SEBREE, Ky. (WFIE) – Terri Lynn Nunn has made a habit of volunteering her time at the local animal shelter in Webster County.

That volunteering led to more than she probably ever anticipated.

“I volunteer weekly at the Webster County Animal Shelter. I go in, and I walk dogs. One day, I just kind of randomly asked, ‘was there any dogs that were kind of struggling?’” she recalls.

As it turned out, one dog in particular, Beau, was just who she was looking for.

Keeping to himself and not fond of much, if any human interaction, Terri took a swing at getting to know him.

“I got in the kennel with him, and we just kind of sat together,” she says. “He didn’t have anything to do with me.”

That is, until he discovered what she had in her back pocket.

“I kind of dragged out the Little Debby snack cake. I had one in my pocket, and I said, ‘would you like a bite?’ and he kind of did a little side eye at me, and I gave him a little bite and scooted a little closer, and that’s how we became friends,” says Nunn.

While Beau was busy discovering snack cakes, Terri discovered that Beau’s neck wasn’t just a little thick.

It looked like he had some sort of mass. She had the shelter get him into the vet, who confirmed her suspicions.

“The vet called me that day and said that Beau had Lymphoma, and it could be months, it could be years, but his time is warranted,” she says, “so at that point, I knew Beau had to come home with me.”

Somewhere over 10-years-old, just in the ballpark of 50 pounds, and sporting a new cancer diagnosis, Beau came home.

So began his new life of car rides, lounging by the pool, and of course, medication.

However, there was one part of the shelter he just couldn’t seem to let go of.

“His favorite thing in the whole world is a honey bun,” says Nunn with a smile.

Now accustomed to the finer things in life, Terri says they tried to substitute cheaper versions of the snack cake, but Beau wasn’t having it.

He was sticking exclusively to Little Debbie.

As he began his road to recovery in his new home, Nunn began sharing his story online.

This prompted not just local interest, but a surprise donation of the things he loves most.

“Little Debbie picked his story up and sent him his ‘get well’ package,” says Nunn.

Filled with Honey Buns and Zebra Cakes, Beau had his very own stash of snacks to enjoy.

While they don’t know how much time Beau has left, Terri says they’re the ones who have lucked out, getting to make him as comfortable as possible while enjoying his favorite things.

She says so many dogs just like Beau live in your local shelters.

If you can make it happen, she wants to urge others to go spend time with them or even bring home a Beau of your own.

“He’s really changed me. He’s changed my heart, and I think he’s changed a lot of people,” says Nunn.

Nunn says the Webster County Animal Shelter where Beau came from is currently holding onto roughly 30 more dogs than they’re suited to care for.

To get ahold of them to get a look at what animals they have or to perhaps volunteer some time, check out their Facebook page.

Copyright 2024 WFIE. All rights reserved.

This past week, Louisiana became the first state in the nation — or the nation’s history for that matter — to pass a state law requiring that a suitably-produced copy of the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom of every school, at all grade levels through university level.

Civil rights groups on Monday filed a lawsuit against Louisiana’s House Bill 71, which mandates that all public schools display the Ten Commandments. File Photo by Michael Kleinfeld/United Press International.

The law, HB 71, stipulated that this posting would be paid for by donations — but that has not silenced objectors. Nor has it negated the fairly obvious intrusion of a political movement known as “Christian nationalism” into politics, our daily lives, and schools.

A lawsuit was filed Monday, June 24 by a group of public school parents, as well as clergy against the mandated display of the Ten Commandments, the group known as Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and offices of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).

‘This is religious favoritism, and it is not only dangerous but runs counter to my religion and faith,’ said Presbyterian Church (USA) minister and plaintiff in the case the Rev. Jeff Sims.

Speaking at a press conference after the suit was filed, the head of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Rachel Laser, pointed out that several other states [Oklahoma, Mississippi, and South Carolina] have introduced similar bills attempting to dictate public morality. Calling this an example of “the Christian nationalism that is on the march across this country” she said that Texas has also already passed a law allowing public schools to enlist chaplains.

Communicating with several journalists in the past few days, we noted it could reasonably be asked that if anything is required to be posted in every classroom in a state, it should be the law of this land — the  United States Constitution, not a Christian document.

In fact, the posting of the TEn Commandments would appear to violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”

This is a multi-cultural nation. The reaction across the U.S. may not be what the Louisiana legislators thought they might see. Objections are not just being voiced by those of other religions, from Jewish to Muslim, and Hindus, but by the leadership of Christian denominations, including the mainline protestant faiths.

