Vet makes farm call
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Every time James Romine, the owner and head veterinarian at Saline Veterinary Service, goes to do a house call, he changes to his navy-blue jump suit and puts on his black rubber slip-ins.
Before leaving the Keveling Street clinic, Romine packs up his vet bag and animal medications, gloves, an electric dehorner, a laptop and a portable printer, a cell phone and a bottle of water (for him to drink) into one of the hospital’s red Sonomas.
“Every time I leave here, I feel like I’m moving,” Romine jokes on a recent day.
The morning Romine is visiting a Milan client he has seen for several years. Romine said he anticipates spending several hours at the farm, doing both routine checkups and minor surgery on two horses, two dogs, two cats and two goats.
But since Romine has treated creatures from geckos to falcons, he isn’t worried. He is used to the challenge all vets--particularly general practitioners--face.
“You’re always trying to figure out what’s wrong--and the animal isn’t telling you,” Romine said.
“A veterinarian since the early 1980s, Romine has owned the Saline clinic for the past 11 ½ years. With Meatloaf, Romine’s first horse client in Milan, the vet checks the horse’s eyes, listens to its heart and gives it a quick shot.
The horse doesn’t even flinch. Romine then checks its teeth. After he finishes the checkup, he and owner Ron Johnston walk into the barn to give one of the goats its pre-operation anesthesia.
While Romine waits for the goats anesthesia to kick in, he checks up on the cats and dogs one by one.
Merlin, a cat, runs away after a shot but is coax back out from under the bushes by some food.
Growing up in the Whitmore Lake area near his grandfather’s farm, Romine enjoyed being around farm animal at an early age.
After two years at the University of Michigan studying business, he decided to switch to veterinary science.
Saline Veterinary Service has 4,500 clients from Tecumseh to Dexter to Ann Arbor, Romine said. Although he has been in the business for decades, the vet said he still gets a lot of satisfaction from taking take of animals.
He describes a pet dog that was brought into the Saline Veterinary Service clinic on a recent weekend night. The dog had swallowed a tube sock, was vomiting and barely breathing. The surgery went smoothly, and Romine expects the dog to make a full recovery.
“It makes you feel good when you can solve the problem,” Romine said.
“You feel like you’ve accomplished something.”
Originally published July 30, 2000
Photo Caption One: James Romine, right, of the Saline Veterinary Service, prepared to examine one of Ron Johnston’s horses during a routine visit to Johnson’s home.
Photo Caption Two: Merlin, one of Johnson’s cats, submits to his annual examination.
Photo Caption Three: Smoke fills the air as Romine dehorns a goat for Johnson.
Photo Caption Four: Romine checks the eyes of one of Johnston’s horses.
Photo Caption Five: Above: Romine prepares a vaccination Photo Caption Six: Above: Johnson, left, chats with Romine after his annual visit to the rural Milan farm.
Photo Credit: Elli Gurkinkel
Sunday, July 30, 2000
Thursday, July 27, 2000
State funding increase will help eliminate deficit
State funding increase will help eliminate deficit
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Tecumseh, Michigan—A state funding increase and other cost-saving measures got the Tecumseh school district a few steps closer to eliminating a potential deficit of up to $215,000 for the 2000-2001 school year.
“We’re $248,000 better off this week than last week,” said Tom Emery, business manager for the district.
The state recently allocated additional money per each K-12 student per for the 2000-2001 school year to school districts including Tecumseh.
Tecumseh schools will get an increase of $63 per student, Emery said at Monday’s school board meeting. Including the increase, the state will now provide $6,098 per student in the Tecumseh school district, he said.
Although the state money is clearly beneficial for the district, it will not immediately change any of Tecumseh’s plans for programs in the 2000-2001 school year. Previously, Tecumseh administrators said despite the looming deficit they still hoped to provide their full slate of new and continuing educational and athletic programs, including the introduction of a “T-1” transitional grade between kindergarten and first grade.
Emery reported that some of the 2000-2001 budget savings resulted from hiring less experienced—but still qualified—school teachers, in addition to the cutting and adjusting of other district costs.
Administrators expect the budget situation to continue to improve.
The goal to focus on now, Tecumseh officials said, is attracting students to the district.
