Life in the "hot zone" -- Sid Kramer helps cool things down

Former County Executive Sid Kramer recalls how the County Animal Shelter came to be air-conditioned.  As he tells it:

"It was 1986 and I was the Montgomery County Executive. At that time, the shelter facility on Rothgeb Drive did not have any air conditioning!  I strongly believed that it was a 'necessity' for the health and well-being of the animals and staff to have AC there so I budgeted for this item in that year's budget.  Working closely with Margaret Zanville, a member of the MCHS Board of Directors at the time, I testified in favor of it at the budget hearings before the County Council.  And to strengthen my point of view, I even invited members of the Council to visit the shelter to see, firsthand, what the conditions were like there in the summertime."

This is a great story with a positive outcome.

"On the basis of my testimony, all seven members of the County Council passed this budget unanimously."

###

50 years ago today, we're legal with the State!

July 7, 1958, could be considered our second birthday. Following creation of our Articles of Incorporation on May 24, 1958, our papers were officially filed at the Statehouse in Annapolis. Technically, we didn't really start using our current name -- the Montgomery County Humane Society -- until 1961, when we became fully independent of The Humane Society of the United States. So we're entitled to have a very long celebration.

Here's to another half-century!