Centerville kennel ready for transition

Ruben and Trudy Reynolds are finally going to have to let go of their furry friends.At times they numbered about 100.
The Reynolds Kennel on Giles Road will soon be operating under new ownership for the first time in more than 30 years.
"I'll be 72 in June," Trudy said Friday. "I have a husband who's retired and a place at Lake Sinclair where I just love to go fishing."
The new owners, Jerry and Elissa McCaskill of Centerville, have a few things in common with the Reynoldses. He, like Ruben, is an Air Force retiree, and the couples share a deep love for animals.
For Trudy and Elissa, it began in their youth: one in Austria, the other in Miami.
Trudy was born and raised in a village about 50 miles from Vienna.
"I was raised on a farm with horses, goats, dogs and cats. I get along with animals real well, so this business was right up my alley," she said.
Elissa, originally from Miami, said she, too, has been around animals all her life.
After she and Jerry, a Little Rock, Ark., native, were married they went overseas to Guam in 1975.
"The're were no animal shelters there and people sometimes treated animals very poorly. It was a bad situation," Elissa said. "We had at one time 13 cats in our one-bedroom apartment."
After a typhoon tore across the Pacific island, they took in animals from their next-door neighbor who owned a pet store.
"For a while we were living with dogs, cats, tropical birds and tropical fish in our small apartment," she said.
"The rescue bug bit us there," Jerry said.
The couple returned to middle Georgia in 1984, and Jerry retired from the Air Force in 1990. He's been a self-contractor since then, installing custom-made fireplaces. He said he's been thinking for a while about taking a job "closer to the ground."
They first met Trudy eight years ago when they took their dog, Murphy, to one of her obedience classes.
About six years ago the McCaskills became involved with a local animal rescue group - Homeless Animal Rescue and Placement Services Inc., mo! re commonly known by its acronym, HARPS.
"We loved animals and t hought that owning a kennel would be a good idea," Jerry said.
They first looked at some kennels in Florida, to be closer to Elissa's family, she said. "Then I heard Trudy talk about slowing down her activities, and I discussed taking over the kennel from her," Elissa said.
It was the right moment, Trudy said. "Ruben had a stroke seven months ago, and I got to wondering about what would happen if I got sick," she said. "It was a good time to sell it." But first the couples had to undergo a stressful rezoning process.
Some of the kennel's neighbors, who were not against the sale, said they were concerned the proposed rezoning would allow some unwanted businesses in the area in the future.
Two weeks ago at a Centerville City Council meeting, a compromise was hammered out in about an hour, with Mayor Harold M. "Bubba" Edwards and City Attorney Rebecca Tydings coming up with the solution. The land would be rezoned with the stipulation that the! only business allowed on the property would be the kennel.
"I was very nervous at first and very impressed at the end," Trudy said. "This is what happens when government works for the people."
The McCaskills say they hope to close on the deal this week. They already have plans for the business, but say it will retain a lot of its current facilities.
"We're just going to clean it up a little, brighten it up a little," Jerry said.
"We plan on eventually having all 100 runs available for dogs, plus we'll reopen the cats room she has in one of the buildings," Elissa said. "We just can't say how long it's going to take us."
Trudy won't be totally out of the picture.
"She's been a groomer, too, and we'll refer that business to her," Elissa said. "She said she'll still have her obedience classes."