12/15/07

VVAW met at 11:30 am on Sunday, 12/15/07, at Brandon’s Place in Culpeper, VA.

In attendance: * denotes member of Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare Board of Directors

Ginger Bennett
Benji Brackman
Neal Brooks
*Lillian Clancy
Kitty Dodd
June Fiamengo
Karen Flynn
Andy Grimsley
Christine Grimsley
Aldene Helwick
*Kim Kincheloe
*Don Marro
Betty Weakland
*Pat Weakland
Samantha Whitesides
Sally Wilson

Don Marro brought the meeting to order at 11:30 am. Each person introduced themselves and gave a brief statement of their background and interests in animal welfare.

1. Don Marro asked Aldene Helwick to work with her vet to help gain support for the vet tax credit bill.

2. Benji Brackman was encouraged to take steps with the Orange County shelter, which has a reputation for doing very good work, and to bring their people to support VVAW bills.

3. Christine and Andy Grimsley spoke about the killing of their dog and their legal fight to make sure the man who alledgedly killed the dog is held accountable for his actions.

Don noted that if this had happened to him, he would ask the attorney if any Virginia statute has been broken by the killing and if so, to explore a writ of mandamus as to those authorities who declined to take action.

Pat Weakland spoke about ways to “post” property which includes not only signs to hang, but using aluminum paint on trees as an alternate “signal” that hunting is not allowed.

4. Don spoke about the goal of VVAW to serve as a catalyst for change and pushing others to take action. The mantra for years of established animal welfare organizations before VVAW became active has been to take “baby steps” which is another way to postpone doing anything.

Don repeated the foundations of VVAW: responsible government, responsible ownership, and responsible breeding, and that our way is to foster all of these via legislation. He described the General Assembly as “treading lightly” regarding animal welfare.

5. Don pointed to the threat of retribution of Sen. Creigh Deeds who told Peyton Coyner that he will have nothing to do with VVAW or any bills that Don supports because Don ran against a Democratic candidate who lost. And Don noted the intransigence of Del. Ed Scott who repre-sents Culpeper.

Don pushed for those in the room to consider themselves as potential candidates for the seat held by Del. Ed Scott. Kim Kincheloe discussed the recent election in which she opposed Del. Bobby Orrock, long a proponent of “let’s take baby steps” method of making changes.

6. Don exhorted the meeting attendees to be active and visible to offset the influence Teresa Dockery, dog breeders, the Farm Bureau, the Bob Kane hunting dogs group, many vets, some members of the animal control organization, and others content with the status quo.

Kim Kincheloe then gave a running history of the bills to outlaw gas chambers and noted that even with 42 co-patrons, the bill did not pass in 2007 because of the behind-the-scenes work of Teresa Dockery and Del. Orrock in opposition.

Don is hopeful that with four gas chamber bills to be filed this year, gas chambers finally will be banned, but he wants to ensure we continue to push and line up supporters in the event that Del. Orrock has it in mind to pull his bill at the last minute.

It is important therefore for everyone at the meeting to get their own delegate and senator to serve as a co-patron to the gas chamber bill that Del. Jim Scott is patroning for VVAW for the fourth time.

7. Samantha Whitesides recounted the multiple times she has attempted to meet with her dele-gate, Del. Ed Scott, and has not been able to do so.

A number of suggestions to get his attention were made including just sitting in his office, call-ing for a specific meeting time, joining the Republican committee, becoming a candidate to run against him, going to the Chamber of Commerce about this, sending letters to the editor, and running an ad for those who would work with her to meet with Del. Scott.

8. Kim noted there will be a meeting on 12/27 or 12/28 with Sen. Houck. Samantha and Ald-ene may attend that meeting.

9. Pat Weakland spoke about the releasing agencies bill and noted that since Rob Wittman’s election to Congress on 12/11, it is not yet known who will patron that bill.

10. Don mentioned a “Watch Plan” which VAW may develop to offer continuing ed courses and said the Court Watch program was up and running.

11. Kitty Dodd asked why responsibility for companion animals fell to the State Vet. After some discussion, it appeared that the “animal” connotation and lack of interest by other agencies accounted for this.

Don noted the inadequate inspections and incomplete reporting for companion animals by the State Vet are the reasons he hopes to privatize these State Vet functions.

12. Benji mentioned the difficulty in filing information for the state’s animal records report. It was noted that there is no penalty for not filing such animal reports.

13. Don asked what the penalty is for not getting an animal sterilized within 30 days of adop-tion. It appears there is no penalty for this either.

14. The humane investigator program was discussed, and Ginger Bennett, herself a humane in-vestigator, mentioned just having heard of a National Humane Investigator course.

15. The tethering bill was discussed. Kim said she has been told by Del. Orrock that the bill will likely get defeated again this session since the bill refers to “animals”, not just “companion animals”. With that being the case, the Farm Bureau will oppose it again this year since they see that as the “slippery slope” on restrictions for tethering even “farm” animals. He also said that he doesn’t feel “tethering” itself is the issue, but how an animal is cared for.

Kitty Dodd offered to work on some political cartoons about Del. Orrock and tethering.

16. Benji wondered if there couldn’t be local ordinances to increase the cost of dog licenses. She was told it is possible to do so as the Code permits localities to enact stricter ordinances if they choose to do so.

Kim pushed for an opinion by the Attorney General regarding the ability of local jurisdictions to exceed the current $10 cap on a dog/cat license. Don said we should wait until the license cap change bill is acted upon this session.

17. Don suggested that all at the meeting allow their names/emails to be shared within the group for ease of communication, and all agreed.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 pm.