An animal lover myself, I had to pause to ask Dave about his work. What had been
one of his most memorable or challenging assignments in animal control? He hesitated
only briefly before recalling a rescue of a litter of puppies that had been born
in a woodchuck hole out in an empty field. The pups had been sighted by the land
owner, who worried they were abandoned. Dave and his co-worker started digging to
uncover the hole, only to learn that woodchucks burrow several tunnels to and from
their den, so that if one becomes blocked they can escape through another “back
door” After 3 ½ hours of digging through waist deep dirt, following each branch
out to its end, to make sure no single pup had wandered away on their own, they
had successfully rounded up 9 puppies, all who were later successfully adopted.
The parents were still at large however. The mother had vanished and was never found,
but the dutiful dad had stuck around, lurking under a nearby trailer and watching
the rescue mission. The persistent property owner, called animal control the following
day to say the father of the litter had been finally taken in, lured by that Lady
and the Tramp standby, a plate of spaghetti!
But animal rescue work would have to wait as Carney went about the harder task of
deciding who to accompany him on his basketball trip. An avid fan whose playing
days ended in junior high, he fondly recalls several years of annual jaunts to Madison
Square Garden for he and his brothers to watch Big East tournaments. How then to
decide which of 6 siblings to ask?
Going with number one was his solution. David and his eldest brother, Richard Carney,
and their wives, dropped off a car at Roncari Valet on Jan. 29 and headed over to
the terminal to board their flight to RDU, and watch UCONN women play against Duke
the following Monday. Ironically, Richard Carney had recently relocated to South
Carolina and was in CT to attend an awards ceremony at the Elks club, for yet another
brother, when he found out he would be taking a quick trip back to the Carolinas.
After the game and the Carney clan’s return to CT, the elder brother will drive
back to his new home. Now that’s a UCONN fan!
So how did couch side coach and CT native Dave, who admits to loud verbal outbursts
at the big screen at home, like it being courtside in Cameron Stadium?
“It was fantastic. Our seats were 3 rows behind the bench, we could see Geno discussing
the plays, the whole thing was terrific. And yes, UCONN women won.”
Now it’s back to work and the call of the wild for Carney and company. Oh, the other
complaint that frequently comes in for animal control? A bird trapped in the house.
When the harried homeowner (often elderly) describes for the officer, the frequent
chirping they have been hearing for a few days, it’s usually a slam dunk as he points
to the smoke alarm over their head, whose battery needs replacing. Nothing but net,
for Dave Carney.
Start saving now at Bradley's #1 parking place, Roncari Valet.