Ocooch Mountain Humane Society

On this portion of the morning show, we have some local music to share with you.

Elise Becker is in to talk about an upcoming CD release party.

Good morning, Elise.

Good morning.

Thank you for having me.

Tell us a little bit about yourself if you would.

Well, I'm actually

I graduated in original center, so class of 06.

So it's really nice to actually be back here and sitting with someone whose voice was a big part of my upbringing.

And I've been living in Verroqua up there for the last nine years or so.

And planned music quite a bit recently and recently released a CD.

work at a record store up there called Bad Axe Music and just enjoying family and life and living here in the Driftless.

Music's always been a part of your life?

Yeah, pretty much.

I've been writing songs.

Music was like deeply embedded in my family and I've been writing songs since I was a kid and picked up a guitar at 12 and never really put it down so.

My goodness, do you remember the first song that you ever wrote?

It was something my sister Kate and I were having like a songwriting contest and

I wrote this very cheesy song called Katie the kitten.

That was probably it.

Then I decided that it wasn't good enough and I tried to trade her for her song.

So it's not on the new CD release, I guess.

That one didn't make the

cut.

Tell me about the writing process.

How do you, how do you write songs at least?

Uh, that's interesting.

I don't actually know.

I mean, I think it just, and I've heard other artists say this that it kind of,

beams down sometimes and just comes, it hits you like a lightning bolt.

I'll be sitting down with the guitar and usually it starts with the guitar part first and then I'll hear a melody and then the song kind of cascades into my head and in about an hour or two it's usually done.

So it's kind of nice that way, the way it works, but it's unpredictable.

So there's not really like a step by step process.

It just kind of happens.

I've heard other artists say that or sometimes one that they'll, they'll put away in a notebook and then discover it like months later and then all of a sudden that happens too.

They'll finish it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Just out of, out of the blue, you'll be able to, oh, that piece.

Okay.

I was missing that piece, like a puzzle and be able to put it where it belongs and then it's done.

So.

How would you describe your, your style or, you know, what you try to put out there?

Oh, that's a good question.

I would say it's, it's very folky.

Um, I wouldn't say Americana.

It's not quite country enough to be that in like that area.

I'd say it's mostly like it's a folky singer, songwriter, acoustic style.

Yeah.

So the next question is influences

influences.

Um, probably Tracy Chapman was a big one.

her songwriting in particular growing up had a really big impact on me.

But then I listened to everything and so I feel like a magpie just kind of like took little bits and pieces.

Chris Cornell from the band Audio Slave was a big one when I was a teenager and his voice really I think shaped the way that I sang too.

Um, not really sure.

I mean, I guess that's up to the listener to if they can pick out maybe what my influences were.

They're probably right.

Well, let's see about that.

You brought, you brought a guitar with you.

Just conveniently over there in the corner.

I

did.

And I promise I'm taking care of it even though I banged it on the table.

Oh, yeah.

This is a breed love that I got from Ted Parish recently at Parish Music in Verlaco.

It's just beautiful.

I love it.

Um, and so this song

I wrote for my music friends and all of the local singer, songwriter, live musicians that I know just kind of an appreciation.

It's called Honey.

And this is on my new

CD.

oh my goodness gracious beautiful way sis with that boy sweet as honey songbird in the air nothing can compare your worth more than the whole world's money just to hear that sweet voice even brings the bees joy pour it on their warm sweet honey every word you say if you sing it in that way yeah you can make

Grace Cassani Pour it on me You can take your time I will be here by your side I'm melting just like wax before you

You soothing every sore spot, smoothing every course, not leaning with my whole soul toward you.

Every word you sing, simply let it ring out with that voice, sweet as honey.

Every word you say, if you sing it in that way, yeah, you can make up gray skies, honey.

And it puts a smile on my face Honey makes sweet all the bitter And it keeps me warm in the winter Honey with this golden beauty Brings the memory back to me Memories of a sweet beginning Honey won't you please keep singing?

Oh,

I like it.

Elise Becker.

Thank you.

I couldn't help but smile when you were singing that.

That's the point.

Mission accomplished.

Yeah.

That was my retreat recently with some of the music I've heard coming out, especially the country males.

Like it sounds like everybody's depressed.

You know, it's once in a while good to hear somebody that's actually got a bright outlook on something.

Thanks.

Yeah.

I mean that's what I learned kind of halfway through the songwriting process is that like we have enough depressing songs and it really is helpful.

I just wanted to like bring something of value that would maybe like uplift and so I really tried to start tapping into more uplifting and positive songs so I'm glad to hear that.

It's working.

Yeah, it definitely is and that's on the new CD.

How many tracks are on there?

Seven.

So it's more of an EP than an album.

And then I have a cover on there of Angel from Montgomery.

That's my own composition of that John Prine song and then a cover of Walls by Tom Petty.

oh okay interesting so it's been how long has it been in the making then Elise

a long time i did it kind of piecemeal and so it was a lot a lot longer than some of my peers um can put albums out it was like two years i think um so it's been a long time coming um just glad that it's done and now i'm on to the next one so

yeah

Promoting the new one, but always looking ahead.

I think that's kind of the way it goes in that field.

Do you ever have co-writing with people?

Um, I

I think that happened a lot in the studio.

