Archive for the ‘Legislation’ Category

It is now the Advent season leading to Christmas, the birth of our Savior.  Trying to keep the religious significance of this increasingly commercial season is hard with all thy hype going on.  I just hope that we all remember the food pantries so in need in this economy and give any donations of clothing and food we can.  I for one will not be passing up the Salvation Army Santas this year as the Salvation Army in our county served Thanksgiving dinner to many more people in need than ever this year. 

The state of Ohio is so broke that many social services that help the poor may be cut back. However, the legislation to create a Kennel Authority in HB223/SB173 is in committee. Does not make sense.  There is also a tax being proposed by our EPA in Washington that would tax every farm animal for the amount of emissions it creates.  The “fart tax” it is being labeled and I am not kidding.  More on this and other legislation next time.

 

California has defeated AB 1634 which would have changed the face of breeding dogs in the State.  It was a hard battle, but the voices of sanity won.  Now there are two more pending cases that must be defeated.  In Chicago, there is a mandatory spay/neuter law being proposed in the city.  It must be defeated; if you live in Chicago, please check out this looming legislation and let your voices be heard against it.  In Michigan, newly proposed legislation would again attempt to control and curtail breeding, but as in Chicago and California would hit the reputable breeders the hardest.  Ohio has such legislation also being proposed but there has been enough pressure on the State Legislature, that the two bills, HB223 and SB173, have not yet been passed.

Let’s look at the new developments in Michigan:

From the AKC:

Michigan Breeder Bill Introduced [Thursday, September 04, 2008]

Yesterday, Representative Bill Caul of Mt. Pleasant introduced Michigan House

Bill 6395, which proposes to strictly regulate virtually all responsible dog

breeders. It is imperative that all concerned responsible dog breeders in

Michigan contact the members of the House Agriculture Committee, which currently

has cognizance of the bill, and their elected Representatives and express their

vehement opposition to this bill.

The American Kennel Club opposes the concept of breeding permits, breeding bans,

or mandatory spay/neuter of purebred dogs. Instead, we support reasonable and

enforceable laws that protect the welfare and health of purebred dogs and do not

restrict the rights of breeders and owners who take their responsibilities

seriously.

If adopted, HB 6395 would:

* Define anyone who sells or offers for sale more than two dogs per

year, or more than one litter of dogs per year, as a “pet seller.”

* Mandate that those who qualify as pet sellers to acquire an

annual pet seller license from their county animal control shelter at

a cost of $200/year.

* Require an applicant for a pet seller license to submit his or

her fingerprints with a license application for a criminal history

and FBI background check.

* Give discretion to county animal control shelters to deny

applications for pet seller licenses, regardless of outcome of

background investigation.

* Call for pet sellers to comply with administrative rules

regarding housing that will be financially detrimental to responsible

breeders who operate out of their homes.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Michigan residents should contact the members of the House Agriculture Committee

listed below and their elected Representatives and express their strong

opposition to this onerous legislation.

Michigan House Agriculture Committee:

Representative Jeff Mayes, Chairman

S1285 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-8881

Phone: 517-373-0158

jeffmayes@house.mi.gov

Representative Barb Byrum, Majority Vice-Chair

S1086 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-9430

Phone: 517-373-0587

barbbyrum@house.mi.gov

Representative Kathy Angerer

S0989 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-7757

Phone: 517-373-1792

kathyangerer@house.mi.gov

Representative Terry L. Brown

S1188 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-9852

Phone: 517-373-0476

terrybrown@house.mi.gov

Representative Kathleen Law

S0787 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-5922

Phone: 517-373-0855

kathleenlaw@house.mi.gov

Representative Gabe Leland

S0689 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-5985

Phone: 517-373-6990

gabeleland@house.mi.gov

Representative Joel Sheltrown

S1387 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-5495

Phone: 517-373-3817

joelsheltrown@house.mi.gov

Representative Howard Walker

S1388 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-9420

Phone: 517-373-1766

howardwalker@house.mi.gov

Representative Neal Nitz

N1097 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-5918

Phone: 517-373-1796

nealnitz@house.mi.gov

Representative Richard Ball

S1189 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-7937

Phone: 517-373-0841

richardball@house.mi.gov

Representative Arlan B. Meekhof

N1193 House Office Building

P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-9830

Phone: 517-373-0838

arlanbmeekhof@house.mi.gov

To find your Michigan State Representative, go to

http://house.michigan.gov/find_a_rep.asp

For more information, contact AKC’s Government Relations Department

at (919) 816-3720, or e-mail doglaw@akc.org.

