[11/10/04]A proposed new shelter site for the Vicksburg Warren Humane Society has been scrapped after objections were raised by residents of the area.

Vicksburg and Warren County officials met together Tuesday and said they would look at other options for expanding the current facility on U.S. 61 South and combining animal control efforts.

Georgia Lynn, president of the Humane Society, said Tuesday she had not heard that the building on Porters Chapel Road would no longer be considered and had no other immediate options.

Warren County District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, president of the Board of Supervisors, said he expects similar problems with any location.

“We got a lot of comments from people who don’t want to see, smell or hear dogs in their neighborhood,” Selmon said.

Officials had been looking at a metal building for sale at 720 Porters Chapel Road. A public purchase of the building in the Humane Society’s behalf was being considered because it is larger and more centrally located than the shelter now used.

Lynn said that the society needs a bigger facility that is also equipped to handle farm animals, including horses. Monday, a horse was brought to the Humane Society and is being kept in a dog kennel until the owner can be found.

For two years, Warren County has contracted animal-control services to the Humane Society at $120,000 per year. Mayor Laurence Leyens has pitched a plan to blend the society’s with the city’s animal control department. Both agencies would continue collecting animals, but the Humane Society would focus on caring for the animals and adoptions. The city budgets about $200,000 annually on animal control.

“We’re just going to have to look at plan B,” Leyens said. “There are some eligible properties out there we just have to find them.”

Lynn said that the biggest problem facing the Humane Society is space. During the first 10 months of this year, the facility took in about 600 more animals than all of last year.

Separately, city officials told supervisors that they have discussed a proposal with Kansas City Southern Railway to move to Levee Street the railroad tracks that run through the city’s Garden District, eliminating at least two crossings and the need to blow horns there.

Leyens said KCS officials approached the city two months ago with the idea and said they would come back in two weeks with a recommendation, but that was the last the city heard. He said city officials are continuing to wait for the railroad.