So, What Happened?

DeSoto Sun's John Lawhorne reports Arcadia City Council listened to a lot of negative feedback from locals about tent sales by out-of-town auto dealers last night. Nowhere in the story does our crafty reporter report what the council actually did or didn't do. Was this a discussion-only session? Was there a motion? Was there comment from the councilmembers? Readers would like to know. A real reporter might have crafted a little line: Councilmembers took no action. Tucking the info into the lead would vastly improve the news value of the story.

Real Editors Keep The Paper From Looking Stoopid ...
And one would certainly have been happy to review this mess, we're sure:

Local woman nominated for Animal Planet's Hero of the Year

By Rick Kingston co-founder of Puffy Paws Kitty Haven.

Chrissy Kingston lives with more than 100 kitties in her Englewood home. She is just not another crazy cat lady, but the co-founder of Puffy Paws Kitty Haven.

PPKH, is a 2,800-square-foot, nonprofit, free-roaming, cage-less, no-kill haven for unwanted kitties for life. Chrissy has rescued and acquired unwanted kitties that have physical, emotional and behavioral problems since 1997. Her mission is to contribute to a better life for unwanted and homeless kitties, to protect them from neglect and cruelty, and to provide a safe haven for them in a no-kill environment until secure, permanent, loving and responsible homes can be found. More than 20 kitties have found fur-ever homes because of her work.

All this makes for a great press release, but behind the scene is a different story.

Most shelters who have this many kitties does it with a paid staff and host of volunteers. Chrissy takes cares of the kitties' daily needs by her self [sic] -- cleaning up, feeding and taking care of the cat boxes. She takes no salary. Chrissy goes on three to four hours sleep a night. She scoops and puts out more than a 1,000 pounds of litter a week by her self. The garbage man curses at her every trash day.

The local media loves her and her home, because when you walk in her home you cannot smell a cat. Chrissy hands suffer from chemical burns from the bleach she uses to clean up after the kitties who go outside their box. Most places would have put down the those kitties, but not Chrissy. Chrissy puts the kitties first and her last. She needs to see the dentist and doctors, which she has not seen in years due the cost of the kitties. She emotionally breaks down every now and then and that is due to her workload. Sometimes we have a volunteer help out, but they do not stay around.

Chrissy never woke up and said, "Cats, that's where the money is." It was more like fate has put her into a spot in life to take care of the unwanted kitties of the world with little recognition and rewards in return. Her only reward is that in her heart, she knows everyday she saved another kitty and that what makes up her inner strength to go on another day.

To see Chrissy life's work, go to www.puffypawskittyhaven.com or call 941-473-5406 to set up a time to come on over and see the kitties.

No Staff Writer was Bothered in the Composition of This Story -- or the irrelevant headline.