 

 

 

 

Food for thought written by Alice Fix and reprinted here with permission:

Do You Know the Real PETA and
Humane Society of the United States?
An Editorial by Alice Fix

You will not often see negative articles in our newsletters, but every now and again we are forced to make a stand, and to speak out about what we know is for the better good for all involved. This is one such instance. We can no longer stand back and watch to
see what will happen. I think that it is past time to publicly expose the real agenda of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and their cohorts in crime, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and the animal rights agenda.
For many years we have all enjoyed the companionship of our dogs and other animals.We have been busy playing with them, taking care of them, finding fun things that we could do with them, and generally just having a great time with all the animals that
live in our houses. While we have been enjoying the love and fun that our animals provide to us, there have been groups out there organizing on a grand scale trying to get our rights to own those animals taken away. Yes, that is exactly what I meant.
Make no mistake about it. These people have organized on a large scale to infiltrate many major city councils and governments in the country to spread their propaganda.
Their agenda is easily defined and simple. Their main objective is to take away your right to own animals. They do not want you to have the companionship of any animal, whether that is a dog, cat, horse, mouse, frog, fish or any other animal that you can think of. They are pooling their resources to get this accomplished, and have millions of dollars in their war chest for this effort.
This is a statement made by Ingrid Newkirk, the President of PETA: “I don’t use the word ‘pet.’ I think it’s speciesist language. I prefer ‘companion animal.’ For one thing, we would no longer allow breeding. People could not create different breeds. There
would be no pet shops. If people had companion animals in their homes, those animals would have to be refugees from the animal shelters and the streets. You would have a protective relationship with them just as you would with an orphaned child. But as the
surplus of cats and dogs (artificially engineered by centuries of forced breeding) declined, eventually companion animals would be phased out, and we would return to a more symbiotic relationship – enjoyment at a distance.” — The Harper’s Forum Book,
Jack Hitt, ed., 1989, p.223. It is interesting that Ms. Newkirk used the word “speciesist”. Allwords.com defines that word as follows:

The discrimination against, and exploitation of, animals by humans in the belief that humans are superior to all other species of animals and can therefore justify putting them to their own use.
One of the animal rights mantras is that all animals are created to be equal to all humans, and should have the same rights as humans.
Just in case it still isn’t clear to you what their agenda is, here are a few more quotes from Ingrid Newkirk:

“One day, we would like an end to pet shops and the breeding of animals. [Dogs] would pursue their natural lives in the wild … they would have full lives, not wasting at home for someone to come home in the evening and pet them and then sit there and
watch TV.”
— The Chicago Daily Herald, 3/1/90

“In the end, I think it would be lovely if we stopped this whole notion of pets altogether.” — Newsday, 2/21/88

Who is Ingrid Newkirk, and why should we care what she has to say about anything? In the 1970s, Newkirk worked for Montgomery County (Maryland), and then for the District of Columbia, as an animal protection officer and deputy sheriff, before becoming DC’s first female Poundmaster in 1978. She co-founded PETA in 1980 with
established animal-rights activist Alex Pacheco. (1) PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but in my opinion, there is nothing ethical in what they
do. Ms. Newkirk has very close ties with several groups identified by the FBI as known terrorists groups, such as Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The animal rights groups are very well organized, and when you check closely, you will see many of the same names sitting on the boards of these radical groups. They are intertwined and closely
linked through their finances, and the work that they do.

