Rutherford County Employees Rescue Kitten from Employee’s Vehicle Parked Near Courthouse

Usually a kitten rescue involves a firefighter or two – not today – a crew from Rutherford County’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) participated in the successful rescue of a small kitten from a vehicle parked just outside of the historic courthouse.

“I walked outside and heard what sounded like a cat screaming,” said Jamie Broussard, OIT Tech Support Supervisor. “It was coming from the side of the square closest to Woodsviking. I moved closer to the area, but the noises stopped.”

Broussard made his way to the sidewalk between the inner and outer circle, attempting to get closer to the noise, but the animal had gone silent. Jamie’s supervisors, Director Cody York and Assistant Director Darin Moore, came outside and saw Jamie standing on the sidewalk. Puzzled, they asked what he was doing. Jamie explained about the cat sounds when suddenly, he heard them again. This time, they seemed to be coming from a Kia Soul in the parking lot.

Darin identified the vehicle as that of Zach Johnson, a Technician with OIT. Jamie called Zach and the two looked for the animal in the motor compartment, but were not seeing any signs of it. “Finally I caught a glimpse of its face,” said Broussard. Jamie says he got underneath the car, but the startled kitten moved to the other side.

A bystander came up to assist and used a pipe to gently tap on the car to see if the kitten would move again.

“It finally relocated to a place within reach,” said Broussard, “just not within MY reach.”

As luck would have it, Webmaster (and animal lover) Megan Chaffin, walked up and was able to pull the kitten out safely.

Zach, a resident of Walter Hill, said his wife heard something this morning, but they were never really able to pinpoint it.

“It was amazing that the kitten rode all the way to the courthouse from Walter Hill, unharmed,” said Broussard. “I was just happy to be able to save ONE of its nine lives,” he kidded.

Krista Tollison, OIT’s Senior System Administrator, decided to give the kitten a new home. Though he seemed fine, she will be taking him to a veterinarian to be checked out. She has affectionately and appropriately named him “Soul.”