I recorded the album out at Azel Valley studio with a guy called Sean Traskowski and he was actually pretty wonderful in helping me kind of fine tune the songs and when I brought them to him he has this incredible ear for harmonies and

production.

And so I feel like that was the closest I've come so far to co-writing.

But a lot of the sound on the album, I can attribute to him and his ear and his talent too.

When you put songs out there, it's kind of like you get maybe a delayed response from the public.

When you're playing out live, it's kind of instantaneous.

So it's kind of a little bit different feeling, isn't it?

Yeah, it is.

I'm surprised at how

how different it is to have published work out there compared to people hearing you live.

And I think that there's a different kind of appreciation for the consistency of the sound when you properly and professionally go to record an album.

And just all of the little details that you put into it along the way, I think,

I didn't realize how appreciated they would be but so far from the response I've heard they really are and so it's been very encouraging.

When are you going to get the vinyl version out?

No.

So you can sell it at Bad Axe Music.

You're right.

I've heard that's kind of costly to do that.

Yeah, I've heard it too.

I wonder about the um since it was such a short album um just seven songs I didn't want to go through the process of making you know all that

You know, I think this next album that I record is going to be more along the lines of 13, 14 songs.

And I might just do a vinyl version of that, too.

There you go.

Or you could do a Lee Specker's Greatest Hits and put a double album set.

Would you sing another one for

us?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Although I have to apologize.

I said I was trying to keep things light.

This one is a bit of a sadder song, but it's kind of a centerpiece on the album, so nice to play it.

It's called Leave No

Stone.

things along will you leave something small behind just in case we would change our mind were we face to face one more time we just might when you go will I hold my intention strong will I lay off that gosh darn phone will I leave

Text so long Will I take steps to hold my own?

I don't know Even though it got bad And signs pointed to an eventual eruption You're the best friend I've had I'm sad, I'm just sad But I can't tell you any of this So when you go Will you burn that bridge, baby?

Leave no stone I will turn them all Just to find some way to reconnect We're no good for each other We won't last another year Not getting left or dead So when you go Will you get out of my head?

I don't know Why I'm so darn emotional

I was so sure we could go Fell relief as I watched you go Now I'm wondering why I am so, so forgetful I don't know if I'll ever do this thing right

Can I

ever refuse a fight?

I will spar with that monster hide

And forget he's got another side every time Even though we got bad signs pointed to What a mutual destruction You're the sweetest I've had I'm sad I'm just sad But I can't tell you any of this So when you go Will you burn that bridge beyond

Leave no stone I will turn them all Just to find some way to reconnect We're no good for each other We won't last another year Not getting left for dead So when you go Will you get out of my hand?

Send it all Up in flames Till not one

Once no doubt remains Turn around Walk away We'll forget this love someday When you go Will you burn that bridge behind you When I look back Leave no stone I will flip everyone Just to find some way to reconnect

Very

nice.

Elise Becker on WRC OFM and Richland Center.

Thanks.

Yeah.

You kind of, when you sing, you kind of, you close your eyes, you kind of go to a different space, don't

you?

Yeah, just tapped in.

Yeah.

Let the song kind of take, take over.

A bit, yeah.

I'd like to train myself to open my eyes a little bit more, especially playing live.

You want to be able to connect with people.

True.

But on the radio, it doesn't matter.

I suppose not.

Are you a fan of words and phrases?

Because there are some phrases in there.

Mutual destruction, I wrote that down too.

I mean, some things that you think about when you're writing songs,

lyrics.

Yeah, I think it's so fun to play with words.

part of the most fun part of the songwriting process for me is playing with words like puzzle pieces and just trying to see what fits.

And yeah, I just think language is so beautiful and wonderful.

It's amazing.

I was a fan of a lot of the 70s and 80s singer songwriters.

Dan Fogelberg is one that comes to mind, but I remember a line in one of his songs, leader of the band, a thundering velvet hand, you know, some things that shouldn't

go together, but they work.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

That's interesting imagery too.

I love that when it can evoke such a strong image in your mind.

It's lovely.

Beautiful.

Good

stuff.

Do you have a family in the area that are fans?

I sure do.

Well, there's something that aren't.

Yeah,

probably, as everyone does.

But my mom Kim Mindum and dad Andrew Sharp

who are incredibly talented artists in their own right in theater, and my mom has really taken off with painting and collage work and everything.

They've probably been the biggest supporters of me playing music and the reason that I'm here now, and probably the reason that I'm still going, their encouragement and support means the world to me.

And my sister Kate, who also lives in Baroque,

has been incredibly supportive.

My mom and sister, who are both artists, did the album art on the front cover of the CD, and so that's been really nice.

And yeah, lots of different family members.

Adopted family members in the area too, you know,

yeah, definitely you had no choice But I mean you know to go into the arts because of all of that family background.

Yeah, I really was forced into

it So you're already working on the next album are there are there some goals down the road at least some things that that you'd like to accomplish

I think so.

I mean, I think I've really

been pretty provincial and kind of stayed in the area because I feel more comfortable with that, but I'd really like to start branching out and playing more regionally and maybe stretch out a little bit farther.

So that's the goal for the next year.

So to reach out of the local community and try to find places to play that are a little outside my comfort zone and grow a bit.

Yeah, there are goods and bads with with socials and things like that.

But the good is that people can discover your music from all over the region, all over the world.

That's

true.

