Press-Telegram\u2019s<\/a> Greg Mellen <\/p>\n\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for Lucky, Joe wouldn\u2019t have survived [this long] with cancer,\u201d Lawbonoski said. \u201cLucky gave Joe a reason to live.<\/p>\n
According to Pastor James Proper, Joe joined Our Saviour\u2019s Lutheran church a few years ago, worshipping with the congregation and attending Bible study. Pastor Proper offered him a home in assisted living, but Joe preferred to stay outside and be the guardian at the church\u2019s gate, doing odd jobs and spending his nights on the church grounds with Lucky sleeping by his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe washed windows and cars from his wheelchair,\u201d Pastor Proper said. \u201cLucky cared for Joe as much as Joe cared for Lucky. They were each others lifelines and best friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mellen also wrote that the workers at Fire Station 2 were sharing babysitting duties with Katie Magee, an ER nurse at St. Mary\u2019s, and were seeking a loving home for Lucky. We naturally wanted to help, but when we went to visit with Lucky, found that there was already a long list of people who wanted to take her home. The fire station personnel and Magee are sorting through the list; they all thank people for their thoughtfulness but aren\u2019t accepting any more adoption applications. Lucky is staying with her friends at the station for now; she\u2019s well cared for, loved and clean. She wagged her tail in the equivalent of a weak smile and allowed us to pet her, but ours weren\u2019t the hands she was longing for.<\/p>\n
There will be a memorial service for Joe Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 11 a.m. at Our Saviour\u2019s Lutheran Church. Lucky will not be in attendance; The station personnel believe that she needs some quiet time, as she seems to be realizing that Joe won\u2019t be coming back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that people, if they want a dog, contact the shelter or a rescue,\u201d said Fire Station 2\u2019s Captain Greg Curiel as he considered the list of ready homes for dogs. We wonder if there would have been so many candidates for Lucky if she hadn\u2019t been so well known and if her story weren\u2019t so poignant. Every pet who\u2019s lost a human companion in any way has his or her own sad story.<\/p>\n
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart.\u201d – Anonymous<\/p>\n
Our Saviour\u2019s Memorial Church is located at 370 Junipero Ave. (562) 434-7400).<\/p>\nThe Long Beach Police Department has released preliminary information on the hit-and-run, which isn\u2019t intended as a formal investigative report. The information described a late-model white Astro van with a partial license plate of 4BX429, driven by an individual who witnesses described as a male Asian or Hispanic in his late 40s to early 50s with short spiky hair and a square face. The individual fled the scene in his vehicle after the collision. Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Long Beach Police Accident Investigations Detectives Sirilo Garcia or David Lauro at (562) 570-7355.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Joe Galaszewski was one of the regulars who hung out on Second Street in Belmont Shore, and whom everyone knew – both Joe and his dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":70254,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pets","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5746"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Joe Galaszewski was one of the regulars who hung out on Second Street in Belmont Shore, and whom everyone knew. He usually could be found in front of the Rite-Aid on Second Street and Nieto Avenue chatting with passersby. People would frequently toss a dollar or two into a cup he kept in front of him\u2014not that he ever asked for any money, but the bare stump that was all that remained of the leg he left in \u2019Nam was probably an inducement. It could also have been his friendliness and open manner; Joe enjoyed talking to people.<\/p>\n