At the top of the county Administration Building on Wednesday, people were picking through piles of old paintings, neckties, dog bowls, signed baseballs and countless other souvenirs accumulated over outgoing Ray Carroll’s nearly 20 years on the board of supervisors.
There was even a preserved head from a bug Carroll found in Costa Rica years ago that, like everything else in the room, was priced to sell.
The one-day office sale, dubbed Pearl Harbor Wednesday by Carroll as a play on Black Friday, raised just more than $2,600 for Casa de Los Niños, which runs a local children’s crisis shelter. Carroll worked for the organization in the late 1980s and said the sale was a “tribute to the people who got me into public service.”
Nicholas McLain, manager of the nonprofit’s Tucson thrift store, said he appreciated the unique fundraiser, adding that it was “the first time I’ve heard of an office sale.”
One entire table was covered in dog products, which Carroll joked had been donated by his adopted Schnauzer Simon, who he added was “more popular.” Among the water bowls and collars was a hot dog costume Simon had worn a time or two too many.
“He can’t wear the same thing every year,” Carroll said.
Among the many other knickknacks and curiosities was a signed poster of Sen. John McCain, a bust of George Washington, a leather vest that Carroll sported gamely, a copy of “Lake Wobegon Days” signed by author Garrison Keillor and a jigsaw puzzle featuring St. Francis of Assisi preaching to a pack of dogs.
With their children out of the home, Carroll said he and his wife, Ann, simply didn’t have room for the stuff in their home after “downsizing.”
“We’re empty-nesters,” he added.
