CAT UPDATE 5-12-08
Oscar and Small Fry are in the witness protection program until they testify against Robert. They are well fed and fat.

TOWN UPDATE
The Juliette Expresso has started Pickin' On the Porch, a Sunday music show behind their building, showcasing folk/artsy acts. Their Juliette Jam, an all day music event, is April 26th.

Betty's winery has had to stop selling Whistle Stop batter mix due to other merchants breaking town law. She has, however, found a new company to provide her with a unique fgt batter.

The new Whistle Stop Cafe in Macon has opened. Have not heard anything about it.

North Juliette is still there. I guess that's ok.

If you're in the St Pete area and saw a Relay for Life banner with the familiar logo seen on Juliette shirts. Don't worry. Unlike some merchants, the Florida people asked first.

ME UPDATE
The dogs and I are in Gray on a farm in a 2bdr house by ourselves.

8-8-7

It is with great sadness that I announce the closing of the Whistle Stop Train Depot.

Because of one man’s greed, and also fear of cats, Sherry Pfeifer has shut down her business rather than be under the control of this man’s misogynistic rule.

The land in Juliette which houses 11 businesses, including the famous Whistle Stop Café, is owned by one man (referred to for now as MisterGynistic or Mr.g).  10 of these shops have been rented to women.  The 11th shop is owned by Mr.g who employees two elderly women.

Mr.g's personal store had been easily winning the battle of the tourist dollar till recently.  After finishing my documentary on Juliette, I was approached by Sherry Pfeifer about purchasing a t-shirt press and creating designs to house in the train depot gift shop.  We started this venture with very minimal success.

Even with good designs we discovered that people were not buying.  So we watched folks for a while.  As they left the Whistle Stop Café, they went straight into Mr.g’s shop.  When they came out they did some of three things;
* directly left town,
* went to all the other shops before the train depot,
* or approached the depot and stared at it as if it was a prison with exclamations such as
“We don’t need to go in here . . . ” and
“All the shops are the same."

We don't really know who was telling them these things.

Well,
all the shops are not the same; especially the train depot which contained
* high-dollar jewelry
* the world’s largest collection of Fried Green Tomatoes memorabilia
* the largest public display of Juliette history
* posters, information, maps about the town and the movie
* + tons more

But not anymore.

Anyway,
most people were not coming in to the depot so we had to change the look of this haunted train station.  The other businesses in town, including Mr. G's store, had been displaying their items outside their shops . . . so we did this, too. 
We streamed balloons on the depot and also passed out 20% off coupons to people as they came out of the Whistle Stop Café (other businesses have advertising on the inside of the Whistle Stop Café).

It worked.

We saw improvement . . . and then we heard the complaints. 

One of Mr.g’s employees was going around the town and telling the other owners, and Mr.g, that we were hurting his business.  This employee, on two occasions, came out of her shop and attempted to stop tourists as they were walking into the depot. 

The first time she was successful. 
The second time I came out and asked her to not do that.  Then she went to Mr.g and told him that I was the one who was calling people away from her store.

But . . .
What might have made Mr.g the angriest may have been when Sherry and I went against Mr.g in his unethical business practices. 
This is known as the Moon Pie war.

One of the newer shops to open in Juliette has taken item ideas from other stores and then contacted the manufacturers of those items and then ordered those items, so to sell.  This is in direct violation of mr.g’s own law for the town.  Although numerous complaints have been filed by various shop owners, mr.g has done nothing, because this newer shop is run by an old friend of his.  Meanwhile, a different shop that has been in Juliette 16 years, longer than any other, has had to stop selling some items due to being undercut in prices.

So, as a humorous way to get mr.g’s attention, and to defend the shops that are too kind to speak up, the depot advertised and sold RC/Moon Pies one weekend. 
RC Cola and Moon Pies are the unique feature of the newer shop.  Well, the newer shop had a fit and complained up and down Juliette’s McCrackin Street, and also to mr.g.  And, although another shop owner told this newer shop that they were now victims of their own crime, they didn’t change.  The depot stopped advertising the Moon Pies in order to keep peace, but the deed was done . . .

At the next town meeting, run by mr.g, new rules came into place:

• * Passing out coupons was against mr.g-Law
• * Placing advertising in front of your parked car was against mr.g-Law
• * If you’re not elderly, parking your car in front of your building was against mr.g-Law (of course, his shop employees and his friends are elderly).
  
  New Law From Recent Meeting:
  * Any shop improvements now belong, in perpetuity, to mr.g (this law came about because Sherry dug up the roses she planted).

These g-laws never ended up going into effect for the depot since Sherry Pfeifer closed her business due to the following story.  However, it should be noted, that the newer shop has nailed a metal sign (advertising their store on a telephone pole) directly in front of four businesses. 
mr.g has looked the other way.

The Juliette Cats is why Sherry Pfeifer closed the depot. 

When Sherry came to Juliette six years ago there were over 2 dozen cats that were running wild.  Naturally, these cats were not spayed/neutered and were continuing to pro-create.

For those six years, Sherry captured cat after cat and took them to the vet for treatment. 
They were
* fixed,
* given shots,
* flea dipped, and
* those adoptable were adopted. 
She paid for this with her own money and kind donations by animal lovers.

