Meet The Country’s Only Elected Dogcatcher, Vermonter Zeb Towne
Zeb Towne, of Duxbury, is reportedly the only elected dogcatcher in the United States. Last week he was reelected without opposition. Photo by Amy Kolb Noyes for VPR
It’s a political insult that dates back to the 1800s and has been used as recently as last fall by the President: “He couldn’t get elected dogcatcher.” Often considered hyperbole, since there are no longer elected dogcatchers in the U.S., there’s a town in central Vermont where it could be taken quite literally.
During the lunch break of the annual town meeting in the small Vermont town of Duxbury, voters line up in the Crossett Brook Middle School cafeteria for a $5 potluck put on by the town’s historical society.
The first guy in line is a tall red-head with a graying beard, plaid shirt, wool vest and a camo baseball hat. Everyone here knows his name: Zeb (short for Zebulon) Towne and he is Duxbury’s elected dogcatcher.