During a twice-annual Kid's Day at Gottschalk's on Saturday, Toddles the Clown was painting faces, three puppies were available for adoption and two Carson City Sheriff's Deputies were fingerprinting children.
"That way if, God forbid, the child runs away or is lost or abducted, that information can be presented to the sheriff's department," deputy Jeff Scott said.
Along with the set of fingerprints and mini lollipops, the deputies had two-sided information sheets for parents to fill out.
"It gets the parents to put it all down and that way, in case of emergency, it's all together and ready to go," Scott said.
"Yeah, if you've got a packet like that you're ready to rock 'n' roll," deputy Dan Tecca said. The two deputies fingerprinted about 40 children between 10 a.m and noon.
Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong was also there.
"We're doing everything we can to get back into the community," he said. "And what's happening is we're opening lines of communication."
Furlong said studies have shown by the time children are 6 years old they have developed a negative image of law enforcement. In an effort to bridge the gap, Furlong gave his tie pin -- a polished brass sheriff's star -- to a young girl Saturday.
"Her mom said she's just scared of police and so you just do any little thing you can to turn that around. A little bit goes a long way," Furlong said.
At another table Carson's Nancy Smith, a board member for the New Hope Pet Alliance and a registered veterinary technician at Sierra Veterinary Hospital, was standing by with two young black dogs.
"These are two very adoptable Lab/Bernard mix puppies," she said.
A third puppy had already been adopted out -- she was a shar-pei/Labrador mix who had been abandoned.
"We were here less than 30 seconds and they fell in love with her immediately," Smith said. "Shar," as she was called, went home with her new family to South Lake Tahoe.
Pet adoptions, hosted by the pet alliance and the Carson City Animal Control, will happen throughout the summer, Animal Services officer Pat Wiggins said.
He said they hope to stage adoptions at the Carson City Rendezvous and the Farmer's Market.
Gottschalk's store manager Sue St. Marie watched Toddles the Clown (Cathy Rumble of South Lake Tahoe) paint flowers on a smiling face.
Kids Day, St. Marie said, is related to the release of a new line of all-ages clothing called "GK." She described the line as basics in fashion exclusive to Gottschalk's.
IF YOU GO
What: Fingerprinting by Carson City Sheriff's Department
When: 10 a.m.-noon Saturday at the North Carson Street Albertson's; April 19 at Raley's; April 26 at the East Highway 50 Albertson's and May 3 at Scolari's on Highway 50 East.