Right.

Yeah, I sometimes take that for granted, but I think that's that's an incredible gift that we have now.

And you can hear other artists and kind of see what they're doing and videos.

That's actually how I met my friend.

Her name is Whitney Rose.

I definitely recommend.

Checking her music out We were kind of mutually following each other online following each other's music and mutually admiring But we lived pretty far apart and then she moved to the area over the summer and we started playing together and so that's kind of a collaboration that started online and then Progress from there.

It was really nice.

Have you been playing out with some other artists too from time to time?

Yeah in the area

There's a very talented musician named Dylan Harris, and he's playing everywhere now.

He's just one of those people that...

has a knack for connecting folks and he started doing something really unique to this area and traveling to different venues and hosting open mics really supportive spaces too.

It's just really nice to go to one of Dylan's open mics and everybody feels super comfortable.

After a while it feels like you're with family and it really has introduced me to a lot of

new friends that I didn't wasn't aware of before and has opened up a lot of opportunities to play with different people.

Yeah.

Any shows coming up in the near future here?

I do have a show on October 2nd.

It's my album release party at Footjoy, Farm and Brewing in Melvina, which is the official address is cashed in, but it's

little ways past cash in up the road

a little

ways and I

always thought it was Melvina, so I'm glad you said that

so I Could very well be wrong.

No,

I'm sure you're right You're cashed in yeah, right.

Well, that's awesome CD release party.

Yeah, people can get it there.

How else can people get your music

online?

online I have The album on Spotify and YouTube music and all those

places.

Um, and also I put, um, new stuff up on Instagram pretty often.

Um, it's slow revolution 22 at, uh, on Instagram and then YouTube slow revolution.

Yeah.

That's where I've got my stuff.

Wonderful.

Good luck to you.

Great to connect with you and keep up the good work.

How about an encore song here, Elise?

Okay.

This is a Tom Petty song.

I'll have your back someday, cause you got a heart so big it could crush this town

Keeps out the dangers And holds in the pain Some days you're happy And some days you cry And part of me is ocean And part of me is sky But you got a heart so big It could crush things

town and I can't hold out forever

even walls fall down

some things are over some things go on

Baby it's gone but you got a heart so big it could crush this town and I can't hold out forever even walls fall down baby you got a heart so big it could crush this town and I can't

Wonderful.

A least Becker.

Good luck to you.

Safe travels.

Thanks so much for having

me.

Again, the CD release party is coming up October 2nd and no,

no,

no, no, near cash done.

All right.

Come back and see us again.

Thanks.

The subject now on WRCO's morning show is the Okuch Mountain Humane Society.

Linda Simmons is back with us and we're going to bring back Dr. Lisa.

It's kind of a blast from the past.

One of the founding members of Okuch.

We'll start with you.

Dr. Lisa, good to see you again.

Good to see you too, Phil.

It's so nice to be here.

Thank you for having me.

You came in today to talk a little bit about maybe the history, the beginnings of Okuch.

Could you do that for us?

Yeah, I would be glad to.

It's surprising.

It was 25 years ago that the birth of the organization took place.

And really, it just kind of started with me and a couple of friends, members of the community, people like Carlotta Heidi and Marilyn Hauck and Judy Loft.

And I'm probably forgetting some names that we were

concerned about the health and welfare of animals in this community and you know as working as a veterinarian at Richland Veterinary Service and saw many many times when there were stray animals and we had there just was really not a great situation no outlet for those critters to be cared for besides

You know some random person that might want to take them in you know or or the veterinarian that might want to take them home I mean I had I had plenty of animals that I took home and raised along with You know some of our technicians and our assistants that we had So we were just kind of brainstorming it like what do what do we do?

How can we how can we make this place better?

How can how can we meet this need and and You know all of us were just like well

let's just form our own humane society, why not?

Because Richland County did not have that kind of a thing.

There was a one small organization that was doing some things with cats, but it wasn't very effective at the time.

And so we figured we were all smart women, we'd get together and let's figure this out.

And so that's what we did and we incorporated and we started small.

with just foster homes and who, you know, things that we could do on a personal level.

And we knew that there would need to be funds that were raised to continue to help out in many ways.

And we, so we were working on fundraising and putting animals that, you know, that needed adoption up for

for people to view and we started adopting critters.

We did dogs and cats at the time and we had just kind of this growing success and it felt like many in the community were really behind it and came along and helped us.

We even had small little buildings, like eventually we got to Schmidt Woodland Hills, allowed us to use the back little garage, turned it into a makeshift shelter at the time for kitty cats.

Marilyn and Judy even used one of their houses on a farm nearby to them where they housed kitty cats and that were kind of a makeshift shelter at the time and so that's you know kind of how it started and I think we

had the dream of a shelter, a more sustained, bigger place, but knew that was kind of far in the future.

Linda, as you've listened to this too, you know, you got to be proud of the tradition.

You've not been around all the 25 years, but you know.

No, I've only lived here about 20 years.

So I'm a new timer, right?

Anyhow, I became involved with Okuch probably 15 years ago through Animal House and got to know the people and loved the organization and what it stood for and that it thought about the future of the organization.

You know, having something in the bank in case something went wrong with the building, you know, so it was a sustainable organization and I liked that and I felt that was something that I could invest my time and money in.

