A Magnolia couple’s gesture to help the ever-growing stray animal population in the city and the city proper has now ended, and they say they feel slapped in the face.
John and Judy Martin, owners of the Magnolia Animal Shelter, said they feel scammed by the city. The Martins are financially unable to keep the doors of the shelter open and have been forced to close.
John Martin said they no longer have the money, and they’re tired of waiting on the city to act.
“We tried, and it made us flat broke,” he said. Martin said the couple has less than $100 to survive on for the next eight days.
The Martins, who are on a fixed income, have poured thousands into the failed animal shelter. Their only others mean is John’s gun business, which will also suffer.
John, a retired police officer and a registered nurse, owns a gun shop on the couple’s property. He offers enhanced conceal carry classes for those who would like to become licensed, the fees don’t bring in much.
He said all the money they have they pour into the animal shelter.
“My gun business doesn’t bring in much; I can’t stock the shelves with new inventory. Hunting season is coming up, and I have empty rifle shelves and no casings. Christmas is usually good for me, but I don’t have anything to sell,” John Martin said.
“We’re both retired, and I’m on disability, I walk with a cane from an accident,” he said.
With neither able to financially contribute to their household, the Martins are financially in a rut.
“It will take us years to recover from this, but we’ll recover. We always do,” John Martin said.
During their interview with the Enterprise-Journal, Judith Martin became visibly upset.
“We could’ve done more,” she said.
“We did a lot of good. 115 dogs and cats were adopted out. We saved their lives,” John Martin said.
Judy Martin said they came up with the idea to open the shelter in 2015 after Magnolia mayor pro temp Mercedes Ricks received criticism for her comments about the need for a shelter, even one that would have to resort to putting down animals if space ran out.
The Martins wanted to offer an alternative.
“We wanted to do something to help,” John Martin said. “We had space — a big yard — so we decided to build a shelter.”
The Martins were all in.
Judy Martin said she and her husband presented their idea to Ricks.
“She told me to keep all my receipts for a month and turn them in, and the city would reimburse us,” she said.
But there was one problem to this, according to the Martins: Mayor Anthony Witherspoon knew nothing about it.
“He was on vacation. He wasn’t there, ” she said.
After purchasing items, they chose a name. Judith Martin said they had no intentions of naming the shelter in connection with the city of Magnolia.
“We named it the Magnolia Animal Shelter because it’s part of our address and it’s easier to spell than Mallette,” John Martin said, referring to his street, Mallette Circle.
“We were thinking the Magnolia flower. It’s a common flower,” Judy Martin said.
John Martin said they agreed to set a protocol.
“Every dog we take in gets wormed, a flea bath, and we take a picture of the dog and post it to Facebook, just in case someone has lost their dog. We also send pictures to the sheriff’s department and the police department,” he said.
The Martins are still receiving calls from people asking if they can take in animals.
They Martins have seven shelter dogs who are in need of homes.
In retrospect, Judy Martin said the first red flag should have been raised when Ricks told her to keep receipts.
“That’s the first red flag I should’ve seen. It should’ve said, ‘Hey, they’re not going to help,’ but I didn’t see it,” she said.
Then the city told the couple that since they were not a charity registered with the state or in the city, they couldn’t receive help.
“We registered with the state. We did all the paperwork, and then they said, ‘OK, now we can work with you,’ ” John Martin said.
He said they’ve done everything Witherspoon and the board have asked except become nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code.
“They wanted us to register with the state, we did. We did everything,” he said, “We don’t have the money to become a 501(c)(3). All the money we have, we’ve put into the animal shelter,” he said.
John Martin said they have received help from private donations. They’ve also received help from the McComb Animal Shelter.
“Monique (McCullough) and McComb’s police chief have been wonderful. They’ve been a really big help to us,” Judy Martin said.
“There are some great people in Pike County, just not good politicians,” John Martin said.
He said two local churches have reached out to help them by providing monetary donations and sending stray dogs to them.
As far as help from the city, the Martins said they haven’t received any monetary help, just dog food.
However, after learning Witherspoon did not approve it, the Martins sent it back.
“We were told by someone at city hall the State Auditor was not going to be happy. Someone got into big trouble behind that, and we gave it back. He (Witherspoon) was not happy about that,” Judy Martin said.
“We didn’t want anyone to lose their job, so we returned it,” John Martin added.
They said they’ve spoken with Witherspoon on multiple occasions — the last being during a work session in May.
“We knew then, they had no intentions of helping us,” John said.
Judy Martin said Witherspoon has a death hold on Magnolia’s board of aldermen.
They take issue with Ricks, too. Martin said they came to a board meeting to speak about the animal shelter when they learned Magnolia hired Christopher Reed full-time as an animal control officer.
“She didn’t say anything. She just sat there. She never spoke up for us,” she said.
Judy said she has a theory of what Magnolia may be doing to stray animals, but she didn’t want to say.
She again became visibly emotional at the thought.
“You don’t see any stray dogs around Magnolia anymore. Joe Cornacchione used to let his dog roam free; you don’t even see his dog out anymore,” Judy Martin said.
“He (Witherspoon) has bragged the city has this $30,000 budget for animal control, but all they have to show for it is a full-time officer and a pickup truck with lights and a cage,” John Martin said.
“That cage is horrible, it’s not fit for a big dog, maybe a small one, not a big one. There’s no ventilation. I don’t think the animals can breathe in there,” Judy said.
Judy Martin said they’ve reached out to Osyka, Summit and the Pike County Supervisors for monetary help. But to no avail.
Witherspoon said he’s unsure as to what the problem is and it’s not the city’s issue.
“I’m not sure how the operations of the Magnolia Animal Shelter became an issue for the City of Magnolia,” he said. “The shelter is privately owned and operated, and is not located inside the city limits of Magnolia. There’s a misunderstanding somewhere. This is not the City of Magnolia’s issue.”
Ricks said last week that she has tried to help the couple, but she has since washed her hands clean of the shelter, citing disagreements with the Martins.