PETA operates on an annual budget of $ 29,000,000. Most of this is from donations made by ordinary citizens that don’t know the real work of PETA. Many people think that they are out to save the lives of animals after seeing all of their ads on TV and in the newspapers. That is why millions are donated to them each year. In Virginia, the home state of PETA, in 2004, PETA adopted out 361 animals, and
euthanized 2,278, according to their records. (2) Those figures aren’t good. That means that they euthanized 86.3% of their animals and only adopted out 13.7%. These
figures come directly from PETA’s Annual Report and from their 2004 Tax Return. It doesn’t seem like they used that $29 million for the betterment of the majority of the animals that they came in contact with. So where is the money going? It is being
spent for publicity to raise more money for one thing. It is also being used for legislative purposes. They have placed key people in city governments all over the country to try to influence legislation to take your pet ownership rights away. And they are having a lot of success with it. You need to understand the basic difference between the “animal welfare” groups and “animal rights” groups. Although the names might sound like they have the same objectives, there is a big difference. Animal welfare groups are working to see that all animals are treated humanely. Animal rights groups are working to see that all ownership of animals comes to an end.
As I said, PETA has close ties with many other organizations. One of those organizations is the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). People donate millions to the HSUS each year, thinking that their money is going to save the lives of millions of animals. Nothing could be further from the truth. The HSUS does not own
a single animal shelter anywhere in the country. Although many shelters have the words Humane Society in their names, they are not associated in any way with the HSUS. The HSUS does not sponsor any spay or neuter clinic anywhere in the country. They do donate a very small percent of the annual budget to a few local humane
societies, around $2 million annually, which just happens to be less than the amount that they spend in travel each year. Their major money is sent on fund raising and legislative activity. In 2005 they spent $28 million for public mailings, $6 million in vegan education, $10 million in legislative campaigns and litigation. Their income for
that year was close to $125 million.

The HSUS was founded in 1954 as an animal welfare organization. But in the early 1980’s, just about the same time as PETA was founded, they began to change to an animal rights organization. In the 1990’s the personnel began to change to better fit with their new purpose, and today many of the personnel at HSUS have ties to PETA, including the current President, Wayne Pacelle.

This is an interesting quote from Wayne Pacelle: “We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding …One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” – Animal People News (May 1, 1993)

When you combine other statements that he has made, with the above statement, in my opinion the meaning of this statement is that if we could spay and neuter all animals, we could eliminate pet ownership within one generation. “One generation and out” would mean to me that they are gone and are eliminated in only one
generation. Quietly sitting back and maybe not being aware, we are now allowing the HSUS to make presentations at our local schools, with the definite purpose to educate our children about how bad pet ownership is, to indoctrinate children to the thought that animals should be free and not kept as pets. They are doing this in the same way that they have infiltrated city councils and local governments all across the country, quietly and matter-of-factly.
“Shortly after taking office, Pacelle announced a merger with the Fund For Animals which have assets of over $20 million, and the Doris Day Animal League. The combined group estimated its 2005 budget at “over $95 million” and also announced the formation of a new “political organization,” which will “allow for a more
substantial investment of resources in political and lobbying activities.” So that is where we find ourselves today. With the HSUS and PETA combined annual budgets of over $124 million for political and lobbying efforts to take away our rights to own animals. And that figure does not include the many splinter organizations that
have been formed from these two major organizations. We are in an uphill battle now, and it will be the fight of our lives to keep our rights to own pets.

They are going at it from many different angles. One way is to get Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) passed. The banning of Pit-Bulls all over the country is a good example. That has caught on like wildfires. The animal rights groups have said if they can just get one breed banned, then it will be easy to add others to it at a later date,
until eventually all breeds are banned. Another way that they are going about it is to have a mandatory spay and neuter law in place. Just think about it, if all domestic animals are spayed and neutered, when they die, there will be no more domestic animals. Those same words have been said by Wayne Pacelle, the President of the HSUS. They have a very well thought out and planned agenda, and they are counting on the ignorance of the American people to get their agenda accomplished. Well guess what: Ignorance can be overcome by education. The American people may be ignorant about the facts, but they are not stupid. They can be educated. We were ignorant before 9-11, and look what effect that had. It caused all Americans to become educated and unite and fight to prevent that from happening again. The difference here is that we are being attacked from within our own country. We are under strong attack by the animal rights groups, and I hope that we don’t just stand by and allow it to happen.

The animal rights groups are publicly stating that we need to get laws passed so that they can close down all the puppy mills and commercial breeding facilities that have their animals living in inhumane conditions. Just about everyone would agree with
the idea that animals should be treated humanely. But that is just the vehicle that they are using to try to do away with all animal ownership, period. And that is not a statement that they are being all that public about.
You can become active in this fight by telling your friends and neighbors what is going on. You can be an instrument of education. You can also fight this kind of legislation when it is presented in your area. Go to the City Council meetings and make your voice heard. Write letters to the state and federal government officials to offer your services to be on any animal related committee. In short get the word out to any and all of your friends that own pets. Let them know what is going on. If enough people stop funding the animal rights organizations, we can put them out of business. There is not much that they can do without operating funds.
The next time you think about making a donation to any of these organizations, you had better think long and hard about whether you really want your money being spent to take away your rights.

