Hobo the Mountain Loop Highway hound passes on

Published 10:34 pm Thursday, June 18, 2009

I am so sorry to note the death of Hobo, the Mountain Loop Highway dog.

I first wrote about the stray in December 2007. For perhaps 10 years, neighbors gossiped about a homeless canine surviving near Big Four’s ice caves.

He was known in Granite Falls as Lucky, Hobo or Roadkill.

Steve Duncan of Mount Vernon cared for the dog. An extreme animal lover, he built a shelter for Hobo and provided him with food.

“I thought somebody dropped him off,” Duncan said. “I worried about him all the time.”

Duncan, who worked for the Snohomish County Road Maintenance Department, got wind that Hobo was captured by animal control officers. He rushed to get the dog, and brought him to a spacious outdoor pen.

Hobo, who appeared to be a red heeler-Labrador mix, learned there is something to say about regular meals, a soft bed and a loving friend.

Duncan says Hobo died of a possible stroke at the end of May.

“He had been on his own for so long, but was one of the most gentle dogs I’ve had,” Duncan says. “He trusted me. And forgave me. It will be a long time before I stop thinking of this old dog who used to play with the coyotes on the Mountain Loop Highway.”

* * *

Phil Rognier’s recent trip to Vietnam was a success, he says.

We wrote Feb. 23 about his efforts to start youth baseball programs in Asia. Rognier is executive director of FirstSwing Foundation and runs baseball camps around Everett.

“We now have a viable baseball program, youth and older, in Hanoi and will be working to expand it to Ho Chi Minh City and Laos,” Rognier says. “I taught at the University of Hanoi for two weeks and it was an amazing experience,” Rognier says. “After overcoming many pangs of cultural shock, I realized a very successful experience.”

For more information about Everett camps that start Monday, visit tinyurl.com/lyoaa8.

Rognier says his camps are about baseball and softball, but also focus on life lessons including courage, respect, integrity, accountability, responsibility and work ethic.

* * *

The 2009 Relay for Life of South Whidbey begins today at South Whidbey High School.

Money will be raised for cancer research.

Charlona Sawyer of Greenbank says she has “danced” with cancer more than once.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, just before Thanksgiving.

“I remember sitting at our turkey dinner looking at friends and family and trying hard to keep from crying because I didn’t want to spoil their meal,” Sawyer says. “My daughter was pretty young then and I remember being scared that I might not share another Christmas with her or another birthday or another Mother’s Day.”

Mostly she resented that something was growing inside her that she didn’t want and could not control.

After radiation, she told her doctor she never wanted to see him again, ever.

Her second dance with breast cancer in 2007 was no waltz, she says. It made her angry, furious, filled with despair.

“The lesson I learned this time around was that just because you’ve beat cancer once doesn’t mean it won’t be back again.”

She says she will participate in the relay to raise research money to battle this horrible disease.

“I don’t know if cancer and I will dance another dance. I watch the eagles fly by my window, sip my coffee and I thank God for one more day.”

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.