And there were so many people, so many, like I read the names off at the last meeting that we had of the different people that were so invested in the organization that they bequeathed funds to the organization to continue the organization's goals and to make it sustainable.

Just to chime in here.

you mentioned the last meeting, and it actually is on our website.

Oh, is

it?

Okay, cool.

I didn't realize that it was.

You can see Dr.

Lisa.

Dr. Lisa, so you don't live in the area anymore, but why did you choose to kind of stay connected and help out?

Well, I have been a lifetime member.

I got the lifetime membership way back when, but yeah, I mean, I've always been

Richland Center is near and dear to my heart for so many reasons.

I lived and

worked here for 15 years and made so many so many good friends and and acquaintances and I've always been impressed with the community's generosity and the bringing together of things and and and again I saw that with with the organization itself excuse me that

People care so much about critters that they're willing to spend their time and their money and investment in caring for those that are less fortunate.

And yeah, so it's just always been something near and dear to my heart.

And when I found that there was some transition happening and some struggle happening,

I was, you know, even though I live a little bit of ways away, I was like, okay, what can I do as a veterinarian?

Well, how can I come in and how can I come and help even though I haven't been here day to day on a regular basis?

So some questions have come up and I know you guys were here earlier this year, Linda.

Um, and so, you know, some questions they've been thrown out there, I guess, uh, social media and whatnot.

You wanted to address some of those today.

For instance, about the board, you guys have kind of stepped forward recently.

Right.

Uh, everybody wants to know where were we before June 15th when the shelter manager's position was terminated.

Um, and, um,

We just have to, it suggests that since the board wasn't on top of it, then how can we be a confident board to lead?

And it can be hard to understand.

I think our main problem was that we trusted too much in how the shelter would be run.

And so we focused on fundraising and relied on reports about how the shelter was doing.

One of us was actually working in the shelter, so we had hands-on experience

But we were thinking about financial stewardship.

We knew that to support the building and to support our staff and to support the animals and make sure that they didn't ever ever go hungry, that we had to take funding that we weren't using and invest it.

So it's a very strong organization financially.

But we kept the books and we kept focus that way and that was an error.

I think

You know, some decisions were made by the former manager that put the organization in sustainability in Jeopardy.

We noticed that there were too many cats coming into the shelter and not leaving the shelter.

Or if they were leaving the shelter, they were replaced by other animals.

Now our shelter holds...

88.

88

is the capacity for the HVAC system, air quality, health of the critters.

Right.

But we were finding that there were, just at a quick count, 150 cats in the shelter, plus about 35 cats in what we call our sanctuary, which is another part of the building.

And so that was going to be too much.

And then there was a hoarding situation.

And before we knew it, we had close to 200 cats in the shelter that was designed for 88.

And that's when the board stepped in and said, OK, let's halt.

Let's not take any more cats

in

until we get down to our optimal number for the health and safety of the cats.

And that's when everything blew apart.

And we had people upset with us on Facebook and that kind of thing.

And so then the board had to look at our bylaws, look at our policies, that kind of thing.

And that's when we got started.

In the meantime, we did try to continue communicating with the shelter manager to see if we can come to some agreement.

And that took us probably four or five months before we decided that.

It just could not go any further.

What's the cat number like now as we

speak here?

I'm so glad you asked.

Let me see if I can find that.

Put me

on the spot here, Linda.

No, that's fine.

I asked.

I asked because I can't remember numbers really well.

Okay, so we were down to 99 cats in the shelter.

But that's up to 101 because someone came back and returned their cats to us and we have a policy if if you adopt the cat from us and you can't keep it It comes back to us and so they came back.

I will say the the young man whose whose cats they are he loves them You couldn't keep them in the apartment and he comes back like every week to visit them.

You know, so it's real touching So we have the 9901 cats in the shelter and then in our

Sanctuary, that's where the cats have been staying for quite a while because they're scared.

They probably came from a farm somewhere.

A little less social.

But they're beautiful cats.

And there's 23 there now.

There used to be 35.

So

you're making progress?

We're making progress.

We're almost there.

When we get down to 88, that probably means that we have our intake rooms are open.

So we can take in new cats because for a while they need to be isolated and not with the general population.

And that's what we're hoping to get to.

The other question, obviously, when things like this happen, you kind of have to look at yourselves a little bit as well.

Are there some things that, as a board, you looked at as like, well, we can improve in this area or that area?

Yeah.

We asked more and more questions of ourselves.

And how did this happen?

We actually did hire a consultant to work with us to take a look at our policies and develop policies that were in line with what today is.

Social media, all that kind of stuff, because that wasn't in our old bylaws.

I don't know why you guys didn't do that.

25 years ago, probably not.

So we really did dig into all of those policies.

And as we did that hostility,

increased.

And so it took us some time to understand exactly what was happening.

And it took us some time to realize that a separate organization had developed that was against the philosophy of the founded Okuch from way back when.

There's sort of a rescue.

foundation and there's a sort of a humane foundation and we've always been a humane society.

And a rescue is different.

They take in everything and anything sometimes.

Not a bad thing and we need to work together for sure.

But we're not a rescue organization.

We can't overpopulate the building because it's not healthy for the cats.

You want to say something?

Yeah, I just want to, I'm just looking again at that history, you know, back 25 years ago, there was a cat overpopulation problem.

