When you are learning a new wild animal there comes an unexpected moment when all at once you realize his "selfness".

It is a flash of creative awareness. It is the breakthrough out of anthropomorphism. An opaque fog of humanness surrounds our understanding as our human scent surrounds our bodies unaware.

Each human whose human fog dissolves and who spies other-than-human beings about him may have the authentic delight of spying new worlds.

In the corporate war against earth, sometimes prison becomes the price we pay for placing the laws of nature above those of corrupt governments.

If we're fortunate enough to not yet be making that sacrifice, then we most certainly have an obligation to support those who are.

- former Animal Liberation Front (ALF) prisoner Rod Coronado

when I was a child
I played with the boys
and (because I was only a girl)
they made me
be
the Indians

my name was Fox Woman
and they hunted me
like dogs

my name was
White Bird
and I flew to escape them

my name was
Last Star
the last
of my people

my name was
Sunset
for they caught me
and burned me

my name was
Won't Talk
for I never
betrayed us

time after time
the boys shot me down
and I came back
Red Witch
wild and chanting

came back
Ghost Dance
came back
Bad Dream
came back
Cant Forget
and Crazy-With-Grief

I know where they went
those boys with their guns
they're still hunting Indians
look
you can see
their names are
Spills Blood
and Kills-Without-Mercy

Hens Liberated From Auckland Egg Farm

The ALF liberated six battery hens from the Eggs R Us factory egg farm in Henderson Valley, Auckland earlier this month. Their communiqué is as follows:

"In the early morning hours, on Friday, July 12th, 2002, the Animal Liberation Front entered the Eggs R Us battery hen egg farm, in Henderson Valley, Auckland, and liberated six battery hens.

These hens have been relocated to a safe home, where they will live out the rest of their lives in freedom.

Video footage of the farm was shot, showing the horrendous conditions that the hens endure. This video was sent to various groups, including main media sources.

We have become tired of waiting for the political processes of this world to recognise the undeniable rights of animals.

To sit and wait any longer is to accept the death of millions of innocent beings.

To Cut the taxes of the wealthy;

To Sell the national forest to logging interest for one dollar an acre by revoking the Clinton forest regulations and revoking the animal habitat laws;For a full list of the Enviromental Rollbacks see the Dec 5th EcoLogical Blog

To Underwrite any losses those bloated insurance companies may suffer because of terrorism;

To Close the court files of children who successfully sued vaccine companies so new lawsuits are denied information;

To Subsidize the losses of the airline industries who play their part by threatening bankruptcy; I wonder if the new bankruptcy laws which treat normal debtors more harshly will apply to the airline industries? Too bad average debtors and the unemployed don't have the same place in Bush's heart as the DEREGULATED AIRLINE INDUSTRY.

To Allow companies that register their companies offshore to avoid U S taxes, the right to bid on contracts for homeland security purposes;

To Lower the Clean Air Standards;

To Fund the War on Drugs in the US and Columbia (did you forget we are fighting in Afghanistan and Columbia) and send the Attorney General by plane to several states on the taxpayer's dollar to campaign against ballot initiatives to liberalize the laws; 700,000 in prison for mere possession of marijuana, right now!

To Travel all over the country in Air Force One before the election campaigning (remember what happened when Gore made a simple phone call to campaign contributors from his office?).

NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO: :

To Keep the 34 million dollar U S commitment to the U N World Population Fund which provides reproductive health care to women in poverty all over the world. Did you ever notice that Republicans rarely have more than 4 children? I guess birth control is good for Republican women but not for the great unwashed desperate workers/cheap labor source producer women. And NONE of that money was going to be used for abortions. Bush repealed all Clinton's regulations allowing foreign aid to be used for abortions and instituted Bush regulations forbidding the use of any federal funds for abortion.

U.S. citizens are pledging to replace that reproductive health information and services money. It is called, The 34 Million Friends Campaign

As of 27 November, UNFPA has received $105,319.90 in support. Funds raised from the “34 Million Friends” campaign will go towards UNFPA’s core program's budget, to compensate for the loss of United States support. This includes giving women and men in over 140 developing countries access to quality reproductive health information and services. These services are desperately needed. Today, 350 million couples lack access to a range of safe and affordable family planning methods and 42 per cent of women in less developed countries deliver their babies without skilled medical assistance, which puts their lives and those of their babies at risk.

Extend U C benefits, therefore the unemployed are forced to take minimum wage jobs for the corporations Bush is subsidizing;

To Fully fund social security;

To Subsidize individual's medical care and prescriptions;

To Raise the minimum wage

To pay for his tax cuts and corporation subsidies ------ so he raided the Social Security Surplus Fund every year he has been in office (No Gore; No Lockbox) while continuing to tell us that there won't be enough money so we should "privatize" social security; i.e. give social security to his friends on Wall Street. They will take some and then give it to his crooked friends in the corporations. When the corporate crooks steal it and lie about stealing it we can all take minimum wage jobs at 70 years of age and eat dog food.

Posted November 27, 2002

According to a Nov. 26, 2002 Reuters story:

Attorneys for the Bush Administration asked a federal court on Monday to order that documents on hundreds of cases of autism allegedly caused by childhood vaccines be kept from the public.

Department of Justice lawyers asked a special master in the US Court of Federal Claims to seal the documents, arguing that allowing their automatic disclosure would take away the right of federal agencies to decide when and how the material should be released.

Wow -- what a reason -- "just because". Oh, here's the real reason:

Monday's request by the Bush Administration would prevent plaintiffs who later go to civil court from using some relevant evidence generated during the required vaccine court proceedings.

See the previous UnderReported.com stories:

Nov. 19, 2002 "Homeland Security rider limits lawsuits over autism from mercury in vaccines"

Nov. 11, 2002 "Unreleased CDC report: mercury in vaccines increases risk 2.5x for neuro disease"

Two American animal rights activists have been remanded into custody on
charges relating to their SHAC campaigning. For more details check out
the ELP website www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk The two are:

Jennifer Greenberg
3100201610
Rose M. Singer Center
1919 Hazen St.
East Elmherst, NY 11370
USA

Joshua Schwartz
BBKC
125 White St.
New York, NY 10013
USA

3) Update on Benjamin (USA Animal Rights Prisoner)

American SHAC prisoner Benjamin Persky has reached a plea bargain with
the courts and pleaded guilty to a Class D felony. He is due to be
sentenced on December 11th 2002. The hearing will be at 100 Center
Street in NYC, Part 71. The hearing will be at 9:30am. Benjamin would
really appreciate supporters turning up at court, so if anyone is in the
US and is in the area please do go along and give him your support. As
soon as Benjamin is sentenced he is likely to be moved to a new prison
address. This address will be posted up onto www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk
as soon as it is know.

