Goldpanner mascot, Charlie the dog, is walking a free but uneasy truce after being rescued from Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Control. Charlie may be free but is a marked mascot.

FNSB Officers have tattooed Charlie with a "Q" and that apparently means he has been given the death sentence for the equivalent of his next jay walking charge. Charlie, you see, was recently taken into custody while walking with two of his little masters at Alaskaland. Easily within command control and distance, Charlie was none the less whisked away while the two little barefooted girls were left unprotected and wondering what was happening in the world.

Apparently this means that Charlie, who roams freely throughout baseball parks across the state and is the official greeter of all fans in the Fairbanks ballpark, is subject to confiscation for any offense and therefore wouldn't be on hand for all the young fans to meet and greet in future seasons.

Charlie's cause got widespread attention earlier this summer when he was taken out of his own yard. The yard is not only that of Charlie's masters, but the Goldpanners own property and location of all Panner Vision operations. Charlie, who is a bit of a star, with many appearances on Panner Vision, apparently is subject to being snapped up standing on his own property within feet of people who can control him by the simple saying of "CH".

It is in this same neighborhood where the harmless Charlie is considered by some to be something of a hero for his dogged determination in warding away an agitated moose threatening the same little two girl masters just last winter.

The Goldpanners have retained Charlie's services for next season but are fearful it may take extraordinary means to assure his bringing joy to the faces of the little fans next summer at Growden Park.
 

2004