According to Religious News Service, “the plaintiffs argue the statute unfairly privileges a specific version of Christian scripture in addition to impinging on the rights of the nonreligious and those of other faiths.” Further, they say, “the law violates their First Amendment right to religious freedom as well as the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against establishing a state religion.

“This simply cannot be reconciled with the fundamental religious-freedom principles that animated the founding of our nation,” reads the complaint, which notes no federal court has upheld the display of the Ten Commandments in a public school setting.

The plaintiffs in this case are a mixture of religious and non-religious parents, and include clergy who object to a narrow interpretation of religion.

“By subjecting my children to permanent displays of scripture in every classroom, the Ten Commandments conflicts with this principle,” said Unitarian Universalist Minister Rev. Darcy Roake. According to Religious News Service (RNS) she pointed out “that among her faith tradition’s seven principles is a call for “the right to a free and responsible search for truth and meaning,” that her husband is Jewish and that they have raised their children in a multi-faith household.

“My husband believes this state-mandated version of the Ten Commandments does not conform with his Jewish faith either, because the displays misappropriate and alter the text of the Ten Commandments as they are set out in the Torah,” she told a RNS reporter.

There is more irony — turns out that the Louisiana law requires the Ten Commandments to be posted in English — but of course the original ten were in Hebrew.

Car dealerships around the country are the latest victims of a cyberattack.

Hackers went after a company, CDK Global, that makes software used by car dealers both here in the U.S. and in Canada.

It started last week and fallout continues to be felt Tuesday.

Peter Kitzmiller is the president of the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association. He joined WTOP’s Shawn Anderson and Anne Kramer to talk about it.

President of the Maryland Automobile Dealers Association Peter Kitzmiller talks with WTOP’s Shawn Anderson and Anne Kramer about the CDK cyberattack affecting car dealerships around the country.

The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.

Shawn Anderson: So when did car dealers in Maryland first realize that something was wrong and what transactions or issues have come as a result of this cyberattack?

Peter Kitzmiller: So I think we were we were made — or the dealerships were made — aware at like 2 a.m. last Wednesday. So it’s already been almost a week now. And so it’s had a pretty significant impact right off the bat. I mean, we’re like every other business, everything’s run by computers, processing your new car, used car purchase, making your appointment in the service department, communicating with customers — all those things, even the phone systems were impacted.

I think the biggest issue was, in Maryland, when you go to buy a car, the dealership provides either with a part tag or a temporary tag. All that is done electronically through the dealer management system, like CDK. That was an issue, but we’ve been working with MVA and so that part of the transaction, we can absolutely get you tags now. And that’s not going to be an issue going forward.

Anne Kramer: What has been the toughest part? I mentioned about going old school, some dealerships are. Is that what you’re seeing in Maryland, with some of the dealerships here, they’re having to use pen and paper?

Peter Kitzmiller: Absolutely, that is part of it. Some of those things are going to have to go back, you know, 30 years ago. And again, transmitting information to a lender on behalf of a customer, all those things have been a little bit, have been made more complex, because we don’t have the system back up and running yet. But I do want to tell everyone that if you’re considering buying a car, you’ve been working with the dealership, absolutely they’ve got workarounds — they’re going to make it work.

If you haven’t been contacted as quickly as you normally would, or you’re having a harder time making a service appointment. That’s where that impact is going to be felt. But again, I certainly would encourage everyone, if you’ve been looking at a car online or whatever, don’t hesitate to go into the dealership because we are coming up with workarounds.

Shawn Anderson: How much of a financial impact though has this had on dealerships in Maryland over the past few days?

Peter Kitzmiller: I don’t think we could put a number on it yet. There’s no question it is going to have a financial impact. I think it’s going to be pretty significant. Car dealerships are very cash intensive businesses, a lot of employees and, you know, you go a day when you can’t transact any business, there’s going to be a cost associated with that.

Anne Kramer: Peter, has every car dealership in Maryland been impacted by this?

Peter Kitzmiller: Not necessarily. So there’s really two categories of people that have been directly impacted. If you’re one of the dealerships that used CDK for what we call DMS or your dealer management system, then yes, you’ve been significantly impacted. Then there’s a subset of electronic commerce called CVR. If you use them, they’re a subsidiary of CDK. So they have been impacted as well.

So the dealers that have CDK as their primary dealer management system has been impacted the most, but every dealer has probably had some issue because they work together, they work with various vendors that are across platforms, but it’s primarily those dealers that use CDK. Again CDK was one of the biggest players in the industry. I think they have 15,000 dealership rooftops across the country. So they’re certainly a very, very significant part of the industry.

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