And many, many people I think, you know, as they come up and as they mature and they, you know, come into the working world or into the humane world and they think, oh, this is a new problem.

This is, we've got a cat overpopulation problem.

or a dog overpopulation problem or those kind of things.

I can assure you 25 years ago that is one of the reasons that we started the organization was because we realized that there was a cat overpopulation problem.

And we wanted to continue to work on education of the public about spaying and neutering and all of those kind of things.

And to be a part, we wanted to be a part

part of the solution.

I don't know if you, you know, I have, over my 36 year career, I have seen an explosion of rescue organizations, both for cats and for dogs.

And so it doesn't mean that we've, it doesn't mean that we failed.

It just means it's just an indicator that the cat and dog overpopulation problem continues.

And that,

you know, we just all need to work together in the same direction to be a part of that solution.

We want, O'Kooch Mountain Humane Society wants to be able to be a helper for

kitties in particular in this shelter to be able to that are stray or unwanted or having a difficult time to be able to have a stopover get healthy and happy and to be able to find their forever home.

That is the goal of the organization to be part of that as I like to call it that cat redistribution system that is working very well.

And since your time, I can remember that you did have a trap neuter release program.

We did.

And it was starting to work.

And then the

funding stopped

right and

that's right but since that time there's other programs that have come into being like the farm program and the working cat program and they seem to be successful too so there are things that we can do the community just has to know about them

right

and so

What that's our kind of like our next steps is to work with the community to educate them about the programs and to use some of our funding to support that and also increase embrace other funds to do that working with rescue organizations

There's many barns anymore.

So there's many barn

cats, right?

They're in your garage

Yes, there's

not as many of those.

But there's still many, many cats.

Yes,

there's still many

cats.

And the other thing, someone came up the other day at our meeting that we had and said that we should actually reach out to the Amish population as well, because

they're

getting lots of cats coming into their property from the Amish properties.

So that might be a...

a future direction to go to.

Yeah

and for me as a veterinarian that's one of those things that I'm sort of kind of keen on being focused on to try and help the organization move forward with is working with what kind of spay neuter programs can we do.

How can we get out to the communities that need that and to help again to continue to work on that cat over population problem.

I don't

I don't personally believe we will ever solve it, this side of heaven, but we want to continue to work on it because we, the O'Cooch Mountain Humane Society, the members are compassionate people who care about animals and care about, and also care about people.

Andy, well, I think you had made progress some years ago, right, on spay and neutering.

Absolutely.

You had the word out there and things like that.

Yeah, we had a voucher program.

Yeah.

So those are things we all want to get back to.

You have to do the day-to-day stuff of taking care of the cats and feeding and watering and making sure that they're healthy.

And then you got the other things on the other side where working behind the scenes

and

to implement those programs.

Yeah, for I think every person that's working in the shelter to take care of the cats in the shelter, there's three people behind them if this is all gonna work.

Yeah,

exactly.

And so we need critical mass.

I mean, it's easy to be an armchair.

Quarterback and say you should do this this and this and this but we need people who are who are actually interested in the work and and in contributing and We welcome welcome those folks to come in and work

alongside of us.

Good way to give back to the community.

That's for sure As far as you know as we look at the organization today now, it's been a rough year I know but but how do you how do you feel?

What's the strength of the organization?

Do you think it's strong?

I do.

After the last meeting that we had with the membership, they gave us lots of good ideas, lots of positive information and feedback.

We have a board that's really dedicated to taking this into the next phase.

The building has been cleaned and repairs made and the cats are getting much, much more friendly.

And in fact, we're feeling so positive that we're going to have our first open house on the 29th from five to seven.

Public is welcome to come in and see what we've done and see the kitties.

And so we're excited about that.

Because we haven't

had

open hours since COVID,

right?

Since

COVID,

yes.

Which is a long time.

I

mean, I

think it's a good opportunity for the public to come and see what's

really been

happening, the hard work, and to give us some feedback.

Right, exactly.

Give us their comments and their future.

goals for the community and the cat population and that kind of thing.

And how can we expand our foster dog program?

We actually have a foster dog program.

Also to consider them being fosters for cats and that way we don't have, we have more cats that we couldn't.

Can I take care of?

Tell

us a little bit more about the open house then, the hours and what you're planning that

day.

Okay, I've got a poster right here.

It's on the 29th from five to seven and just come to the shelter, park anywhere that you can and come on in.

And we'll take you for a tour of the shelter.

You might even be able to pet a couple of cats, you know, play with the kitties.

Depends on how many people come in all at one time.

And then you're welcome back.

as well.

We're planning on having other open hours for adoptions and that kind of thing.

So we're beginning to open up now that the shelter is back in shape.

A little bit more manageable.

Yeah, I think we talked about potentially doing some Tuesday night open off-sours like from five to seven p.m.

again kind of opposite of when the

the board meetings, you know, the city and county board meetings are so that people can be a part of that.

Also looking at weekends coming up.

Are

you?

Yeah.

Well, I think it's important for the public to know that when you're open or if you're open and those kinds of things, they can come see for themselves.

So we'll take a little break and be back with more in a moment.

Linda Simmons and Dr. Lisa in the studio with us today, talking about a little Couch Mountain Humane Society.

We'll have more in just a moment.

On our morning show today, we're putting the focus on Okuch Mountain Humane Society.