PETA
HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES
FARM SANCTUARY
FUND FOR ANIMALS
DORIS DAY ANIMAL LEAGUE
EARTH SAVE
GREEN PEACE
PHYSICIANS FOR RESPONSIBLE MEDICINE
ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT (ALF)
FRIENDS OF ANIMALS
IN DEFENSE OF ANIMALS

Right now the HSUS has started their “First Strike Campaign”. I find that an interesting choice of names. At visualthesaurus.com they define first strike as follows:

First strike: An attack that is intended to seize or inflict damage on or destroy an objective.

Most people think that attack is on inhumane treatment of animals. They still don’t know it is an attack to take your animals away from you. Last year over 10 million people donated money to the HSUS because of their massive spending on advertising.
Most of those 10 million people had no idea what their money was actually going to support.  Better places to donate your money that will fight for your rights to own animals are listed below. These groups are working hard to protect your right to own animals, and
to expose the true agenda to much of the animal legislation going on all over the country.

NATIONAL ANIMAL INTEREST ALLIANCE

http://www.naiaonline.org/
SPORTSMEN’S AND ANIMAL OWNERS’ VOTING ALLIANCE
http://saova.org/
AMERICAN DOG OWNERS ASSOCIATION
http://www.adoa.org/index.cfm
U S SPORTSMAN ALLIANCE
http://www.ussportsmen.org/
You can either make your donations work for you or against you. That decision is
yours to make.
Footnotes for Reference:
1) http://www.activistcash.com/biography.cfm/bid/456
2) www,nokillnow.comPetaDVACreporting.pdf
3) http://www.animalscam.com/quotes.cfm
4)http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136

This article will first appear in the March, 2007 issue (Volume V Issue 2) of the Rocky Mountain Wrinkle, the newsletter of the Centennial Chinese Shar-Pei Club, Inc. Any reference to this article must give full credit to Rocky Mountain Wrinkle, and the Centennial
Chinese Shar-Pei Club, Inc.

Permission must be granted to use any articles from our newsletters, and we must get a credit line for any article that is granted permission to use, with a link to our website. Anyone wishing to reprint any of our articles should contact Alleydoll3@aol.com for written permission.

Our life has been in an uproar with our moving house.  We got possession on January 28th and the fun began!!–and what fun it has been.  We hired painters to paint (now I should be able to paint, but when I paint I get paint everywhere, mostly on me clear through to my underwear creating my new look in multicolored bras) We hired tile guys to put down really stunning porcelain tile in the rooms of the house which were not already tiled leaving only the bedrooms to worry about with sneaky little Cavaliers.  We hired a decorator just to put up the Staffordshire dog wall border that I have hoarded for 11 years for some reason never putting it up in our former home.  I guess I knew this home was waiting.  We love this house and its setting, truly love it.  The only flies in the ointment are that the dog yards are not finished due to weather and that we have not even had time to  get our former house and farm ready to sell. We moved in on February 21 and it has been non stop since.  Only a few of the dogs are with us as we have no fencing yet; we have barricaded the deck which connects the doors to the all season room that is going to be our dog room and the all season room which is already the family room/dog room. While the deck is an adequate size for the dogs to potty, we really want to be able to let our dogs run as they always have. Soon we hope!

 

 

 

 

These are two pictures of the outside of our new home.  It is so open and airy on the inside with two master bedrooms with their own baths on the main floor. Upstairs is an office loft with wrap around office set up, a bedroom with another complete office set up, huge attic rooms which could be finished as additional rooms, a guest bedroom and full bath.  It truly is the house for us.  We found it accidentally, and were under contract with all financing within two days. The way things happened could only be the work of God as I was so ready for a change and this house was the necessary impetus I needed.  I love my Cavaliers and still want to breed, but not on the scale we have done in the past with the search for the next great show dog or producer. For some reason, after all our success, joy and heartache of breeding and showing purebred dogs, I have lost my drive to succeed at the level that was so important to me in the past. There are so many interests that Al and I want to pursue together and independently right now; Al is my main concern  and I do not want to regret losing time with him because of the heavy show and judging travel schedules that have been my life in the past.  Al and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last Monday.  I cannot believe the years have gone so fast.  I got married later in life and Al has been my only husband.  It certainly has been better than following my original plan to go into the convent; I would have never been able to follow all, or to be truthful, any of the rules.  Just ask my poor husband!

