11/11/07
VVAW met at 11:10 am on Sunday, 11/11/07, at the Rockwood Park Nature Center in Richmond, VA.
In attendance: * denotes member of Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare Board of Directors
Mary Archer
Jill Boyle
*Lillian Clancy
*Peyton Coyner
Maureen Federico
Richard Firth
Denise Flora
Karen Karvelis
Kris Kieswer
*Kim Kincheloe
Jo Ann Light
*Don Marro
*Mollie McCurdy
Debra Olech
Ila Ratterree
Janette Rooney
Kathryn Settle
Jessica Stovall
Jennifer Velez
David Waters
Betty Weakland
*Pat Weakland
p. 2 – Richmond meeting of 11/11/07
Don Marro brought the meeting to order and asked each person to introduce themselves. Each provided something of their background, and some mentioned their particular reason for attend-ing the meeting.
1. The Richmond SPCA no longer provides spay/neuter service for those outside Richmond. This has become a problem for residents of Petersburg where other options are limited.
2. Kim Kincheloe promoted seeing a film called Peaceful Warrior. She also mentioned the difficulty she experienced as a candidate for the General Assembly in receiving coverage by her local paper, the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star.
3. Jennifer Velez expressed amazement at the number of breeders of pits to be found easily in Chesterfield County.
4. Jessica Stovall passed around a card as a mailer to get people to respond to various issues.
5. Jill Boyle mentioned the religious proclamation event that took place recently in Washington.
6. Kim asked which jurisdictions were still using gas chambers. Scott County appears to be using gas, and the status of gas in Lee and Wythe counties is not known officially, though all three places appear to be transitioning away from the use of gas.
NOTE: The comments from #7 through #14 took place while discussing 14 bills which could be advocated by VVAW in the 2008 session of the General Assembly.
7. Deb Olech, a teacher in Williamsburg, spoke of the need for humane education.
Don Marro asked whether Deb would work on the humane ed bill for the upcoming 2008 session of the General Assembly. He added that humane education did not pass in 2007, not because of the Department of Education, but rather because it was opposed by the Farm Bureau. It is possi-ble that with a change in the Senate because of the recent election, that Sen. Whipple may head the Education Committee in the Senate, and that the legislative “sea change” may be helpful to VVAW. However, when the bill “crosses over” from the Senate to the House of Delegates, it is still likely to be sent to the House Ag committee which will require a great deal of “selling” to move the bill to passage.
8. Jennifer says Petersburg officials maintain there is no dogfighting there.
Don suggested that an attorney who would work on a pro bono basis be found to help on this is-sue.
p. 3 – Richmond meeting of 11/11/07
9. Pat Weakland mentioned that Del. Rob Wittman (who patroned the VVAW “releasing agencies” bill last year) is running for the seat in the US Congress, open due to the recent death of JoAnne Davis. Wittman’s status – whether he will run for the federal seat or remain in his state seat – will be known by 12/11/07.
10. Jill would like agreement that pediatric spay/neuter is acceptable, particularly when a young animal is adopted/bought from a “releasing agency”.
11. The concept of an “AG opinion” and its force in the law was discussed. The Attorney General has opined that TNR constitutes abandonment.
Don encouraged those who wish it to be different ask their legislative representatives that the AG opinion be revisited.
12. Pat Weakland discussed the Peter Marsh s/n initiative and Pat’s intent of working with the 126 social service agencies in Virginia in order to target where publicly funded s/n programs would be most effective.
13. Mollie described the humane investigator program for those unfamiliar with HIs.
14. Karen Karvelis spoke of the attempt a number of years ago via Richmond Animal League to add 1 cent to the price of each can of pet food, thereby creating a s/n fund. The effort was unsuccessful.
Don suggested it might be appropriate to try it again.
15. Maureen Federico and Lillian Clancy discussed the newly formed Court Watch program along with a handout describing its intent and mechanics.
16. A short piece, originally provided by Peter Marsh during his 9/07 visit, called The Cat Who Loved Kittens, was distributed.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 with the request that each person consider the bill(s) they would work on and support.