4) Three new Ploughshares prisoners

A couple of years ago four American nuns calling themselves "Sacred
Earth & Space Plowshares" disarmed weapons of mass murder at Peterson
Air Force Base in the USA. On Sunday October 6th 2002, three of the
original four Sisters visited an N-8 missile silo in northern Colorado
and using the name "Sacred Earth & Space Plowshares II" disarmed the
equipment that transports nuclear missiles to their firing points. All
three have been remanded. Please send letters of support to:

Ardeth Platte
PO Box 518
Georgetown
CO80444
USA

Carol Gilbert
PO Box 518
Georgetown
CO80444
USA

Jackie Hudson
PO Box 518
Georgetown
CO80444
USA

5) Plougshares prisoner released

ELP is pleased to let everyone know that Rev. Steve Kelly has been released
from prison.

6) Jose Bove gets 14 months imprisonment

And finally......the following news item was spotted on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2492139.stm

French radical farmer Jose Bove will be sent to jail for 14 months
for two offences of destroying genetically modified (GM) crops.
Bove had been seeking to have his sentences of six months and eight
months overturned, but France's highest court, the Cour de
Cassation, ruled against him.

It said he should serve the six-month sentence for a 1999 attack on
a field of GM rice near the southern city of Montpellier.

The decision automatically meant that he should also serve the
longer sentence, for a similar attack in 1998.

Appeals

He will not have to go to jail until formally notified of the
court's decision.

Bove said he would appeal to French President Jacques Chirac to
pardon him.

"Of course we cannot ask him to overturn the verdict, but he has
the power to stop the sentence being applied," he said in a
statement.

"The ball is in his court now."

His lawyer, Francois Roux, said he would also be appealing to the
European Court of Human Rights.

Bove, a sheep farmer from near Millau in southern France, shot to
national prominence after leading protesters in tearing down a
partially-built local McDonald's restaurant in 1999.

McDonald's sentence

He and his supporters have undertaken a series of raids to destroy
fields where the crops are grown, in what they say is a struggle
for the "right to live in a healthy environment".

Last month he was fined 3,000 euros for an attack in 2000 on a
field near the southern French town of Gaudies.

France grows experimental GM crops on about 100 sites, all of which
have been approved by the government.

His attack on the McDonalds restaurant earned him 61 days in jail,
which he completed in August this year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Prison is a weapon used by the State to crush individuals who step out of
line" (Michael Collins - former Mayday 2000 prisoner)

Support All Animal & Earth Liberation Prisoners

Spirit of Freedom (Earth Liberation Prisoners)
c/o Cornerstone Resource Centre, Leeds, LS7 3HB, England
E-Mail < earthlibprisoner@mail.com >
< www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk >

Earth Liberation Prisoners Newsletter/Urgent ELP! Bulletin
c/o BM Box 2407, London, WC1N 3XX, England
E-Mail < AnimalEarthLiberation@Bigfoot.Com >

North American Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
POB 50082, Eugene, OR 97405, USA
E-Mail < naelpsn@tao.ca >

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
F R O N T L I N E - N E W S Now With 5600+ Subscribers!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Brought to you by http://www.animalliberation.net

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Questions? Please read our FAQ before e-mailing us.
http://www.animalliberation.net/faq.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Would you like to Unsubscribe or Subscribe to the Frontline-News mailing
list? http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=frontline-news

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- For general questions, feedback and requests: infosite-mail@usa.net

- For problems with Frontline-News Mailing List:
owner-frontline-news@waste.org

- Frontline Information Service/animalliberation.net administrator:
frontline@rocketmail.com

NOVEMBER 27th Thanksgiving Day in U.S. Humans in all 50 states
give thanks that they are not turkeys - though experts agree this
is clearly a misnomer.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Vegan Thanksgiving
Thanks for the Food

Cat Corner

VeganChef

Banana Ice Cream

Comments
Ballot initiatives keep democracy on track

By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist, 6/5/2000

When Winston Churchill suggested in 1945 that a referendum be held to decide whether to extend the all-party government that had led Britain during the war, Clement Attlee was appalled. Referendums, the Labor Party leader spat, were an ''instrument of Nazism and fascism.''

David Broder doesn't go quite that far. But in a new book, ''Democracy Derailed,'' he makes it clear that he regards ballot initiatives - proposed laws that are submitted to a vote of the people - as a cancer on American democracy. The initiative process, he writes, is ''alien to the spirit of the Constitution.'' It is a ''favored tool of millionaires and interest groups.'' It ''threatens to challenge or even subvert the American system of government.'' And that's just on the first page.

Broder is a highly respected political journalist, and his book surveys the lively world of ballot campaigns with the careful reporting and amiable tone for which he is known. He reviews the history of initiatives, which grew out of the Progressive and Populist movements around a century ago, and describes in some detail how the ''initiative industry'' operates today. It is fair to say he doesn't like what he sees.

Ballot campaigns, Broder argues, undermine the republican form of government the Founding Fathers created. On a vast array of public issues, they bypass the very officials who were elected to make public policy. ''Indications'' are that initiatives can be deployed to hurt minorities. They are peddled to voters in ''blitzes of distortion and half-truths.'' Worst of all, the initiative process allows powerful interests simply to buy the laws they want. Is any of this really true?

Take the tidal wave of initiatives that Broder says is flooding American ballots. ''From 1976 through 1998, the average has been an astonishing 61 initiatives'' per election cycle, he writes. ''In 1997-98, the number was 66.'' It is a theme he has pressed in recent columns. ''Everyone knows it rains a lot here,'' he wrote from Oregon in April, ''but lately it has been raining ballot initiatives.''

Don't reach for your umbrella just yet. On the legislative weather map, ballot issues amount to little more than scattered clouds. To begin with, initiatives aren't even allowed in 26 states. While that leaves 24 that do permit citizen-lawmaking, 56 percent of all ballot activity has occurred in just five: California, Colorado, North Dakota, Arizona, and, yes, Oregon. Even there, initiatives generally fail. Most never make it to the ballot; of those that do, most usually go down to defeat.

Consider California, often thought of as a state in which ballot politics is running amok. In the 89 years since California adopted the initiative process, 1,043 ballot measures have been submitted. Only 272 - 26.1 percent - qualified for the ballot. Only 87 - 8.3 percent - actually became law.

In 1996, when the recent ''flood'' of initiatives crested, voters in the 24 initiative states considered a total of 102 proposed laws. Of those, 45 passed. ''By contrast,'' says Dane Waters, president of the Initiative and Referendum Institute in Washington, D.C., ''the legislatures in those 24 states adopted over 17,000 laws that same year.'' Voters may think ill of state legislators, but they are not remotely close to displacing them as the dominant makers of law in America.

Sure, laws passed at the ballot box can be unfair. But for real cruelty and injustice, you need a legislature. (It wasn't ballot activists who segregated Southern drinking fountains.) And sure, campaigns for and against ballot initiatives sometimes resort to deceptive slogans and alarmist ads. The same can be said of every other type of campaign in American politics.