Linda Simmons is here.

Dr. Lisa as well is back in the studio with us.

Linda, as we get back to it, transparency has been one of the words that's been brought up in terms of people that may be critiquing what has gone on.

Could you maybe address that a little

bit for us?

Yeah.

We've actually talked to members about what transparency is.

It seems that it's more about being responsive and engaged.

And, you know, we've never hid any information.

It's always been there.

So it was really important for us to understand what people were really saying.

What is kind of the silver lining for all of this is that now there are more members engaged in what we're doing.

than there ever has been.

I can remember some board meetings where the only people there were the board members, and now we're getting 10, 15, up to 40 people coming.

I think at our membership meeting that we held just recently there were, you said 63.

63,

something

like that.

63 members there.

That was exciting.

The question and answer period was

very informative.

So we thank everybody that came to that.

We hope that that continues because that feedback is really, really important to us.

We do get emails from people with questions and ideas.

That's been very helpful.

Please keep those coming in.

And we're hearing from people who believe in the organization as it was meant to be.

just as you discussed it, Dr. Lisa.

And that's very positive.

It's kind of hard for a board to work if they don't know where their members want us to go, and they want it to be as it was originally designed.

So transparency has been a word that's been tossed around, and I think that we're getting a handle on what it means to be transparent, responsible.

And one of those things has been long-standing that also enhances transparency has been the newsletter.

And the newsletter has been a mainstay for the organization for a long, long time.

I mean, the whole time.

From the very beginning.

From the very beginning.

And so that's one of the key ways that we try and share information with the organization.

And I know the people that have worked on the newsletter have been very diligent about trying to get as much information that the members would want to hear in those newsletters.

So that's a very positive thing as

well.

You know, Facebook, we have been trying to increase our Facebook presence so that there again is another opportunity for transparency.

We're trying to put more.

animals that are in need of adoption with their biographies or videos of the kitty cats playing information about our upcoming events and those kind of things.

Yeah, so just trying to increase that presence as well.

Exactly, and it's one of our new policies.

We have a Facebook policy.

That's positive.

And our goal is to keep our Facebook on the

positive side of what it is that we do and what this community is about.

We try not to be on the negative side.

Who doesn't like cute cat videos,

right?

To hear about adoptions.

That just touches our heart.

We've done a couple of adoptions, but most of our adoptions have been done through our many partners, other humane societies.

And they email us and show us pictures of the kitties that get adopted.

And that means something to us, because they've found a home.

Could you talk about your service area?

Is it just Richland County?

It's Richland County area.

We took a vote on that at our member meeting and that was the biggest vote.

It was Richland County area.

Now that might mean that we can go over in Muscaday, you know.

So we need to pin that down just a little teeny bit.

The other thing I think that might might lend itself toward transparency in a certain sense is the

is the number of partnerships that have been formed just in this recent transition period between us and other shelters.

You know those we went down from 216 to 124 cats.

We didn't just kick them out the door

We

partnered with we partnered with other organizations throughout the state that had opportunities for critters to be adopted and and many of them have Have gone that particular way and and adopted to other people here locally, right?

Well, you live in a bigger community too.

Is it, you know, typical for a town this size to have an organization like this?

Do most towns have them?

Lisa?

No,

I

don't

think so.

I don't think so either.

I mean, I think that's one of the unique things about original center and that we do.

And that's why it just

We really all need to work together in a positive direction to continue the good work that has been done and all the people in the past that have invested in that and over the years.

It's a good organization to continue.

I think that Richland County would be much poorer if for some reason it was not there.

And financially was.

I totally agree.

Yeah.

Financial wise, you're all right, you're stable, the building is good and everything.

Our building is solid and we have any monies that weren't spent during a month or a year were actually invested so that they would grow and that growth has given us the backdrop to feel sustainable.

And that's really important because you never know when the plumbing is going to go or anything like that.

Well, don't talk about the roof.

Don't jinx anything.

But it gives our members a positive feeling that we're going to be here for a while.

And we always are thinking about the future and sustainability.

So that's very important to us.

And just a shout out to all of the community businesses who have supported us with things like washing machines, fixing toilets, the plumbing.

It's been fantastic.

It takes a lot of money to feed each and every day, right?

Yeah, we won't talk about that.

No, it does.

It really does.

And not to mention the litter.

Food and litter,

and then the biggest, the other biggest expense, unfortunately, is veterinary care.

And the more crowded, the more crowded that you have a situation, the sicker the animals are going to be.

And so therefore, your costs go up even further.

And so that's also part of the sustainability is we're trying to have the number of cats be what the building is rated for, for the health.

for the air quality, health of the individuals, decrease in transmission of disease between the animals, and frankly, for the health of the people who are working there.

Because if you have an overcrowded situation, if the air quality is not good for the cats, it is not good for the humans as well.

So this is, I mean, it's a twofold thing.

It's not like we're trying to, we're just,

taking care of cats and we don't care about humans, we care about humans too.

In the beginning, after June 15th, there were a lot of sick cats.

And it took us a while to get that number down so they weren't passing diseases between them.

And we still have some legacy cats that are being treated medically for things that they may have picked up in the shelter or brought with them.

So as soon as we can get that down,

We'll feel a lot better.

What about leadership moving forward?

