To me, the American Dream can be summed up in two words: Jed Clampett.  That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?  We live in a country so great that it doesn’t matter how deep your problems run.  In the time it takes to pull off a rifle shot, whether by hard work or sheer luck, your family can be on its way to your new mansion in Beverly Hills.

It hasn’t been overnight, but the fortunes are about to change for the dogs and cats inside the Rockwall Animal Shelter.  For them, and for their dedicated Animal Services officers, it’s been 20 years of misery.  They’ve had to endure winter nights so cold that the water in their bowls froze solid.  They’ve shivered when the wind was so strong it blew out the flame inside the furnace.  They’ve even suffered the indignation of having no electricity because rats chewed through the wiring.

“That’s when this job is stressful,” said Chris Valentine, the manager of the Rockwall Animal Services Department.  “It’s when you know the animals aren’t very well off.”

In just a couple of weeks, the entire menagerie is going to do their best Clampett impersonation.  They’re going to load up the truck and move to the new Rockwall Animal Adoption Center.  The dogs and cats will be kept safe from the weather (and from spreading diseases...and from rats...and from mosquitos) inside their new climate-controlled kennel run.  The officers will work out of a real office inside a real building (and not out of a trailer...and be able to use a real bathroom) for the first time in 20 years.

It’s a welcoming place, down to the paw prints imbedded in the floor of the lobby.  The cats will be able to show off to visitors through the lobby’s large glass window.  The dogs can romp with their adopting families out in the “Get-to-Know” courtyard.  There’s even a classroom for school and community groups and enough space to hold low-cost shot clinics.

If you’re looking for a fun family outing this spring, drop in and welcome the dogs and cats to their new home.  You can even bring them a house-warming gift.  Or better yet, take one of them home with you!

You can see an exclusive neighborsgo.com video preview of the new Animal Adoption Center here.

Update: Marble, the beautiful Gordon Setter crossbreed who was featured here on neighborsgo.com last month, is still in jail at the Rockwall Animal Shelter.  He’s on the verge of entering his fifth month at the shelter.  He desperately needs a new home.

Watch videos about Marble here and here.  Read more about him here and here.

Michael Kitkoski is chairman of the Rockwall Animal Adoption Center Advisory Board.  If you have an interesting “tail” to share, e-mail him at rockwallpets@charter.net.