County will take Lincolnton's strays

Columbia County's Animal Care and Control Department will soon get more stray animals, but they won't come from Columbia County.

To help out the city of Lincolnton, Ga., which doesn't have an animal control department, Columbia County commissioners approved an agreement at their Tuesday meeting to allow strays from Lincolnton to be transported to Columbia County's facility.

"They would actually sign them over to us, and it would be up to us as to whether to keep them or not if they are adoptable,'' said Linda Fulmer, the director of Columbia County's Animal Care and Control Department.

Fulmer said the issue came up about a year ago and that now only the signatures of Lincolnton officials are needed to enact the agreement.

"They had some pack-type dogs that were hanging around in the downtown area, and there were some elderly people up there that were scared to get out,'' she said of Lincolnton.

Fulmer said the agreement involves only the city of Lincolnton, not all of Lincoln County. She said it will be up to Lincolnton officials to transport the animals to Columbia County, which will charge $5 to take cats or kittens and $10 to accept dogs or puppies.

A year ago , McDuffie County officials asked Columbia County to offer them a similar service, Fulmer said. However, she said her department didn't have the space to house strays from both McDuffie County and Lincolnton.

Since then, McDuffie County has opened its own shelter.

Fulmer said taking strays from Lincolnton won't place a burden on her department.

In other action at Tuesday's meeting, commissioners took their final vote on a smoking ban for public places, voting in favor of the ban 3-2. The ban, called the Columbia County Smoke Free Air Act of 2004, will go into effect starting Jan. 1.

Commissioners Tommy Mercer, Steve Brown and Ron Cross voted in favor of the ban, while Commissioners Diane Ford and Lee Anderson voted against it.