North Adams student is our Citizen of the Week (month & year)

By Rory Ryan
The Highland County Press

Late Saturday afternoon, we had an incident a few hundred feet in front of our home on a rural township road in Adams County, when a motorist hit a dog and kept on driving.

To be clear, I did not see this happen – and probably wouldn't have even known about if not for a very thoughtful and compassionate young lady from North Adams High School.

This young lady walked door-to-door seeking the owner of the injured dog. She came to our door and asked if we had a black and white hound dog. We do not. She then walked further down the road and checked with other neighbors. No one knew the animal.

She and her aunt contacted another neighbor, a young man named David Bullis, who did his best to assist by called the Humane Society, Dog Warden and finally the Adams County Sheriff's Office.

For more than an hour, this young high school student did her best to provide aid to an injured dog that was disabled just a foot or two from the road on my property. She brought water. She provided a blanket for the elderly dog as the evening got cooler.

And she renewed my faith in the kindness and humanity of a generation much younger than mine.

I am told that her given name is Kayde. I have asked a friend and educator at North Adams for her surname. (It may be Mefford, but that is only a guess at this point.)

This young lady deserves a lot of credit for walking alone on a very rural stretch of township roadway, going door-to-door just trying to help a badly injured animal.

Her genuine thoughtfulness for this dog was most impressive. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just cannot imagine too many other folks – of any age – taking the time and going to those lengths to try to help an injured dog.

Sadly, this story does not have a happy ending. After the Adams County Sheriff's Office responded – and a well-meaning deputy made multiple calls for assistance on a Saturday evening, the end was inevitable. I suggested the young lady go back home, and she did with tears in her eyes. My wife immediately agreed that she did not want to witness anything more, either. She was crying as well.

In spite of the unfortunate ending to this column, my thoughts and appreciation go to young Kayde, our neighbors who stopped by to help, and the deputy from the Adams County Sheriff's Office.

You all should be commended for trying. I thank you.

Rory Ryan is publisher and owner of The Highland County Press.