Broder's greatest concern is that special interests with deep pockets will hijack the initiative process for their own purposes, spending whatever it takes to change public policy as they see fit. He writes, for example, about the ''well-coordinated and richly financed effort'' by three millionaires - New York financier George Soros, Cleveland insurance executive Peter Lewis, and Phoenix businessman Joh Sperling - to legalize the medical use of marijuana. That effort met with spectacular success; of the five ''medical marijuana'' initiatives on state ballots in 1998, five carried.

It would indeed be cause for worry if initiatives were routinely exploited by rich insiders for their own purposes. But they aren't. Political scientist Elisabeth Gerber, surveying 168 ballot campaigns in eight states, concluded that economic interest groups ''are severely limited in their ability to pass new laws by initiative.'' Only 31 percent of intiatives backed chiefly by special interests passed, while those put forward by broad-based citizen groups succeeded 50 percent of the time.

In California, the disadvantage is even more lopsided: 40 percent of all initiatives on the ballot in 1986-96 were adopted, but only 14 percent of initiatives promoted by wealthy interests. The pattern is the same in other states.

''Democracy derailed?'' On the contrary, ballot measures keep democracy on track. Representative government is not always representative. When legislatures refuse to heed the voters, initiatives can set them straight.

Jeff Jacoby is a Globe columnist.

This story ran on page A15 of the Boston Globe on 6/5/2000. © Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.

See, Morning Edition (NPR) 10-27-1998, 'History of Ballot Initiatives'

See this organization for info on how to organize to bring the ballot initiative process to Wisconsin.

The crippled, ageing oil tanker Prestige finally sank 130 miles off the north-west coast of Spain yesterday, taking 70,000 tonnes of highly destructive fuel oil to the ocean floor and threatening Europe's biggest ecological disaster in decades.

With environmentalists and some experts warning last night that the tanker's deadly cargo would inevitably leak and rise to the surface, the western coast of Spain and Portugal was gripped by fear and uncertainty.

Many feared that a huge slick of oil, up to 20 times bigger than the one already released by the 26-year-old Prestige at the weekend, would form overnight and be blown inshore by westerly winds over the coming days.

European leaders expressed deep concern at the uncertain future of one of the continent's richest fish-breeding grounds and most unspoilt coasts. The French president, Jacques Chirac, called for "draconian" measures to prevent similar accidents happening again.

His call came as it emerged that the ship might have split apart at a point in its hull which had been previously rewelded. The ship is also believed to have been responsible for another oil spill off Texas in 1993, according to the US coastguard website.

David Osler, industrial editor of the shipping newspaper Lloyd's List, told the Guardian the Prestige was one of a large number of oil tankers built in Japan during the boom years of the 1970s which have triggered international disputes over maritime safety.

"These tankers were churned out, mass produced using steel turned out to the lowest possible standard," he said. "Out of a global fleet of 1,800 oil tankers, around 300 are pre-1980, Japanese and single-hulled. They are being phased out but some have been given a period of grace until as late as 2015."

The six-day saga of the stricken Prestige ended when the prow of the boat slipped under five-metre Atlantic waves 130 miles west of Spain's Cies Islands yesterday afternoon. Earlier in the day the tanker, which was being dragged south and west by rescue tugs as it leaked its cargo, split in two and the aft section sank 3,000 metres on to the bed of the fish-rich Galician banks.

Spain and Portugal had refused repeated requests for the Prestige to be taken to a harbour where the fuel could be transferred to another vessel. The Dutch salvage company Smit International had said it would tow the vessel to Africa if necessary.

But the Prestige finally gave up the struggle to stay afloat in the rough Atlantic. "We can say goodbye to the ship and its cargo," Lars Walder of Smit said shortly after 4pm.

Environmentalists immediately warned that the sunken tanker, which had released enough oil to blacken some 100 miles of the rugged stretch of Spain's north-west shore known as the Coast of Death, was a timebomb sitting on the bottom of the sea. "If all that escapes from the hull then this is a disaster which is going to have twice the effect of the Exxon Valdez, which is one of the worst that we have known," Christopher Hails of WWF warned, referring to the tanker which ran aground in Alaska in 1989.

Maria Jose Caballero of Greenpeace said a vessel whose hull had cracked in open sea could not be expected to withstand the high pressures on the ocean floor: "The vessel cracked in the hull because it was very old. Nothing makes us believe it won't finally burst."

Before sinking, the Prestige left a 150 by 15-mile slick of oil released over the past two days. That slick, the second released in the tanker's death throes, was already being driven towards the coast last night. Two of Spain's most delicate nature reserves, the Cies and the Ons islands, would be the first to be destroyed by a tide of black oil.

"These are important habitats for turtles, seals, birds, invertebrates and algae," said Ezekiel Navio of WWF.

Fishermen in the Spanish port of Cambados yesterday confirmed that, despite official claims that all the oil was north of Cape Finisterre, it had already reached coastal areas to the south. "One of the trawlers that was out last night came back with its nets completely covered with oil. All you can do when that happens is throw it away," said trawler skipper Claudio Otero.

Benito Gonzalez, chairman of the town's Fishermen's Guild said the whole of the Ria Arousa, a sea loch famed for its shellfish which provides nearly two-thirds of Spain's mussels, was in a state of fear.

"Everybody here lives from the sea," he said. "If this gets into this area the mussels will be ruined and thousands of people will suffer. It will cause more than triple the damage already suffered on the Coast of Death."

Although fishermen differed on whether the oil was more likely to solidify in the cold ocean depths and sink to the bottom, or float up to form a massive slick, they all condemned the Spanish government's handling of the salvage.

"They should have taken it into an estuary somewhere and allowed all the fuel to be taken off," said Jose Antonio Dominguez, who cultivates mussels. "If the boat had sunk, at least only one loch would have been affected. Now we will all suffer."

Madrid yesterday insisted it had done the right thing by expelling the Prestige from its waters. But Mr Chirac accused other leaders of failing to tackle the world's ageing tanker fleet, saying the EU had sworn to take urgent measures after the Erika tanker polluted swaths of France's Atlantic coastline in 1999. "I am horrified by the inability of those in charge, politically, nationally and particularly at European level, to take action," he said.

Wisconsin insurance companies will not pay for a birth control prescriptions nor are Wisconsin hospitals required to give women the morning after pill when they are brought into emergency after a rape.

I wonder how much state and federal funds these non profit catholic hospitals receive. Maybe if they did not exist we would have secular hospitals who are more concerned about health than they are concerned about the child molester protecting pope's edicts.

Abortion clinics are required to give women bogus information about the fetus and then make them wait 24 hours before receiving their abortion. Since there are very few abortion clinics or doctors left in Wisconsin many of these women have traveled over 60 miles to get to a clinic. Then they are required to go for their lecture and wait 24 hours - 3 days off work instead of 1.

