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Fundraiser to help SPOT Clinic

The clinic is nearly finished, but the party will continue.

The SPOT (Stopping Pet Overpopulation Together) Committee will host its third annual “WVU Tailwaggin’ Tailgate Party” fundraiser at 5 p.m. Aug. 24 at Dils Riverfront Park in Vienna.

Proceeds from this event have contributed substantially to the construction of the SPOT Clinic, a low-cost spay and neuter facility on 29th Street in Parkersburg adjacent to the Humane Society of Parkersburg shelter, said Karen Katchur, chairman of the SPOT Committee.

Construction on the clinic began in April and should be finished in August, Katchur said. Money raised at this tailgate party, and possible future ones, will be used for clinic operations, she said.

The clinic is being built solely with money generated from fundraisers, grants and donations from businesses and individuals, Katchur said. The SPOT group hopes to open the clinic this fall and be self-sustaining by next summer.

The clinic “will serve as a major step forward in preventing pet overpopulation in our county and surrounding communities like ours that so need an affordable solution,” Katchur said.

Now for the fun part.

There will be a reverse drawing with a total cash payout of more than $7,000, live and silent auctions, disc jockey, photo booth, and cookout.

Potential sponsors and those wanting to donate auction items can contact Katchur, event organizer, at 304-295-4642.

Tickets (300 will be offered) are available at Buttermore Jewelers, Jon Six Salon, Lee’s Studio, the humane society shelter and from members of the SPOT Committee.

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North Myrtle Beach, S.C., city government has a Parkersburg presence.

James Wood, a 1982 graduate of Parkersburg High School, is director of planning and development in North Myrtle Beach. His friend Greg Duckworth, also a 1982 PHS graduate, is a city councilman in North Myrtle Beach and a landscape architect.

Wood said North Myrtle Beach, a city of about 15,000 residents, has recently completed two large annexations and is building the $17 million 145-acre North Myrtle Beach Park and Sports Complex west of the Intracoastal Waterway. The park, scheduled to open in March 2014, will have a veterans plaza, lake, baseball and softball fields, football, soccer and lacrosse fields, amphitheater, playgrounds, dog park, picnic shelter and trails.

The best burgers in North Myrtle are at The Clubhouse Foods and Spirits at 77 Highway 17 South, a popular gathering place for West Virginia University and Marshall fans during football and basketball games, Wood told me Saturday night at the PHS multi-class reunion in Vienna.

Wood is a 1987 graduate of WVU and was city planner in Morgantown from 2000-2005.

“I miss Morgantown and love living in North Myrtle Beach, the southern panhandle of West Virginia,” Wood said.

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Singer/songwriter Tracy Allen of Parkersburg will be singing in New York City on Sunday, trying to win a trip to Los Angeles and a shot at performing on “The Voice.” Allen said he was contacted by a producer of NBC’s singing competition to audition at the Javits Center in New York.

He will sing Journey’s “Faithfully” in New York. Allen was told he has 90 seconds to sing the four-minute song. Patrons at the West Virginia Polo Club in Parkersburg, during a “Voice party,” selected the song for Allen to sing. Allen performs at the Polo Club on Tuesday nights.

Allen has been a member of the classic rock band Mirror Mirror for 15 years, has recorded a country rock album in Nashville, due out in August or September, and performed on the East Coast. He sang with Michael Burrell, a 1989 Williamstown High graduate, in a two-man acoustic band at Saturday’s PHS multi-class reunion at Dils Riverfront Park.

Allen, a 1992 graduate of Parkersburg High School, said it was an honor to be selected for “The Voice” audition.

Contact Paul LaPann at plapann@newsandsentinel.com

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