LONG BEACH RECREATION DOG PARK ASSN.
NEWS FOR 2005

Last updated Sept. 30, 2005

Sept. 30, 2005

Sale: FouOur fall garage sale enriched our treasury by about $600, according to Treasurer Fred Nicas. The Sept. 17 sale at Jim Walters's home in Long Beach's Carson Park neighborhood, had an ample supply of merchandise. Those who contributed items for the sale included:

May 15, 2005

Election: Four members will be running for the four openings on the Board of Directors. All four -- Rosecarrie Brooks, Ray King, Clair McDowell and Fred Nicas -- are incumbents. Ballots will be mailed to members on June 13.

March 15, 2005

Lights! Camera! Action!: The association is planning for a movie outing later in July when "Must Love Dogs" premieres. Scenes from the romantic comedy -- starring Diane Lane, pictured at left, Elizabeth Perkins, John Cusack, Christopher Plummer, Stockard Channing and Dermot Mulroney -- were filmed at the Dog Park last fall. Based on Claire Cook's 2002 novel of the same name, the story concerns a young woman whose family enrolls her in a number of online dating services after she swears off men; the one prerequisite: They must love dogs. Warner Bros. studios donated $1,500 to the association, above the on-location fees it paid to the city of Long Beach.

NOTE: The premiere date has been moved up from August to late July

Feb. 26, 2005

Ice Dogs night: Twenty-one members and their friends watched the Ice Dogs' struggle to come back against the Idaho steelheads come up short. The local hockey franchise lost to the visitors, 2-1. After a scoreless first period, Idaho found the net twice within 64 seconds; Joe Cardarelli finally put the Ice Dogs on the board with a goal at 13:32 of the second period, but that was as close as the locals could get. The Ice Dogs record slips to 34-16-5. Attendance for the game was 7,447 -- the biggest crowd in the last three years. The outing raised about $200 for the association.

Feb. 21, 2005

Timber!: Another diseased eucalyptus tree has fallen at the Dog Park. This one, located at the lowest point of the park where rainwater collects, came down after its root system became weakened. The tree took out a section of the fence, which is scheduled to be replaced this year, and may have smashed the control box to the park's sprinkler system. If your dog is a runner, we suggest you skip the dog park until the fence can be mended. City crews will cut up and haul away the tree once the ground becomes dry enough to support trucks that can do the job. Long Beach, currently on track to have its wettest rain season in recorded history, has coped with numerous tree uprootings, street flooding and power outages over the past few months.

UPDATE: The tree was cut up and the fence was patched on March 21.

Feb. 19, 2005

Attacked dogs assisted: The Board of Directors voted in February to give $500 to help disabled Long Beach resident Mary Isabel with her vet bills after her three silky terriers were attacked with cinder blocks in her fenced front yard on Feb. 5. One of the dogs, "Summer," was killed; "Harry" suffered a leg wound; "Al," a therapy dog, hasn't been the same. "Harry," a show dog, has an 11-pound brace to hold his leg bones in place. The brace has to be changed twice a week to reduce the chance of infection. See the Press-Telegram story. The association's A-to-Z Fund was established in 2002 to assist a Long Beach family whose dogs were shot in retaliation for assisting police investigating drug deals. The association collected about $6,000 to assist the Garcia family in 2002. A surplus of donations enabled us to establish the Adabisi-Zoeie Emergency Animal Assistance Fund, which can be used in extraordinary cases of animal cruelty. If you'd care to contribute to the fund, write a tax-deductible check to Recreation Dog Park Assn., put "A-to-Z Fund" on the memo line and send it to us: P.O. Box 8337, Long Beach CA 90808.

News for 2004