The deer herd has been artificially grown by the DNR until it reached 1.6 million this year. The DNR expects that hunters will kill 1/2 a million every year, and they loved it. But now they have created this CWD scare which backfired and about 80,000 hunters will not be killing this year. Uh,Oh.

So they want to use snares, and herd the deer into large groups with airplanes and shoot them down in massive groups. The DNR even sickens normal hunters. ......"In the eradication zone, opposition to the DNR efforts is widespread" (meaning the farmers and hunters will not co-operate in "eradication" because they know CWD is all over the state, not just in one zone and "eradication" won't cure it).

Now the DNR wants to offer bounties of up to $100.00 per deer. After all its' not their money, it is ours. We are also paying for their time in the woods playing "sharpshooter". The DNR boys don't have to do their regular work. They are all in the woods and at conferences "dealing" with CWD; and ooooooo and maybe they can have airplane rides next.

And it turns out they also lied about the economic value of hunting to Wisconsin. All we heard for years was the great economic value of hunting to Wisconsin but the Nov. 17th, 2002, Journal Sentinel did an excellent analysis of the actual economic benefit of hunting to Wisconsin. To sum it up, "everything that hunters spend money on, from guns to clothing to travel to land use , amounts to one third of the revenue generated by Briggs & Stratton", a local Corporation.

If normal people had created this kind of mess at their jobs, they would be fired. But in government jobs the taxpayers just have to keep paying their bloated salaries, benefits and clean up costs.

The DNR has now convinced the legislators to pass a new law forbidding citizens from feeding the deer this winter.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov 17th 2002, page 17A:

"A severe winter would "help", at least in northern Wisconsin, where sustained periods of below-zero temperatures and heavy snows could cause starvation. The last winters to do that were 1995-96 and 1996-97.

All this pain because the DNR allowed the growth of Elk and Deer "farms" while at the same time advertising themselves as protectors of native species. Now the protector of the native species DNR is consciously planning to starve deer to death on top of the shooting, the bow and arrows, the muzzle loaders, the baiting, the shining, the killing of does and fawns. The DNR kill by every cruel way they can think of and now they want to use starvation. They sicken normal human beings.

We should protest the DNR starvation law. Our signs should say: Starve the DNR: Not Deer; Cut DNR funding!

Animal Protection Institute - What's Really in Pet Food

Warning To Anyone Who Doubts Their Pet "Food"

Cattle with cancerous growths, wildlife remains and other leftovers from butcher shops, the grease from fast food restaurants; all are sent to "rendering companies". Eventually they become animal food and when ingested by your pet, they add to the toxins in the pet's bloodstream.

Pesticides such as DDT degrade very slowly in the body, so they accumulates in the fat and muscles of animals.

Example: a one pound charcoal-broiled steak contains 4 - 5 micrograms of benzopyrene; an amount equal to the amount of a person would receive from smoking approximately 300 cigarettes. During the cooking process, fat from the meat drips into the charcoal which also produces benzopyrene and those toxins transfer back up into the meat.

CWD cannot be "cooked out" of venison, even at 2,500 degrees. The meat that is cut closer to the bone, (whether CWD or Mad Cow) is meat where the disease is the most toxic. Rendering plants use bones, brains, everything.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently prohibited "rendering companies" from using the remains of Deer & Elk in Animal Feed if infected with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) .

Of course, since most animals are not tested, the rendering plants will undoubtedly be using animals with CWD and other diseases as well. They always have used diseased animals. Whatever provides the most profit.

Even though the FDA is attempting to protect Companion Animals in the United States, we will never know if any CWD diseased "remains" accidentally are blended with pet food. Would you feel safe eating even two or three meals tainted with CWD? Your animal may be eating it regularly.

This is an important issue to monitor for our Animal Companion's future.

There are alternatives to purchasing Dog & Cat Food. There are recipes that you can cook to replace commercial pet food instead of taking the risk of not knowing what's in pet food. Dog recipe's can be vegetarian. Unfortunately, cats must have meat.

Sincerely,
Rex Stuart (posted by President/The Non-hunters' Rights Coalition on 11/22/2002)

Petition to demand standards in pet food.

"the report on what is in pet food.

Chippewa Falls - (Chippewa County Circuit Court)A man charged with shooting a woman last year pleaded innocent.

Michael E. Berseth, 44, is charged with felony second degree reckless homicide in the death of Deborah A Prasnicki. Prasnicki was walking her dogs near the woods where Berseth was hunting.

A criminal complaint said Berseth of Chippewa Falls was hunting with two other men during a special muzzle loader season Dec 1.

Berseth shot a white object, which turned out to be a white scarf that Prasnicki was wearing.

Berseth told investigators he thought the white object was moving faster than a person could walk.
He is free on $25,000.00 signature bond. A trial date has not been set. The charge carries a maximum of 15 years prison.

Now here is a case where the defense will be: she should have known better than to wear a white scarf and she should not have been jogging. As always animal abusers will attack the victim whether it is a cat or a human being and seek to equate the animal's behavior or the animal owner's behavior with their own. These are their common blame the victim excuses.

ABUSE TOLERANCE

She should have known better than to wear those items.

She should not have been THERE. (The animal had no right to be there).

Her behavior was not appropriate so we had a right to abuse her (it).

It doesn't belong to anyone.

Rabbit Video

One of these "hunting videos " depicts men standing around with shotguns and sitting on four wheelers. . A rabbit " suddenly" is seen running behind the hunters.

One of the hunters' is shown shooting at the rabbit (in a man-made clearing), wounding the animal.

The camera pans towards the rabbit which is still moving with the back legs, gradually moving away from the hunters. The camera then pans towards the hunters and shows ALL of the hunters laughing. The younger hunters are shown laughing also, standing by their four wheelers.

The camera pans back towards the rabbit which is then shot again. This time, the rabbit is slaughtered showing the rabbits' skin peeling backwards exposing the rabbits' muscle tissue. Blood splatters as the rabbit rolls over the other direction in very slow motion (camera slowed down on purpose), still attempting to flee the killing field. The rabbit is left laying there as the camera pans.

Wearing camouflage clothing as if they are engaged in some difficult test of skills, all of the hunters' are still laughing while turning their heads away from the camera, looking towards each other.

Is it part of hunters' "ethics" to laugh at a dying animal? Yes.

Inadvertently, these videos show the truth behind all the hype and babble about hunter "ethics". That spin just covers the truth that hunting is a gang of bullies laughing at the pain of a weaker and defenseless victim.

Normal people, non-hunters, find nothing funny about suffering. These perverts do not show their true colors when they are forced to interact with normal people. But when they are sure they are with their own kind, their real nature is exposed. And they take their children with them at the earliest possible age to corrupt them. So they laugh at cruelty and shame the young men who do not join in the laughter. They normalize sadism. They minimize suffering.