What's the plan in terms of is there a manager or what's what's the

That's the other thing that the board looked at over the past five months is What kind of staff do we really need for the shelter and we have realized that we need a half-time business manager just to take care of some of the like the billing and the

media websites and all that kind of thing so that the board doesn't have to do that nor does the shelter manager have to do it.

We have it also going to have a shelter operations person who would be responsible for animal care and intake and that kind of thing.

So we have two positions that will be opening up.

And the board is currently looking at

creating job descriptions for those kind of things and checks and balances parameters around those so that everybody's working together.

So that we can have a stable foot forward.

And we do have the job descriptions.

We just have to go through them and make sure that they're okay.

Well, it's a positive thing moving forward.

Anything you either you'd like to add here today, you know, that maybe we haven't discussed, we haven't talked about.

You like the community to know.

Well, I know how to scoop litter.

I knew that before because I have

cats.

The scoop on the morning show.

Right, right.

Let's see.

Well, can I get contact information?

Absolutely.

Okay What I like to tell people is not just to rely on type going to the You know your webpage and typing in a coach and getting the first thing that comes up because the old website still comes up It won't have the new information on it.

So For right now, I understand that you have to type HTTPS, you know the colon and the backslashes a coach mountain humane society org

And that should take you to our new website, which should have information on it that you would find informational and kind of exciting.

But it's still under construction, so just keep going back.

You'll see new things coming up.

And we also have an email account.

It's omhs2026am at gmail.com.

And just give us two days to respond.

And there's also phone number 608-475-9964.

Calls without a message won't be responded to, but if you leave a message, we will get back to you in two days.

Good to know.

That sounds good.

And in terms of when you meet, if somebody's interested, do you have a regular monthly meeting schedule then?

We usually meet on the second Wednesday of each month.

And it's usually at the hospital.

put it on your web, on your, your site.

So I know we

run the sponsor by strings.

In fact, do you still do pets of the month or pets of the week or anything

like that?

Yes, we do.

That's, that's in the shopping news.

Right.

And

that's

always good to see too.

Yeah.

Meet those animals in person.

Well, Dr. Lisa, really good to see you

again.

Thank you.

It's been good to be here.

Yeah.

Anything you'd like to say in, in parting?

It means a lot to you that you came here.

Yeah.

I just, uh, you know, I just,

I want to say I continue to be impressed with Richland Center and the community's generosity and working together.

And I just ask that we would do the same, that we would give grace to one another and that we would work together in the same direction for the benefit of the animals in this community.

And we'd love to have you join us in the work.

Wonderful.

Dr. Lisa is joining us today on WRC radio along with Linda Simmons and we're talking about Okuch Mountain Humane Society.

We'll have more coming up on the morning show.

The subject now on WRCO's morning show is the Okuch Mountain Humane Society.

Linda Simmons is back with us and we're going to bring back Dr. Lisa.

It's kind of a blast from the past.

One of the founding members of Okuch.

We'll start with you.

Dr. Lisa, good to see you again.

Good to see you too, Phil.

It's so nice to be here.

Thank you for having me.

You came in today to talk a little bit about maybe the history, the beginnings of Okuch.

Could you do that for us?

Yeah, I would be glad to.

It's surprising.

It was 25 years ago that the birth of the organization took place.

And really, it just kind of started with me and a couple of friends, members of the community, people like Carlotta Heidi and Marilyn Hauck and Judy Loft.

And I'm probably forgetting some names that we were

concerned about the health and welfare of animals in this community and you know as working as a veterinarian at Richland Veterinary Service and saw many many times when there were stray animals and we had there just was really not a great situation no outlet for those critters to be cared for besides

You know some random person that might want to take them in you know or or the veterinarian that might want to take them home I mean I had I had plenty of animals that I took home and raised along with You know some of our technicians and our assistants that we had So we were just kind of brainstorming it like what do what do we do?

How can we how can we make this place better?

How can how can we meet this need and and You know all of us were just like well

let's just form our own humane society, why not?

Because Richland County did not have that kind of a thing.

There was a one small organization that was doing some things with cats, but it wasn't very effective at the time.

And so we figured we were all smart women, we'd get together and let's figure this out.

And so that's what we did and we incorporated and we started small.

with just foster homes and who, you know, things that we could do on a personal level.

And we knew that there would need to be funds that were raised to continue to help out in many ways.

And we, so we were working on fundraising and putting animals that, you know, that needed adoption up for

for people to view and we started adopting critters.

We did dogs and cats at the time and we had just kind of this growing success and it felt like many in the community were really behind it and came along and helped us.

We even had small little buildings, like eventually we got to Schmidt Woodland Hills, allowed us to use the back little garage, turned it into a makeshift shelter at the time for kitty cats.

Marilyn and Judy even used one of their houses on a farm nearby to them where they housed kitty cats and that were kind of a makeshift shelter at the time and so that's you know kind of how it started and I think we

had the dream of a shelter, a more sustained, bigger place, but knew that was kind of far in the future.

Linda, as you've listened to this too, you know, you got to be proud of the tradition.

You've not been around all the 25 years, but you know.

No, I've only lived here about 20 years.

So I'm a new timer, right?

Anyhow, I became involved with Okuch probably 15 years ago through Animal House and got to know the people and loved the organization and what it stood for and that it thought about the future of the organization.

