This is a serious warning about a potentially fatal condition seen in dogs who have ingested certain types of raw fish found in the Pacific Northwest. Salmon poisoning is caused by a fluke that carries a bacteria. As much as I carefully watch my border collie, Zadee, when walking by the river, she must have found some. The only symptoms were a couple days of lethargy and one day loss of appetite. It was pouring rain and we couldn’t get much exercise, so I wasn’t too worried. By day three she could barely get up. Of course it was a Saturday so I had to take her to the Vet Urgent Care Center in Central Point. After waiting several hours (there was only one vet on call) the diagnosis was salmon poisoning and she was so sick by then she had to be hospitalized, hopefully for only two days. The care is top notch but be prepared for sticker shock. Once recovered, many dogs have a permanent immunity to the strain they were infected with. However, infection with an alternate strain can occur so precautions should still be taken.
On a lighter note, our hard-working Public Works Department are keeping busy with the everyday realities of maintaining essential city services.
We have been having trouble with one of the sewage lift station pumps down at Pomeroy. The pump kept tripping a breaker and would shut down and send out an alarm. Staff spent the majority of Wednesday trouble shooting the problem with our electrician. Turns out a couple of bad capacitators had to be replaced.
The new trailer is ready to use for our sewer camera and computer equipment. This equipment will save a lot of staff time and effort.
A couple of windstorm downed trees in Jubilee Park were removed. We still have several downed trees left.
A digester at the Wastewater Treatment Plant was rebuilt and is now ready to be installed and put back online.
Stripping material for the crosswalk at Evergreen Elementary was ordered Jan. 7 and will be laid down when we get a break in the weather.
The new SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition software) for reservoirs 3 and 4 arrived and will be installed next week.
The Rockydale Wells Improvement Project went out to bid.
Pacific Power donated a new scoreboard that will be installed at the baseball field when they get a chance. City staff will help with the installation.
Stay warm and dry!