That rabbit video was staged and this rabbit was placed behind the bullies to be shot several times, allowed to suffer in panic, make efforts to escape and then to be butchered.

The agony is what sells the video - there is nothing instructive in the entire segment. This is what the film makers sell - the filthy appeal of the videos is that they legitimize the infliction of pain on those less powerful. In fishing videos, the filmmakers will place a bass on the end of the hook to make "catch and release" videos, for the viewer who likes to watch the flapping and squirming of an entity suffocating and yet feel morally superior because they do not kill what they torture.

These offensive videos are what the networks, local access channels, public television and cable are promoting on their stations.

By signing this Ban Televised Hunting/Fishing Promotional Videos petition you will help to determine what type of "entertainment" will influence children's values. By removing these "hunting videos", children can live without becoming hardened to the slaughter of animals.

We are telling the Federal Communications Commission and any/all television stations affiliates of NBC, CBS, FOX NETWORK, & ABC News Stations that these hunting videos are CRUEL, BARBARIC, INHUMANE, AND SADISTIC as are any that show people or animals being tortured.

We, the viewing public, are demanding these videos that corrupt children, be removed from the TV networks. These are the public airways. Just as broadcasters are not yet allowed to present hard core pornography for profit, they must not be allowed to profit from hard-core sadism.

Or we can stand silent and allow this culture to be defined by the lowest common denominator.


Remove"hunting videos"That Promote Animal Cruelty!

Recipients:
Federal Communications Commission; Director, ANY/ALL Television Stations and Cable Stations That Promote Animal Cruelty Through > "Hunting Videos"!

Sponsor of Petition:
The Non-hunters' Rights Coalition

Green Consciousness reminds you:

How we treat children when they are between 0 and 12 years of age determines what they will do as adults. They will do to others what has been done to them.

Abuse of animals by children is an indicator that they have been abused or they have witnessed abuse that was condoned or ignored. Abuse of animals is an indicator that they will abuse others if they are not re-directed and resocialized.

The older children are in age when rehabilitation is first attempted, the less successful will be the rehabilitation.

The shelter is nothing more than a dilapidated collection of cramped wire-and-wood cages with metal roofs, offering little to no protection from harsh wind, freezing or scorching temperatures, rain, and snow, and more often than not covered in urine and feces. Small, weak animals are housed in cages with aggressive large animals, who bully the smaller animals and prevent them from seeking food and water. Food bowls are not used at the facility, so food is simply thrown on the ground, contaminated by feces, urine, dirt, and water, creating a disgusting health hazard for the animals. The water buckets provided for the animals appear to be too tall for small dogs to reach, and the water is often foul and black with mold and filth.

Animals at the shelter are killed in a crude, windowless metal box pumped full of carbon monoxide. Even adequate carbon monoxide equipment can fail, subjecting fully conscious animals to the horror of watching and hearing others struggle and suffer as they succumb to the fumes. But makeshift chambers, like the one used by Yadkin County, are virtually guaranteed to subject animals to suffering and to a prolonged, agonizing death. PETA is told and video footage confirms that animals are crammed into the box one on top of another and that live animals are thrown in, layer after layer, on top of dead and dying ones. A shelter employee allegedly once bragged about being able to stuff more than 80 animals into the tiny kill box at once.

We understand also that all animals at the shelter are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, regardless of their age and physical condition. Old, young, and sick animals are particularly susceptible to gas-related trauma, as they breathe and circulate oxygen and carbon monoxide differently from healthy adult animals, causing a resistance to hypoxia (oxygen deficiency). For these animals, death by carbon monoxide poisoning is slow and highly stressful and therefore unacceptable.

Moreover, Yadkin County has a mandatory kill policy, prohibiting adoptions, supposedly because of a fear of rabies. However, the county dedicates no resources to enforcing North Carolina law requiring that animals be vaccinated against rabies. Their excuse? Money, which of course would be collected if violators of the state rabies law would be fined as warranted!

The 2001-02 Annual Budget Report for Yadkin County shows that not one cent was spent on training for the animal control staff or on veterinarian fees. One complainant wrote to PETA to say that on one occasion, an adult dog had a large flap of skin and muscle [lying] down over his left hip, exposing bone. He lay from Wednesday to Friday on kill day. He had numerous other wounds, and the hip injury was teeming with maggots.

PETA and many concerned citizens have attempted in vain to help Yadkin County improve the deplorable conditions at its shelter. In 1996, county officials rejected an offer to pay the difference in cost between intravenous injections (the most humane method of euthanasia) and the gas chamber. In May of this year, after receiving increased pressure from PETA and local residents, Yadkin County commissioners finally voted to put $75,000 toward the construction of a new shelter if the community can raise an additional $75,000. PETA offered to donate $15,000 toward the construction of the shelter if the county would ensure that certain humane standards were met. The commissioners never bothered to respond directly to PETA, but Commissioner Thomas Wooten had the audacity to tell the media that the offer was not as much as [he] would have liked and that each of PETA's 750,000 members should be willing to donate $1!

Of course, the commissioners conditional pledge of $75,000 does nothing to improve the deplorable conditions that the animals are being subjected to as we write this. Construction of a shelter won't happen overnight. There's a long list of simple things that the county can and must do to make the shelter comply with minimum national standards.

Please contact Yadkin County commissioners and urge them to stop shirking their legal, moral, and financial responsibilities to their county's lost, abandoned, and unwanted animals. Ask that they provide these animals with the least they deserve: a painless, peaceful death administered by a licensed veterinarian at least until caring individuals can be trained. Please push for immediate improvements to be made at the current facility. Animals shouldn't have to wait for fundraising and construction efforts before having their basic needs met."

Please end this horrible suffering in Yadkin County. Sign today!

End animal suffering in North Carolina.

Recipients:
Yadkin County Commissioners: Josh Baity, Johnny Myers, Lloyd Davis, Thomas Wooten, James L. Graham, Cecil Wood

Sponsor of Petition:
Zena Hirsch

They say down in Dane County
no neutral there or far
you fight eradication
or kill for the DNR.

Which side are you on; Which side are you on?

And here in Rock County
they're killing in the parks
the birds can find no rest from men
whose minds and hearts are dark.

Which side are you on; Which side are you on?

In cages in Wisconsin
mink crouch alone and stare
and men walk by these cages
to torture those in there.

Which side are you on; Which side are you on?

A dog is chained both day and night
in a 3 foot life of shame
watching what he wants so much
he begs for more in vain.

Which side are you on; which side are you on?
Which side are you on now; which side are you on?

Deer Killing In Wisconsin? No Answer To CWD!

Particularly in light of the fact that, in order to facilitate the interests of hunters, All wisconsin residents, including Non-Hunters, have been forbidden by law to feed starving deer all winter.

First the DNR for years artificially increased the size of the Wisconsin deer herd to meet the needs of hunters.