You know, having something in the bank in case something went wrong with the building, you know, so it was a sustainable organization and I liked that and I felt that was something that I could invest my time and money in.

And there were so many people, so many, like I read the names off at the last meeting that we had of the different people that were so invested in the organization that they bequeathed funds to the organization to continue the organization's goals and to make it sustainable.

Just to chime in here.

you mentioned the last meeting, and it actually is on our website.

Oh, is

it?

Okay, cool.

I didn't realize that it was.

You can see Dr.

Lisa.

Dr. Lisa, so you don't live in the area anymore, but why did you choose to kind of stay connected and help out?

Well, I have been a lifetime member.

I got the lifetime membership way back when, but yeah, I mean, I've always been

Richland Center is near and dear to my heart for so many reasons.

I lived and

worked here for 15 years and made so many so many good friends and and acquaintances and I've always been impressed with the community's generosity and the bringing together of things and and and again I saw that with with the organization itself excuse me that

People care so much about critters that they're willing to spend their time and their money and investment in caring for those that are less fortunate.

And yeah, so it's just always been something near and dear to my heart.

And when I found that there was some transition happening and some struggle happening,

I was, you know, even though I live a little bit of ways away, I was like, okay, what can I do as a veterinarian?

Well, how can I come in and how can I come and help even though I haven't been here day to day on a regular basis?

So some questions have come up and I know you guys were here earlier this year, Linda.

Um, and so, you know, some questions they've been thrown out there, I guess, uh, social media and whatnot.

You wanted to address some of those today.

For instance, about the board, you guys have kind of stepped forward recently.

Right.

Uh, everybody wants to know where were we before June 15th when the shelter manager's position was terminated.

Um, and, um,

We just have to, it suggests that since the board wasn't on top of it, then how can we be a confident board to lead?

And it can be hard to understand.

I think our main problem was that we trusted too much in how the shelter would be run.

And so we focused on fundraising and relied on reports about how the shelter was doing.

One of us was actually working in the shelter, so we had hands-on experience

But we were thinking about financial stewardship.

We knew that to support the building and to support our staff and to support the animals and make sure that they didn't ever ever go hungry, that we had to take funding that we weren't using and invest it.

So it's a very strong organization financially.

But we kept the books and we kept focus that way and that was an error.

I think

You know, some decisions were made by the former manager that put the organization in sustainability in Jeopardy.

We noticed that there were too many cats coming into the shelter and not leaving the shelter.

Or if they were leaving the shelter, they were replaced by other animals.

Now our shelter holds...

88.

88

is the capacity for the HVAC system, air quality, health of the critters.

Right.

But we were finding that there were, just at a quick count, 150 cats in the shelter, plus about 35 cats in what we call our sanctuary, which is another part of the building.

And so that was going to be too much.

And then there was a hoarding situation.

And before we knew it, we had close to 200 cats in the shelter that was designed for 88.

And that's when the board stepped in and said, OK, let's halt.

Let's not take any more cats

in

until we get down to our optimal number for the health and safety of the cats.

And that's when everything blew apart.

And we had people upset with us on Facebook and that kind of thing.

And so then the board had to look at our bylaws, look at our policies, that kind of thing.

And that's when we got started.

In the meantime, we did try to continue communicating with the shelter manager to see if we can come to some agreement.

And that took us probably four or five months before we decided that.

It just could not go any further.

What's the cat number like now as we

speak here?

I'm so glad you asked.

Let me see if I can find that.

Put me

on the spot here, Linda.

No, that's fine.

I asked.

I asked because I can't remember numbers really well.

Okay, so we were down to 99 cats in the shelter.

But that's up to 101 because someone came back and returned their cats to us and we have a policy if if you adopt the cat from us and you can't keep it It comes back to us and so they came back.

I will say the the young man whose whose cats they are he loves them You couldn't keep them in the apartment and he comes back like every week to visit them.

You know, so it's real touching So we have the 9901 cats in the shelter and then in our

Sanctuary, that's where the cats have been staying for quite a while because they're scared.

They probably came from a farm somewhere.

A little less social.

But they're beautiful cats.

And there's 23 there now.

There used to be 35.

So

you're making progress?

We're making progress.

We're almost there.

When we get down to 88, that probably means that we have our intake rooms are open.

So we can take in new cats because for a while they need to be isolated and not with the general population.

And that's what we're hoping to get to.

The other question, obviously, when things like this happen, you kind of have to look at yourselves a little bit as well.

Are there some things that, as a board, you looked at as like, well, we can improve in this area or that area?

Yeah.

We asked more and more questions of ourselves.

And how did this happen?

We actually did hire a consultant to work with us to take a look at our policies and develop policies that were in line with what today is.

Social media, all that kind of stuff, because that wasn't in our old bylaws.

I don't know why you guys didn't do that.

25 years ago, probably not.

So we really did dig into all of those policies.

And as we did that hostility,

increased.

And so it took us some time to understand exactly what was happening.

And it took us some time to realize that a separate organization had developed that was against the philosophy of the founded Okuch from way back when.

There's sort of a rescue.

foundation and there's a sort of a humane foundation and we've always been a humane society.

And a rescue is different.

They take in everything and anything sometimes.

Not a bad thing and we need to work together for sure.

But we're not a rescue organization.

We can't overpopulate the building because it's not healthy for the cats.

You want to say something?