Special to Gulf Coast Newspapers

Willie Bean Roscoe P Coltrane, an 8-year old yellow Labrador Retriever, now has the prestigious title of Honorary Board Member of the Baldwin County Humane Society (BARC!)

Willie Bean The Political Watchdog gained notoriety last year when he ran for Mayor of Fairhope and subsequently President.

His Web site www.WillieBeanForMayor.com gets traffic from all over the globe. His MySpace and Facebook pages have thousands of friends who regularly blog with Willie.

Willie Bean caught the ceremonial first pitch at a Mobile Bay Bears game and caught the ear of Late Night with David Letterman.

He received letters and visits from Sweden, Brazil and Italy; and appeared twice on MTV Canada to help choose their candidates for Prime Minister by licking their photos.

Just this week CoastalAlabamaTV.com interviewed Willie as a potential candidate for a future U.S. House of Representatives seat.

What Willie Bean is most known for, though, is his love of kids around the Eastern Shore. He leads the First Friday Fun Walks at Fairhope Intermediate.

Tress Turner, his owner, has always been a staunch supporter of the spay/neuter program offered through BARC! She donated portions of Willie Bean’s campaign contributions to BARC! and attends many of their events.

“Tress and Willie’s community involvement in Baldwin County is why BARC! approached Turner about Willie Bean serving as an Honorary Board Member,” said Gwynn. “As an animal welfare organization, we felt our human directors would benefit from having a canine prospective. And, best of all, Willie is adamant that he will not only represent other canines, but cats and other creatures BARC! works to protect.”

Recently BARC! Board Members met Willie Bean at his campaign headquarters (The Coffee Loft in Fairhope) to induct him. Immediately following, Willie Bean gave a crowd-pleasing acceptance speech by licking Maria Gwynn, president, and Prima Plauche’ newly-appointed Media Volunteer. To view the video go to www.baldwinhumane.org/index.php/blog/

Willie Bean’s first official duty is Grand Marshall for the BARC! For A Cure dog walk on Sept. 19 at Loxley Municipal Park. Next, he will officiate at the Cove Dog Olympics on October 10 at Pirate’s Cove in Josephine.

Gwynn is a founding member of the Baldwin County Humane Society. The Society incorporated in 1979 as a not-for-profit county-wide animal welfare organization. For more information go to www.BaldwinHumane.org or call (251) 928-4584 or e-mail info@humanesociety.com.