Then, the DNR foolishly insists the CWD problem is limited to their "kill zone" around Mt Horeb, even though CWD has been found in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota and most telling, CWD has been found in deer "farms" all over Wisconsin.

Now, having increased the herd to starvation size, the DNR demands that the Wisconsin legislature enact laws forbidding non-hunters to feed the starving deer this winter "to prevent the spread of CWD" which THEY insist is limited to the Mt Horeb area.

In an incredible, inane, summit of their never ending stupidity the DNR is enacting blanket laws to cover all taxpayers who feed deer, no matter where they reside in Wisconsin. Now if CWD is restricted to Mt Horeb why are all residents no matter where they live in Wisconsin forbidden to feed deer?

WLIP 1050 AM

A RADIO PROGRAM EVERY SATURDAY FROM KENOSHA, WISCONSIN

See my 8/26/2002 entry for the best solution to the problem of goose poop: Geese Poop in the Park: Does your Heart Know what the Wild Goose Knows?
(To find the above entry see below any entry - "Table of Contents" - Click on that to go to archives - then find 8/26/02 and click on it)

Below is what happened to people who tried to bring some common sense to the bright lights on our city council who feel the only answer is killing. In our parks yet.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mary Ann Sveom
To: alan@alaneisenberg.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 06, 2002 11:05 PM

Dear Mr. Eisenberg, Because Ann told me you are an animal activist, I want to share this with you. I'm sorry for the way the Governor race turned out yesterday. I'm sure you worked hard on your campaign. This time I voted for the animals. I usually vote for the strongest Pro-Life candidate.

As you requested to hear about, here is the story of what happened in Janesville . . .

JANESVILLE, WI PARKS GOOSE HUNTS SEPTEMBER 3 - 15, 2002

Prelude to the hunts = Around the 20th of August I read in a small AP article in our local paper that a Janesville, WI woman, Carol Roehl, had picketed at an event held in Janesville's Traxler Park trying to draw attention to a petition she was passing around to try to stop Janesville officials from opening up that park and three others to goose hunting during the regular early hunting season in Wisconsin (Sept.3 - 15) of this year.

I called the Janesville City Hall trying to find out Carol's phone number. After being denied Carol's phone number by the Janesville Leisure Services department, where she contracts out of to run a paddle boat business in Traxler Park, I started calling every Roehl in the phone book until I found her.

She explained all the details of how the council had passed this decision on August 12 to open four parks to hunters to shoot geese in them. She had been there with a petition containing 200 signatures against this proposed hunt, but they didn't even recognize her when she raised her hand to speak. She decided to continue passing the petition around until the next council meeting.

I started contacting every organization I could think of for help in convincing the Janesville council not to go ahead with this hunt (GeesePeace, Coalition to Prevent the Destruction of Canada Geese, Humane Society of the United States, a Madison, WI based group = Alliance for Animals, etc.). We had a copy of a "memo" (report) that Leisure Services had given the Janesville city manager and the city council that included information on goose management techniques - both non-lethal and lethal (hunting), so we knew they had considered other alternatives to the hunt.

We gathered as much information as we could find on non-lethal ways of reducing goose populations, copied it all for every council member, the city manager, and the director of Leisure Services, put all the information into packets and Carol hand delivered them the day before the next council meeting. In each of those packets we included a copy of a letter from the Regional Representative of the Humane Society of the United States (because he wasn't going to be able to attend the council meeting in person) asking them to use only non-lethal methods and offering the help of the HSUS to implement those methods.

Other concerned citizens were contacting us about this issue also, so on August 26th a small group of us went to the Janesville city council meeting and spoke during the opening citizen participation time. Carol presented her petition of 800 signatures and asked them to put a halt to this hunt because "the park geese are so tame you can pet them". She asked them to revote.

Craig DeGarmo, the president, asked if any of the three councilors who had voted for the hunt wanted to change their minds. They didn't. Being the fourth vote for the hunt, Mr. DeGarmo then stated that he was "comfortable with his decision" even though he realized this was "going to be controversial".

A representative of GeesePeace of Rock River Valley, who has been working with the Rockford, IL Park District, spoke about the success they've had with egg oiling - stressing that they follow the guidelines of the HSUS.

The director of Alliance for Animals also came and spoke, asking the council to consider using only non-lethal methods to reduce the population.

When I addressed the council, I mentioned the packet they had been given the day before with all the information on non-lethal methods that have been proven to work and weren't all that expensive to try. I also quoted from that report Leisure Services had presented them with, which stated "because of safety concerns and public relations issues, the City Administration does not recommend a goose hunt at this time. In addition, we believe the hunt will not significantly reduce our goose population. A few geese will be shot, but most will fly away and return later in the season".

And, because I had been involved with my own city of Beloit's discussion as to what to do about our goose population, I read a fax that had been sent to us by the director of our Parks Dept. (Beloit is only about 12 miles from Janesville). In it he told how they had discussed the goose population in our parks last year and decided to try letting the grass grow long along the Rock River's banks first. That has worked all by itself to reduce the complaints about geese down to nothing. They hadn't even implemented a no feeding ordinance.

I also read the letter from Arnold Baer, the HSUS regional rep. My closing remark was: "can you tell me where we can get some bullet proof vests? Because we will be out there trying to stop this hunt!" That statement got some press and air time for our cause.

During the week before the hunts were to start, I wrote letters to the editors of both Janesville and Beloit papers asking concerned citizens to call, write, or e-mail all the councilors, city manager, and director of Leisure Services demanding that they not have this hunt.

I contacted the Coalition to Protect Canada Geese. PETA had put us in touch with someone out in Seattle who had fought a similar "battle" with his city, so we talked with him also. Prior to and during the hunts these people proved invaluable to us because they contacted other people throughout the United States to help us protest via e-mail, phone calls, and letters. They sent out press releases too, keeping newspapers and television stations informed of what was happening in the Janesville Parks.

In our copy of that report from Leisure Services there were four aerial view photo/maps of the four parks targeted for the hunts. They were complete with circles drawn on them to show recommended safe hunting areas. We found out that one of the parks was taken off the "hit list" because there was a school close by and the school officials wouldn't lift the law that bans guns within so many feet of a school. That left three parks.

The first two mornings, Tues., Sept. 3 and Wed., Sept. 4, we arrived at the parks before 7:00 a.m. We patrolled the three parks all during the daylight hours until about 7:30 p.m. We stayed in contact with each other using cell phones. We also made a list of available people willing to stay in the parks or patrol through them and the times they were available. There were no hunts nor attempts on those days, but there was a lot of traffic through the parks by lone men, so we figured they were hunters planning when to have hunts.

As we were getting ready to call it a day on Wednesday, Carol and I noticed three men sitting in a picnic shelter at Kiwanis Pond, one of the parks. We didn't know at that time what times the hunts could legally be done, so we chased a small group of geese off the grass down by the Pond and into the water. Then we stayed there until the three men left. It was getting dark then. Later we learned that these three were part of a team of hunters assigned to hunt at that park.