Our biggest worry right now is selling our farm. Carrying two mortgages is going to get old fast. The housing market is absolutely awful here.  We have a great realtor who has been our friend for many years and we have a great property to sell, but the market is awful right now.  Ohio is one of the leading states in foreclosures and still new houses are being built all the time.  We have subdivisions standing empty.  The economy is really not good here with so many companies moving or closing and so many jobs being cut.  I pray that our next president will be blessed with the capability to put us back on track, address the many issues challenging us, and keep the good of our country and its future foremost in his or her mind rather than political party or personal gain.  May our next president have the courage, the fortitude, and the ability to truly chart a new course for us.  Would you not like to go shopping to buy products “made in America” rather than other countries.  I cannot believe how few product seem to be made in our own country!  We really do need a new direction!

As soon as we get our new home organized and really livable with most of the little odds and ends completed, I will be moving back to the old house where my friend Cindy has been staying with my dogs; when I planned on living in the old house to take care of the dogs and get the house ready to sell, our friend Cindy said she and her Boxers would move in and stay so that I could go with Al.  I do so appreciate her kindness;  I am up there to see our dogs every day, but am frantically busy here putting finishing touches on this house.  I am so ADD that I am always in a frenzy trying to find this or that in the upheaval of unpacking boxes.  I just get everything in order and one of us brings up another load of boxes.  My local friends have been so wonderful helping all they can despite their busy schedules.  

On a different note, more and more anti dog and anti breeding legislation is being introduced throughout our country.  If we do not band together and fight for the right to breed and own dogs and without so many specific breeds being banned, we must be afraid that dog breeding and maybe dog ownership will be challenged at every level.  It is the PETA goal, buried in their manifesto, to end the ownership of animals. With PETA’a organization, money, and political clout,, PETA along with the Humane Society of the United States, must be challenged as to their beliefs, practices, and actions. Please become proactive in this fight.  Keep up with what your elected officials are doing in your community and state before it is too late to fight back. 

Until next time… may God bless!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, my darling husband who was all set to move, has decided not to move–this is after I started the huge task of sorting through every hidden hoard of “STUFF” in the house. The property we wanted to buy that started all this moving business turned out to have serious flaws and we simply cannot find anyplace nicer than our place despite the work of this property. Al is now facing a couple of possible surgeries and now is not the time to take on the physical tasks that come with moving. I do not know how we will ever tackle cleaning out all Al’s stash of baling wire, string, tools, nuts, bolts, pieces of lumber he might just need “someday,” farm equipment, the hay elevator (which I bought for him for his birthday we first moved here–how romantic but you should see what he buys for me! This year I got a Mantis rototiller!); fencing; fence posts, lawn equipment; old lawn chairs that he might need someday–the list could go on. Al says not to worry, he will “take care of it.” Yeah, right! Men say that women are pack rats, but at least what we keep makes some sense. I have gone through years of dog magazines; clothes from my skinny days, to my really heavy days, back to halfway skinny days, back up rotund days, and now wherever the hell I am size wise;old books; notes from high school classes; old term papers; years of dog pictures of assorted breeds, furniture that just may have a spot someday; piles of clutter and more clutter. If I cannot fill up every horizontal surface of the house, I do not seem to be content. I am making a real effort to declutter, but not being as successful as I would like I am afraid. Still, in case we ever do move, I will be prepared . . . HAH!

Dog wise, we are raising a couple of lovely litters and may let a couple of puppies go to show homes as we are serious about not showing dogs. I am looking at a couple of really super looking puppies and when I feel myself weakening, I just remind myself that the last thing that we need right now is the effort it takes to show dogs at the level we have shown. We have just let a few puppies go on our regular spay/neuter contracts to spectacular pet homes in Florida, Oklahoma, and Ohio over the last month or so and gritted our teeth as we kissed the puppies goodbye as they were really nice show prospects that we would have liked to evaluate longer. One of them went to our friends Melissa and Marshall Gimple who just lost their Bounce son at over fourteen. So now they have a ruby Bounce son in their home to be company to their ruby girl “Tessa” who they got from us several years ago.

