Anyone who has been following the issue of humane animal control in Fannin County has heard the name Thoa Allen.

For the past two years, no one has been taking more precautions to make sure the proposed countywide facility is built correctly and at a fair price to taxpayers.

And no one is offering to give more to help the Fannin County build a modern animal control facility.  Thoa Allen and her husband, Bob Allen, have pledged $60,000 towards construction.

The Allens even paid for an architect to design the facility under Humane Society of the U.S. guidelines.

Mrs. Allen questions why the City of Bonham didn't accept those architectural drawings instead of hiring the work done. She also watched the estimated cost of construction more than double -- from $150,000 to $390,000 -- in a little over a year.

While no one is contributing more, the Allens are not alone in feeling strongly enough about this project to reach into their pocket to make sure Fannin County residents have an animal control facility on par with the surrounding counties.  

In addition to the $60,000 the Allens are offering to donate, another donor is pledging $60,000, a $50,000 check from the late Linda Kirkpatrick has been handed over, the City of Bonham has a $40,000 USDA grant to build the facility (although this project has drawn out so long an extension was needed) and Friends of Fannin County Critters has offered $20,000 to be used for low-cost spay and neutering.

That is a total of $230,000 that is on the table to help Fannin County and the City of Bonham build and operate a humane animal control facility.

"We know it will be a kill shelter," Mrs. Allen says, "but do it with dignity."

Thoa Allen

Thoa Allen hasn't always been an animal activist.  She didn't even have a dog when she was growing up and didn't have an animal when she and her husband moved to Fannin County from Hawaii 14 years ago. But for the past seven years, Mrs. Allen has operated a 501(c)3 animal shelter known as All Our Hearts Together's (AOHT's) Rainbow Bridge.

Amazingly enough, 800 pets have passed through the gates of the Allen's Flat Iron Ranch on their way to forever homes with new owners. Her most unusual adoption came when a lady from New York City sent her chauffeur to pick up a homeless dog that Mrs. Allen had posted on www.petfinders.com.

This has been a long and rewarding journey. Every journey begins with a first step and for Thoa Allen that first step was a stray dog she named "Bony" because the animal was hardly more than skin and bones when she found it. 

Or maybe it was Bony that found Thoa. 

Mrs. Allen thought she would nurse the starving dog back to health and then drop it off at the local animal shelter, along with a donation.  She recalls taking one look at the animal pound in Bonham and turning around. Bony lived out her natural days playing in the peaceful rolling hills of the Flat Iron Ranch.

Rainbow Bridge is a privately run, no-kill shelter that employs a full-time worker to care for the two-dozen or so rescued animals that are always available for adoption. The responsibility that goes with operating a shelter on her ranch is the primary reason Mrs. Allen has asked to resign from the Fannin County Animal Control Shelter Board.

"I am too busy running my own organization," Allen explains. 

Another member of the board that recently resigned played an important role in bringing Allen to the forefront of the animal control issue in Fannin County.

Two years ago, Allen began receiving emails about public meetings regarding improving animal control from a person named Pat Ward.

Allen didn't know Ward, but one thing was obvious in the emails.

"She was on a mission," Allen said.

The first public meeting Allen attended was two years ago at Bonham City Hall. People had crammed into the small meeting room and the crowd spilled into the hallway.

"Wow...I'm impressed," Allen remembers thinking as one person after another came forward pleading for a more humane solution to animal control.  She felt the tension, frustration and anger rising until she found herself standing at the podium to address the Bonham City Council.

Allen is a petite lady with no longtime family connections in the county.

"What can I say that will make them listen to me?" she said to herself as she asked for guidance.

Suddenly, the words came to her.

"My name is Thoa Allen," she began. "I'm the highest paying residential taxpayer in Fannin County.  It's open record. I own the Flat Iron Ranch."

Allen gave the reasons why she felt the City of Bonham needed a modern animal control facility and shortly thereafter the meeting was adjourned.  As Allen was getting into her vehicle, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"That was a powerful speech," a lady's voice said. "Where do we go from here?"

The lady's voice belonged to Pat Ward. Allen and Ward have been staunch supporters of animal rights for the past two years and although neither wants to serve on the animal control facility board at the present time, this issue will continue to be close to their hearts until it is properly addressed.

Until a humane animal control facility is constructed and funded for the foreseeable future, that one question will continue to echo: "Where do we go from here?"

While reservations about how this project has evolved continue to resonate throughout the community, it would seem that the first real progress came March 8 when the Bonham City Council voted 4-2 to commit $30,000 to help operate the facility for the first year. Annual operations are expected to be $100,000-$125,000. The three largest cities, Bonham, Leonard and Honey Grove, will pay $3 per capita annually.  The smaller cities with less revenue will pay $1 per capita and indications are the county will contribute $3 annually for all residents living in non-incorporated areas.

Leonard City Manager Butch Henderson said he feels the $30,000 commitment by the Bonham City Council was an important first step. Mr. Henderson points out that a one-year plan is understandable because councils aren't entitled to make fiscal obligations that encumber future councils, but he also understands the frustration Thoa Allen and others feel about the lack of a long-term agreement.

"Do we really need to analyze this every year?" asked Mrs. Allen. "Don't we have other issues to focus on for the people here?  I think they deserve it.  If the City of Leonard will agree to $3 per capita, why can't the city of Bonham commit to making this work indefinitely?"