The next morning, Thurs., Sept. 5 = one of our protesters arrived at Traxler Park before the rest of us. I was on my way, talking to her on the cell phone. She saw police cars in Traxler Park. I immediately called our other protesters to get there ASAP.

When I arrived, she told me someone had killed 8 geese and stuffed them in the trash can outside of Carol's paddle boat business. The trash can had been half full of trash already so the geese stuck up out of the top of it. I was so angry when I saw them that I screamed at the police, "I want to know who did this!" The officer said it will be on the police report because they know who did it.

A police officer had talked to the guy at about 5:30 a.m. that morning when he was seen leaving the geese there. Again I screamed, "I want you to get him!" One officer nodded at me and said, "we will, ma'am. We know who he is" Why had they let him go in the first place? we wondered. The officers told us not to touch anything because "the DNR had to take care of them". I had called the Janesville Gazette and they arrived as two more of our protesters did. The photographer took pictures and the reporter interviewed us.

All of a sudden a parks employee pulled up in a truck and started toward the trash can. I told him he couldn't remove the geese because it was a crime scene and the police had said the DNR would have to take care of it. The employee continued to move toward the can so I stood in front of him and said I would not let him take those geese. He said he had a job to do because he had gotten a call and was told to remove them. I still would not let him take them, so he left. He went and called his supervisor who then called the police on me.

Two officers arrived a short time later and one of them told me to move away or they would arrest me when I calmly and quietly tried to explain that we had been told not to touch anything by the other two officers. When I told him they had told us the DNR would have to take care of it, he said that the employee "had a job to do and this wasn't a crime scene or it would have tape around it". He was very gruff and bossy. I requested an apology from him later when he asked for my name, age, and address, but he just said, "for what?"

The Janesville Gazette put the story with a picture on the front page of that day's paper. We later learned that that man would not be charged for anything - neither by the Janesville police nor the DNR. I spoke with a Fed. Fish and Wildlife agent also, who informed me the man had done nothing illegal because he had taken a small amount of breast meat from each goose, which then made the rest of their bodies trash, even though they looked and felt completely whole when we lifted up one of the bags that contained 2 of them. The news coverage, both in the paper and on television, garnered much support for our cause and more people came to protest and offer other support.

Later that same morning, at about 10:00, we saw police move into that park (Traxler) and they baricaded it off with only my husband and myself inside. Our other protesters were patrolling the other parks. The same policeman who I had had words with earlier asked us to voluntarily leave the park because they were "going to be harvesting some geese", but I said, "No, I couldn't. I won't!" My husband stayed with me. I immediately got on my cell phone and started calling the media to ask for coverage, and our other protesters and supporters to ask for assistance.

Even though the officer asked me to remain by my car, I grabbed my pots and started to walk toward the middle of the park where there were geese to scare them back into the water in an area where I knew they couldn't hunt. Leisure Services employees were shooting off noise makers at the geese to herd them or drive them out of the area I had moved them into, but they stayed put.

Other protesters had arrived along with the Gazette photographer and reporter, but they were kept out of the park. I was sure they would start the hunt and arrest us, but then they allowed the Gazette photographer in, and the cars that were outside the barricades started to leave. I learned later those were hunters - very angry because they couldn't hunt in that park.

Then the barricades came down and I heard Carol say, "we've got to get to the other parks." We found that there had been a hunt in Riverside Park, where 5 geese were killed, at the same time we were all at Traxler Park. I can't tell you how bad we feel about leaving that park "unprotected". The geese they shot were a small group that we had seen the past 2 days on the grass all by themselves.

We never dreamed they'd go after such a small group.

Fri., Sept. 6, Sat., Sept. 7, and Sun., Sept. 8 = there were no hunts, but they did shoot off noise makers in Traxler Park in the early afternoon on Friday. We were in the parks each day, all day, patrolling them or staying in them.

Mon., Sept. 9 = by 6:00 a.m., when two of our protesters arrived at Riverside Park, the police already had it closed with barricades. One of our protesters walked around the barricade attempting to get into the park, but was physically stopped and handcuffed. She was put into a squad car and taken down to the police dept. near downtown Janesville.

I was calling our other protesters telling them to get to that park and to check out the other ones. Carol and her 13 year old daughter got into the park without being seen by the police and Carol waded out into a marshy area where she was planning to stay to try to stop any shooting in the park. Her daughter, however, was physically stopped when police saw her trying to go to her mother. They handcuffed her and put her in a squad car too.

The police then threw Carol a rope so she could pull herself out of the muddy area to go to her daughter. They took her daughter down to the police dept. where our other protester was just being released. She had been charged with "resisting arrest" and "obstructing an officer", both class A misdemeanors, and was given a court date.

Carol's daughter was harassed on the way to the police station by the officer driving her there. He made goose noises and said her mother was a freak for going out into the mud. She was interrogated without her mother or any other representation with her at the police department. When Carol got there, she was informed that the matter would be referred to the juvenile authorities and her daughter would get state charges of "resisting" and "obstructing". She didn't get anything in writing, but was told it would be sent to her in about 10 days.

Her wrists were bruised and swollen, and the neck of her sweatshirt was torn where the officer had used it to pull her into the squad car. We took pictures of her, and Carol took her to the doctor to document her condition.

Later that afternoon Arnold Baer arrived in town and met us at Traxler Park. He was going to attend the City Council meeting with us that evening. Carol and her daughter were interviewed by the Janesville Gazette and a Rockford, IL television station, who both did a story on it. We found out later that the hunt was called off at Riverside soon after their arrests because "there were no geese there to hunt".

As we were all on our way to city hall for the City Council meeting early that evening, the hunters moved into Kiwanis Pond and shot 5 geese there. Two of our protesters discovered police and hunters leaving the park when they went to patrol it right before the council meeting was to start, and I was told by a fisherman that shots were fired.

We learned a hard lesson that day = to keep someone in the parks as a lookout all the time, all day long during the time they could hunt (6:00 a.m. - 7:15 p.m.).

We spoke at that council meeting, asking them to call off the hunt now. Arnold Baer spoke also, trying to be a mediator, and get them to stop the hunts. They wouldn't.

Tues., Sept 10 = At 5:00 p.m. hunters were in Kiwanis Pond wanting to hunt, but there were no geese. We had patrolled that area most of the day, observing that there were no geese, so we left it "unwatched" for a couple hours in the mid to late afternoon. The hunters had evidently taken that opportunity to set up the hunt.

As another form of protest, we sat up lawn chairs near the pavilion in Traxler Park to observe the Leisure Services employees having a department cook out. I also videotaped them. One of their employees, Tom Presny, who we later found out was the one who set off the noise makers in the parks and oversaw all the hunts, came zooming into the park and almost hit one of our protesters who was walking in the parking lot. He must've been over at Kiwanis Pond for the attempted hunt.

