156-pound mastiff puppy helps rescue owner
It was cold and icy near nightfall on Jan. 6, but Teresa Milewski wasn't counting on fracturing her arm and spending the past two weeks on painkillers because of it.
But it could have been much worse, if not for Kirby.
Kirby is a 20-month-old puppy that just happens to be a 156-pound American mastiff - a rare and rather large dog.
Teresa needed every bit of Kirby's size and strength when she fell on the ice during a walk in Big Woods Park, near her Batavia home. Teresa's daughter was in the house, but luckily Kirby was outside.
"I screamed for help and no one heard me, so I called Kirby to come to me," said Teresa, who said her pain was so bad she could barely move. "By hanging on to her neck and collar, I was able to get up."
Teresa said it was still a tough walk home and that Kirby had to help her up a second time and stayed close behind her. Luckily, Kirby seemed to understand that Teresa was in trouble and not calling her to play. A 156-pound playful pup is not what Teresa's arm needed at the time.
"My dog attracts attention wherever we go," Teresa proudly proclaimed. "She is still a puppy and won't be considered full grown until she is about 4 years old."
Teresa said she has always considered Kirby an amazing animal, but never more so than during her rescue effort.
"She helped me up twice, the pain was so terrible," Teresa said. "I was at the farthest point on the trail and it seemed like an eternity, but once we got back, my daughter rushed me to the emergency room."
More crime fighting: Attorney General Lisa Madigan pulled in a homegrown gentleman to be her deputy attorney general for Criminal Justice.
Michael J. Hood was raised in St. Charles, where his parents still live, and this 43-year-old former Marine joins Madigan's staff in continuing an impressive career in Cook County law.
Carving for kids: I've known plenty of the gentlemen in the Fox Valley Woodworking Club over the years. It's a group of guys who share a passion for woodworking as a hobby, but they do plenty of nice things that people might not realize.
I was glad to see a note from the club's executive director Ron Gilkerson, letting me know that the club has donated 200 handmade wooden toys to the Batavia Access toy drive each of the past five years.
Now that's some helpful hands at work.
He saw problems: Geneva had to say goodbye to one its finer citizens last week when Bud Gilligan passed away. Bud was one of those fellows who was active and dedicated to his city, but did it without much limelight.
Most people remember his role in getting the Geneva Academic Foundation off the ground, but when I think of Bud, I recall when he ran for mayor some 20 years ago. He was one of the first in the area to emphasize downtown traffic flow all around the Tri-Cities and why we had to make sure it didn't get out of hand.
He also cautioned what Randall Road could become if we weren't careful with its development. I don't know what Bud thought about those things the past years, but something tells me development might not have roared at such a pace if he had ever corralled a leadership position.