We have never sold many show dogs as we keenly feel the responsibility of protecting this breed and have been control freaks about where our dogs go. Sadly I have made grave mistakes in judgment in choosing a few show homes; even on co ownerships one cannot control what others do once a dog leaves one’s property. One can hear horror stories in all breeds about co ownerships and selling show dogs; sadly many of the stories are true. I have also been so lucky in continuing to co own dogs with Margaret Valentine and Sherri Meyer who have become very close friends and great partners. Cindy Chandler and Jeff and Tami Byroads have also been wonderful to work with our dogs in continued co ownership and friendship. There are a few people out there whom we consider totally trustworthy enough and we look forward to perhaps seeing a few Rattlebridge dogs continue to be shown in their hands. Of course the puppies we are looking at for show prospects may not turn out to be show dogs and we may then be looking for wonderful pet homes for them.

I am now deep into working on HB 223/SB 173 which is being proposed in both houses; termed the “puppy mill” bill, this bill has real ramifications for legitimate show breeders. My friend, Bobbi Brady, AKC delegate from the Central Ohio Kennel Club, and I have succeeded in meeting with two Ohio Senators, including the sponsor of the bill. We will meet next week with the sponsor of the bill in the House of Representatives. Walt Bebout, director of legislation for the AKC has been most helpful to us. So far our legislators are at least willing to listen to our concerns. The wave of anti dog and anti breeding legislation throughout our country is very scary. The so called animal activists are well organized and well financed; our ability to own pets is being challenged as if one reads the fine print in Peta’s manifesto one would see that Peta is against any ownership of animals.

Enough for tonight. Thank you to my friend and webmaster, Roxy Hayes, for continuing to monitor our website and news items.

 

In our rural county, dog fighting has been a long time concern. It is barbaric to be sure and goes on in many venues from rural areas like ours, to deep country, in well to do areas hidden by security fences, and of course in urban areas.  Dog fighting, like cock fighting, is barbaric and in fact goes back to less civilized times. Dogs have been used to bait bulls, bait bear, and fight each other since very early times.  In fact some breeds were developed from these earlier uses of dogs.  One would think that in our society today, such horrible games would not be taking place, but then one would think that mankind would no longer be practicing genocide and waging war.  The veneer of civilization is indeed thin.

We all know how our country seems to revere celebrities and watch and sometimes copy every thing a celebrity does.  I feel celebrities have a real responsibility especially to our youth to set examples for moral and lawful behavior.  Many celebrities fail in setting a rightful example; headlines center around drugs and rehab, public fights and disturbances, outlandish behavior and so forth. For Michael Vick, a big time NFL celebrity, hero and role model to our sports crazy youth, to be brought up on charges on a felony so heinous as dog fighting, is not to be condoned in any fashion.  In this country, one is innocent until proven guilty; Michael Vick may be innocent, but dog fighting is so horrific and ugly, that Mr. Vick should be suspended from the NFL until his innocence is proven.  The case against Mr. Vick seems solid. Other athletes have been suspended pending investigations and so should Mr. Vick.  If you feel the same way as I do, let the NFL know how you feel.  Dog fighting is immoral.

Please read the following letters to the NFL (permission to cross post has been given)from the Doberman Pinscher Club of America at    http://dpca.org/Legisltv/documents/Roger_Goodell_Letter_July_20.pdf

and the American Kennel Club letter which I applaud is below:

RONALD H. MENAKER                            DENNIS B. SPRUNG

Chairman of the Board president and chief executive officer

July 20, 2007

Roger Goodell

Commissioner, National Football League

280 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10017

Dear Commissioner Goodell:

As the Board Chairman and President & CEO of a 123-year-old sport-governing body, we are very much aware of the conflicting pressures you face in the matter of the Michael Vick indictment.

Michael Vick is not only a nationally known superstar, but he is also the face of the National Football League?s Atlanta franchise. The Atlanta Falcons will not take any unilateral action on the matter because of the negative impact both in their financial liability and their on-field performance.
The buck thus stops with you as NFL Commissioner.

It is easy to take the position that you will just let the legal process play out, and that he is innocent until proven guilty, which is what the NFL and the Falcons, as well as the players association, have done to date. However, the nature of the crimes described in detail in the indictment in this case are so heinous and repulsive that they should be strongly condemned by any civilized person. This activity is anathema to everything the American Kennel Club stands for, and the millions of AKC registrants and competitors, many of whom have been NFL fans, unilaterally condemn it and those who perpetrated it.

It is common for state laws to recommend the immediate suspension of a teacher when charged with certain crimes. To acknowledge the severity of Mr. Vick?s charges, we urge his immediate suspension.

Respectfully,

Ronald H. Menaker Dennis B. Sprung

Chairman President & Chief Executive Officer