9 Good News Stories: Hear And Read Their Words; Captain's Big Gig

ACROSS AMERICA — Despite having hauled home dozens of gloves, hundreds of masks, a bathing suit, a camera and a slew of other items, Esme really is the cat’s meow.

Some folks have dubbed her “klepto-cat.” She really is. The black cat sneaking around a Beaverton, Oregon, neighborhood “even once brought a taxidermy bat” home from who knows where, Esme’s owner, Kate Felmet, told Patch.

To square things, Felmet posted a sign telling her neighbors how to retrieve their stuff.

Public shaming was involved. “My cat is a thief,” she wrote. By Tim Moran for Portland, Oregon, Patch

The Silent Messenger

The artist known as “Carry Chalk” keeps her true identify close to the vest. The woman — who has been chalking words on the sidewalks of Alameda, California, since 2018 — wants people to focus on her words, not on her identify. “You are beautiful and deeply loved,” she wrote in one typical message. “I know,” she said, “that the chalk finds the people it’s meant to.” By Bea Karnes for Alameda, California, Patch

Hear The Feelings

Carlton Johnson is a homeless man who sells the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C. He's also a poet. Although Johnson began writing poetry when he was young, the poems he writes today reflect the things he sees and feels when he's out on the streets. He shares them often. "I call it street slamming," he told Patch. "They'll see what I see, but they'll hear what I'm feeling." By Michael O’Connell for Washington, D.C., Patch

Power Of 80,000 Pennies

A remarkable thing happened for a Virginia shelter serving people who’ve experienced domestic and sexual violence. An estranged father dumped his last child support payment — all in pennies, 80,000 of them — on the lawn of his daughter and her mother. They gathered up all the coins and donated the equivalent — $800 — to the Safe Harbor shelter. And that caused hundreds of others to raise another $47,000. The timing is fortuitous because services to crime victims nationwide are losing a key source of funding July 1. By Beth Dalbey for Across America Patch

His Higher Purpose

Captain, the Washington Capitals tam dog since 2019, always had a bigger purpose as a service dog to assist a veteran, active duty service member or first responder with disabilities. Captain's new journey has started, having been placed with a retired veteran with disabilities. "When I puppy-raised Captain, I gave him a really good foundation of many different skills," said Deana Stone of America’s VetDogs. "My favorite that he did was rest, just put his head in someone's lap and allow them to kind of decompress a little bit." By Emily Leayman for Washington, D.C., Patch

Adoption Symmetry

There’s a certain symmetry in a San Diego cop’s decision to adopt a dog. Detective James “Chappie” Hunter, who lost one of his legs in a 2013 motorcycle crash, adopted Chloe, a 9-year-old Shih Tzu who went through a partial amputation of both of her back feet. Hunter and his family fostered Chloe, then decided they couldn’t part with her. By Kristina Houck for Santee, California, Patch

A Place To Heal

When it comes down to it, what Al-Tariq Best wants is simple: a way for young people affected by violence to address their trauma. The new HUBB Arts and Trauma Center serves youths on both sides of the equation: those who experienced violence and those who inflicted it. “I want to make sure that all young people affected by violence, including survivors and those who have harmed others, can address their trauma ...,” he said. By Eric Kiefer for Newark, New Jersey, Patch

Give It Back Before We Get Thirsty

It wasn’t quite that dire when a town in Florida accidentally sold its water tower. Folks joked on social media their water rate would probably go up, and others gave a thrashing to the city officials who let the sale slip through. The accidental buyer did give it back right away. But the whole thing has many people face-palming. By Beth Dalbey for Tampa, Florida, Patch

A Dog And His Fawn

The friendship between two animals, in this case a dog and baby deer, can be as tight as human kinship. Consider Ralph Dorn’s goldendoodle, Harvey, who risked his life to save a fawn struggling in the middle of the lake in Culpeper, Virginia. Harvey swam out to meet the young deer, then swam alongside it until they reached the shore. Harvey stayed with the fawn and didn’t want to leave. "He just kept interacting with it, licking it, caring for it," Dorn said. By Tim Moran for Fredericksburg, Virginia, Patch