So now, there are only 3 cats living in Juliette; one feral was living under mr.g’s gift shop but eventually was coaxed to stay under the depot.

mr.g hates cats.  I can only guess why, so I won’t opine.  He likes dogs, however.

During the years that there were dozens of cats in Juliette,  mr.g has voiced his desire to rid the town of them.  As far as I know, he has not
* helped to adopt any,
* started any kind of program to help the cats.
* offered any assistance to Sherry

Sherry has done all the work and has never been thanked or shown any appreciation for decreasing the cat population by 90%. After all her hard work, some gratitude could have been shown by mr.g by at least allowing the last 3 cats to live out their days.

But it's all a control issue for mr.g.

btw:
Tourists have loved the 2 friendly/non feral cats and tourists have shown great displeasure in mr.g's inhumane attitude.

mr.g has the right to not have dozens of cats engulfing his area like kudzu. 
But those days are over thanks to Sherry. 

The numbers have gone from 30 cats to now 3.   But mr.g was set on getting rid of the 3.  He tells bald-faced lies about the current cats causing fleas at the other restaurant in town (NOT the Whistle Stop Café).  I’m not saying that the other restaurant doesn’t have fleas but no other shop in town has stated that there are fleas in their stores (8 shops in town carry food products).

The cats do not venture towards the other restaurant in the north section of the town.  The only place they occasionally do frequent are the stores on the opposite side.  It should be stated that the Whistle Stop Café reports no infestations of any kind, ie. no fleas.

Neither Sherry, nor I, go into the other restaurant and we can attest that the Whistle Stop Cafe is clean and a great place to eat. The other restaurant did say that it was Sherry's business partner that brought fleas into their restaurant. But this business partner also goes into the Whistle Stop Cafe.
And again, the Whistle Stop Cafe has no fleas.

mr.g will not admit the obvious; either there are no fleas at the other restaurant or the fleas are brought in from another source . . . not the cats.

mr.g’s other issue is that the cats have left fecal matter in an abandoned room attached to the depot.  This may have been true when there were 30 cats, but the 3 remaining cats don’t go in there because it’s unclean from former tenants.

Also, possums have been found in there (mr.g himself found a possum living in a box in that room). I, personally, have seen a possum coming down the stairs from that same abandoned room.

It’s just a shame that mr.g is closed-minded to the issue and his only way to resolve it is to threaten the cats and to pose eviction for shop owners.  His promise is to get rid of all cats, permanently.

Cats are not going to stop coming into town. 
They were native to Juliette before the town was even birthed.  With Sherry gone, there will be no one to humanely fix and adopt these animals. 

One local Juliette’r recalls seeing the rats that used to roam freely in the town's buildings, buildings that people run their business from.  These buildings are old and need major work to plug holes in the walls and floors.  Animals of all kind can easily set up homes inside these shops. 

The cats, don’t set up homes there, though. 
They had it too good with people in town who love them and care for them. They also had it good under the depot that drew them away from staying at other shops.

In a town vote, 13 of the shop owners were for the three cats remaining. 
* One lady on oxygen did not want cats around her. 
* The other restaurant that has the only fleas in town did not want the cats around. 
* The lady that complains (about the depot making money) did not want the cats around.  

Even mr.g’s favorite friends, from the newer shop, remained silent during that last meeting.

THAT LAST MEETING:
This meeting is where Sherry Pfeifer was humiliated in front of all.  She was shouted . . . (not in the sense of volume but tenacity) shouted down when trying to defend the cats.  And when other merchants tried to speak in favor of the cats, they too, were prevented from speaking.  In the end mr.g gave Sherry two weeks or he (and a hired goon) would get rid of the cats his way.

Sherry Pfeifer has had enough of mr.g’s lies and intimidation. 
Click here for more on the cats with pictures and video.

Yeah, it's his town. He has the right to take his ball and go home.
And I have the right to blog this story.

Neill Calabro

CAT UPDATE:
The third cat has been pulled out of the town until possible adoption.  The other two cats were picked up without full consent of Sherry and were conspicuously lost en route to being taken to a new home.

ME UPDATE:
I have been evicted from my house (that I rent from mr.g) for being a “smartass” and I have been banned from coming into any of the shops he owns.

Since mr.g won't give a Lease to any of the shop owners (it's month-to-month rent) he controls what happens, and the shop owners fear eviction (I know he's smiling as he reads this part) .

It seems this town now has legitimate historical value and a higher standard of upkeep should be enacted.

Nice guy.

CAT UPDATE 8-26-7
Oscar has returned from being lost. Small Fry, still no show. Oscar is living at a house in Gray Georgia. Our last visit there we couldn't find him. Sissy, the third cat, is now living in Charleston, SC to a lovely woman named Amelia Tuttle. She will encourage Sissy's mothering tendencies as she continues to foster kittens.

TOWN UPDATE
People have called the Whistle Stop Cafe saying that juliettega.com (owned by Sherry) says the Whistle Stop Cafe is closed. Whoever set these people up to this need to know that the Whistle Stop Cafe owner is not impressed by them and she is used to attacks by the suspected culprits.

The Juliette Expresso coffee shop has had a health department false claim filed against them. This didn't have the desired effect either. The Expresso received a 100 score.

ME UPDATE
I am living a few houses down from my old one. The house is under renovation and not owned by mr.g