kids to senior citizens — are read on WIRY. "Maybe some people think it's kind of hokey," Pooler said, "But I enjoy it, and I think it means a lot to people." So do we. It's a charming small-town tradition, and we salute our friends at "Hometown WIRY" for offering it for the past 62 years.
— If you have a Cheers and Jeers suggestion that you want the Editorial Board to consider, email it to Editor Lois Clermont at letters@pressrepublican.com.
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