FloGas Took Wilkie's Body & Dumped It

We received this letter earlier today from April Koonce. We're publishing it in its entirety and will comment below:

This probably isn't the right venue for my letter to be printed, I'm not sure what would be, or if anyone would even want to hear my story, but it is therapeutic for me to make people aware.  I want others to know how the Gas Department took something so important from me.

I feel a crime has been committed upon me for which there can be no restitution.  Something that belonged to me was stolen, along with any chance for closure.  There are those that won’t understand my grief, but there are those who certainly will.

The coolest cat in the Universe, Wilkie, well, I couldn’t have possibly adored him any more than I did.  He was much loved.  I was protective, never letting him go outside until he came in to his elder years.  He always wanted to go out there, and I didn’t want him to die not getting to enjoy the warmth from a sunbeam.  His favorite spot was beneath a hedge on the side of my house.

He developed blood clots on November 18, 2012, and despite their efforts, the vets at the emergency clinic weren’t able to save him.  He died with my arms wrapped around him.  I did not let him go until I placed him in his eternal resting place, beneath his favorite hedge.  A spot I had visited every morning since.  For a temporary marker, I had placed 3 bricks, symmetrically aligned.  I enjoyed cutting flowers from my yard to place on the bricks. You see, my other cat, Leeroy, is to be buried next to Wilkie, as they were very close.  Leeroy is old and in poor health.  I took comfort in knowing I could bury them side by side.  I had big plans for that plot; I was going to make it very special once they were both there.  Probably a rock garden, I hadn’t yet decided.  In my grieving, that had brought me peace.

Wilkie & Leeroy

On May 1, 2013, this was all taken from me by the City of Florence Gas Department.  They were moving my gas meter.  I was told they might have to “cut back a hedge”.  I joked that they should neatly trim them all.  I came home that afternoon to find the brick markers tossed aside, and the dirt of Wilkie’s grave was upturned with his favorite hedge on the side of the road.  I saw pieces of his white fur scattered around.  I became hysterical; I called the man I’d been in correspondence with from the gas department.  He sounded sincerely sorry about it, and I believed he was.  He didn’t know my cat was buried there, and I didn’t know he was going to dig up my yard.

It was decided a friend would recover his remains so I could bury him elsewhere and create a new sanctuary.  But his remains were not there.  The man from the gas department was contacted again.  And this is when I knew the apology couldn’t have been sincere.  This crew from the gas department, for some deluded reason of which I will never, ever be able to understand, decided they had the right to put my beloved pet in a bucket and in to a trash can.  Now he is unrecoverable.  He and Leeroy will not be buried side-by-side.  I am left with images of my companion of 14 years in a mass of things that were never important enough for anyone to keep, picked at by buzzards.  An unloved animal is seldom buried.  Why was he not put back down in the earth?  Better yet, why wasn’t I contacted?  My phone number was at his fingertips.  Wilkie was mine.  It was MY choice!  They DID NOT have the right to do what they did.  An unloved animal is seldom buried.

Wilkie's Grave Before Flogas Destruction

I am deeply mournful and incredibly angry.  To me, this is an ethical crime and morally reprehensible.  I don’t know what could make me feel better right now.   I know so many people have suffered things so far worse than this, and I have always been very empathetic and I hurt for people I do not even know, but no matter how trivial this may be to some, it hurts me so much.

All I can do is write out my grief and my injustice and hope that someone out there who loves their pets as a part of their family reads this, and will NEVER EVER allow this to happen again.


How did this happen? I shared the letter with another blogger to get a second opinion on this misdeed. She felt perhaps the men were just this "dense," to use her word. Were they?

I personally can't understand this. These workers, unless mentally deficient, knew this was a grave. Their actions were intentional and hurtful. Were they having a bad day and decided to take it out on a dead baby and his grieving mother?

April isn't asking for money; she simply wants to make sure this doesn't happen to someone else. We'll be happy to publish any rebuttal from Mike Doyle, FloGas General Manager; however, unless he's written up these employees, there doesn't seem to much he could say that would matter at this point.



Florence Utilities Gas Department
110 W. College Street
Florence, AL 35630
Telephone: (256) 718-5100
Fax : (256) 767-1818


Florence Utilities Gas Department
650 Rickwood Road
Florence, AL 35630
Telephone: (256) 760-6490 - (256) 767-3430
Fax : (256) 767-1818

Administration:
Michael Doyle, Manager
Email Michael Doyle
Regina Hall, Administrative Assistant to the Manager
Email Regina Hall
Engineering:
Tim Truitt, P.E.
Email Tim Truitt
Field Operations:
Jerry Bates, Field Supervisor
Email Jerry Bates
Marketing:
Randy Fannin, Public Affairs Coordinator
Email Randy Fannin
Gas Controller:
Dolphus King, Chief Gas Controller
Email Dolphus King
Laura Butler, Administrative Assistant to the Chief Gas Controller
Email Laura Butler
GIS Department:
Stan Pruitt, GIS Gas
Email Stan Pruitt
Larry Grace, GIS Water
Email Larry Grace
Technical Services:
Kenneth Davis, Technical Services Supervisor
Email Kenneth Davis
Stores/Safety:
Reid Ware, Stores/Training Coordinator
Email Reid Ware

 

Shoalanda