“I’m looking forward to providing great things for kids,” said Richard D. Fauble, Tecumseh superintendent.
Citing a $28 million September bond issue to reconfigure school buildings—which all school trustees and officials support—Fauble said the plan, if passed, would benefit future generations of children and Tecumseh’s steadily growing community.
If more students come to the Tecumseh schools, the state would increase funding to the district.
The community is definitely growing, with up to 30 new housing developments in the works or recently completed in the last year or two, Fauble said.
But school board members have consistently voiced a concern that schools of choice in the area, as well as parochial schools, are attracting potential Tecumseh public schools to pick alternatives.
The game plan, school administrators said, is to plan ahead for growth, keeping the district abreast of competition.
Citing wealthier school districts in the area, Emery said the Ann Arbor school district—a much larger district—gets a few thousand dollars more per student every year, although some of that money comes from locally levied property taxes.
Emery acknowledges that Tecumseh is nowhere near the size of Ann Arbor.
As Tecumseh grows, school officials said, it make sense for the community and adminstrators to be ambitious about securing additional state funding and other grants for school programs.
The more money the district has per student the more likely it is the district has room to plan for additional programs, particularly support programs like the T-1 class, officials said.
The estimated K-12 student population in the fall is 3.230 students. After a slight dip in Tecumseh’s student population during a mid-year count in February, Tecumseh school officials said the informal June count showed that not only were the district’s numbers “slightly up,” but that the district is primed for a modest—yet steady—student growth in the 2000-2001 school year.
Originally published Tuesday, June 27, 2000
The Ann Arbor News
By Pamela Appea
Tecumseh, Michigan—A state funding increase and other cost-saving measures got the Tecumseh school district a few steps closer to eliminating a potential deficit of up to $215,000 for the 2000-2001 school year.
“We’re $248,000 better off this week than last week,” said Tom Emery, business manager for the district.
The state recently allocated additional money per each K-12 student per for the 2000-2001 school year to school districts including Tecumseh.
Tecumseh schools will get an increase of $63 per student, Emery said at Monday’s school board meeting. Including the increase, the state will now provide $6,098 per student in the Tecumseh school district, he said.
Although the state money is clearly beneficial for the district, it will not immediately change any of Tecumseh’s plans for programs in the 2000-2001 school year. Previously, Tecumseh administrators said despite the looming deficit they still hoped to provide their full slate of new and continuing educational and athletic programs, including the introduction of a “T-1” transitional grade between kindergarten and first grade.
Emery reported that some of the 2000-2001 budget savings resulted from hiring less experienced—but still qualified—school teachers, in addition to the cutting and adjusting of other district costs.
Administrators expect the budget situation to continue to improve.
The goal to focus on now, Tecumseh officials said, is attracting students to the district.
“I’m looking forward to providing great things for kids,” said Richard D. Fauble, Tecumseh superintendent.
Citing a $28 million September bond issue to reconfigure school buildings—which all school trustees and officials support—Fauble said the plan, if passed, would benefit future generations of children and Tecumseh’s steadily growing community.
If more students come to the Tecumseh schools, the state would increase funding to the district.
The community is definitely growing, with up to 30 new housing developments in the works or recently completed in the last year or two, Fauble said.
But school board members have consistently voiced a concern that schools of choice in the area, as well as parochial schools, are attracting potential Tecumseh public schools to pick alternatives.
The game plan, school administrators said, is to plan ahead for growth, keeping the district abreast of competition.
Citing wealthier school districts in the area, Emery said the Ann Arbor school district—a much larger district—gets a few thousand dollars more per student every year, although some of that money comes from locally levied property taxes.
Emery acknowledges that Tecumseh is nowhere near the size of Ann Arbor.
As Tecumseh grows, school officials said, it make sense for the community and adminstrators to be ambitious about securing additional state funding and other grants for school programs.
The more money the district has per student the more likely it is the district has room to plan for additional programs, particularly support programs like the T-1 class, officials said.
The estimated K-12 student population in the fall is 3.230 students. After a slight dip in Tecumseh’s student population during a mid-year count in February, Tecumseh school officials said the informal June count showed that not only were the district’s numbers “slightly up,” but that the district is primed for a modest—yet steady—student growth in the 2000-2001 school year.
Originally published Tuesday, June 27, 2000
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