Dale White was beginning her normal work day as secretary to Circuit Court Judge Robert Baker when she pulled into Hardee’s on South Jefferson Street a week and a half ago to pick up a biscuit.

“I went in to get my biscuit and I had started to back out when I looked at the car beside me, a red Saturn, and scrunched underneath it was a cat that looked an awful lot like Miss Kitty,” said White.

White got out of her car to get a better look and decided the feline was indeed her 10-year-old pet.

“She was so scared. I don’t know where she rode in my truck to get up there without getting all torn up,” said White. “There was a little girl in a car that was waiting in line and she jumped out and was trying to get under the Saturn to get the cat. She and I were on our hands and knees trying to get her out and all of a sudden, here’s five, 10, 12 people standing around saying, ‘Is that your kitty-cat?’”

Just then, a truck drove up to go through the drive-thru.

“The guy in the truck asked if he could help and at that moment a large dog in the cab of the truck started to bark and that’s when Miss Kitty finished disappearing into the car,” said White.

With only Miss Kitty’s tail in reach, White looked up to see local attorney John Plunk pull up with his veterinarian father, Dr. Leonard Plunk, as his passenger.

They suggested a saucer of milk as incentive for Miss Kitty to come out.

“We went in Hardee’s and they gave me some milk and we slid it under the car, but she still wouldn’t come down,” said White.

Next, Dr. Plunk called his partner, Dr. Bruce Young and his assistant, Diane Spence, from their nearby office. They came with a towel and an animal sedative.

“We asked the owner of the Saturn if we could raise the hood. I could see about three inches of Miss Kitty’s back. I reached my hand down in the motor up to my elbow. They can still see her tail hanging down below, but she is too big to pull up through the top of the motor.”

In the meantime, the clock is ticking and White is due at the courthouse. “I thought, ‘I can’t leave Miss Kitty.’ My Dad (Roy Lovell) gave her to me and he’s been dead eight years.”

Spence had a jack in her car and jacked the Saturn up, laid a towel under the car, crawled under and pulled on Miss Kitty’s tail while White pushed on the cat’s back from the top. Still Miss Kitty would not budge and continued to struggle against her rescuers.

“People would go in, get their biscuit and come out, and stand around watching us. That little Lindsay girl said, ‘You’re not going to hurt the kitty?’ Bruce brought the sedation and I put my hand down in to hold her while they injected her. Diane was finally able to pull her out, but Miss Kitty was still scratching. Diane comes out from under the car with her and the cat is all covered with grease.”

By this time, the crowd had grown and people cheered at Kitty’s rescue

“Diane gave me the towel, I wrapped her up and drove her home.”

White said that when she got to work she was still picking cat hair off her work clothes when she called up her e-mail and there was a joke message from her husband, Steve, who was unaware of Miss Kitty’s early-morning misadventure.

“I pull up the e-mail and it’s all about funny cats and the situations they get in and I thought, man, this is nothing to what we’ve been through this morning.”

But White said that while Miss Kitty is none the worse for wear from her tight squeeze, it was an eye-opening experience for her owner.

“That’s the great thing about living in a small town like Athens, people are such good Samaritans,” said White.