Wed., Sept. 11 = there were no hunts today, although we wouldn't have put it past them, so we were prepared. Janesville chose this day to open and dedicate a new park ironically named "Peace Park".

Thurs, Sept. 12 = Police asked two of our protesters to leave Riverside Park shortly after 5:00 a.m. They complied. Then police baricaded it. When we arrived at Kiwanis Pond, it was already baricaded. One of our protestors got into the area and saw there were no geese, so we headed to Traxler and Riverside Parks.

Traxler was open so some of us stayed there, while I went to Riverside with two other protesters.

While we were kept outside the park at a police barricade with 5 policemen, I filmed everything that went on and turned on a body alarm, screamed, and flailed my arms around whenever any geese flew toward the park. They often turned and avoided the park, but one group of 5 flew over the park and a hunter shot one of them. I videotaped that too.

Later, that hit me really hard and the memory still haunts me.

The hunters were not sticking to the areas that were circled on the aerial photo/map of the park in the Leisure Services report. We could hear noisemakers being shot off somewhere outside of the park. Our other protesters said they were being shot off at Traxler, but also outside of both of the parks. They apparently were trying to get the geese to fly into Riverside where the hunters were waiting for them.

I observed the one goose get killed in the air flying over the park, but Leisure Services reported that a total of 3 were killed in the park that morning. We did hear other shots fired, so it could be true.

At 6:00 p.m. Kiwanis Pond was baricaded by a police car and one policeman. We could see 4 hunters holding shotguns on the shore facing the pond. There were no geese. They only stayed a short time, then moved a few blocks down the road to the National Guard Armory, where there were a group of geese on the front lawn. They shot off noisemakers to try to scare the geese into the pond, but it didn't work.

We were right there with the geese and in the pond area, and stayed until it was past the legal time that they could hunt.

Fri., Sept. 13 = Riverside Park was closed at 5:00 a.m. One of our protesters got inside without being seen, but was found and escorted out. My husband and I went out in a small aluminum row boat that we had borrowed. We put it in the water across the river from the park and rowed to the area that we had observed hunters shooting from the morning before. We kept the boat right out in the open in the area. A boat with 2 hunters zoomed up out of the trees in a motor boat and told us we were interfering with the hunt and we had to leave the area. I said they didn't have jurisdiction over the river. The hunters said, "the county does and we're going to call them and they'll come and arrest you". I said, "we'll tell them 'hello'".

Then another boat with a hunter and a policeman in it came up to us and the policeman asked what we were doing. I held up a fishing pole that was in the boat. He asked if we had our fishing license. I said, "no". My husband said, "but we don't have any bait". The policeman said that we were still in violation of DNR statutes and he'd have to report us. He asked our names and we gave them to him. He knew me and said I was famous. I said, "isn't it a shame that I have to be". He also said we had to leave the area. If we didn't, he said the DNR would go looking for our cars.

My husband slowly paddled down stream out of the area. We heard shots fired in an area of the park where there are private residences. One of our protesters asked about that and was told by a policeman that they had permission from the homeowners to shoot on their property. We didn't see any geese shot, but Leisure Services reported that 2 geese were killed that day in that park.

Later that day we used hard plastic, single person boats in Kiwanis Pond and kept them manned until past the legal time the hunters could hunt. We had decided to have a cookout in Traxler Park that day, so a friend rented the pavilion all day from Leisure Services and got their assurance that there would be no hunts during that time (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.). We kept protesters in Riverside Park all day also.

Sat., Sept. 14 = Riverside Park was closed by 5:00 a.m. when we arrived there. While we stood at the police barricade, we saw the police turn about 6 vehicles and a couple joggers away over a 3 hour period. Again I was videotaping. I told the police they were conducting "selective enforcement" by allowing hunters into the park, but keeping everyone else out. One hunter, that the police let drive into the park, said to me, "don't take my picture. I don't give you permission to take my picture. You're gonna find that (my camera) in the river!" That same hunter masked his face when they were driving out of the park after the hunt. Two of our protesters got into the park without being seen by the police, but were discovered by two officers and escorted out. The hunt could not take place while there were any civilians in the park.

I saw one goose flying alone overhead get shot by a hunter across the river from the park. A DNR warden was with the police at the barricade that morning, so I asked him if that was allowed for a hunter to shoot that close to us, from across the river, outside of the park. He said it was okay because it was in the township. That hunter was one of the city parks "team". We heard noisemakers being shot off outside of the park. When we asked the DNR warden about that being appropriate, he denied hearing any noisemakers.

We also saw the hunters put out decoys to try to attract the geese into the park because there were no geese when they started the hunt. I also videotaped that. There were no more geese shot during the 3 hours that they had closed the park.

At 8:00 a.m. the Leisure Services Parks Director, Tom Presny, walked up to the police and the DNR warden, said something to them, then addressed all of us. I thought he was going to have us all arrested on some trumped up charge. Instead, he announced that he was calling an end to the Parks Hunts and there would be no more shots fired in the city of Janesville. He stated that there would be meetings set up with us so we could work together in the future. To date, none of us have heard from either him nor the Leisure Services Director, Mike Williams, about any meetings.

Leisure Services has just released a report on the goose hunts, conveniently leaving out any cost analysis. They deemed the hunt a success and say the parks where they were able to carry out hunts have less geese in them now, even though only 16 geese were "harvested" (killed).

We are now in the migratory goose season, so I don't know how they get the idea that there are less geese in those parks. The report states that "the protesters interfered with the hunts" and that we "violated Federal statutes, but the DNR didn't have enough evidence to prosecute" us. The misdemeanors charges against the one protester who got them and the charges against the 13 year old have been dropped by the D.A. because the charges were too severe and the lack of evidence.

His office has reportedly stated that "the city attorney can charge them with a lesser charge if he wants to. After all, they (the city) caused the situation".

Two protesters were each charged with violating the city's trespassing ordinance. One protester was also charged with violating city ordinances against illegal fireworks possession and speeding. A small price to pay, we feel, to have prevented the killing of the large number of geese that the city had planned to let the hunters try to do.

A SAVE THE GEESE Fund has been set up at the Associated Bank at 2525 Milton Ave. in Janesville, WI 53545 to help offset our expenses, fines, and court costs. And, hopefully, continue to protect and help the geese in the future.

EPILOG: We requested a jury trial to dispute one of the trespassing charges. The city attorney sent a letter asking us to call his office to set up an appt. to discuss the charge. We went in prepared. We did not feel that walking through a public golf course that was not posted "Private", "No Trespassing", or with any hours of operation should be considered a violation of the city ordinance concerning Trespassing.

We had a copy of the ordinance, photos of the park and golf course entrances, where the walking through occurred, and where the vehicles were parked. The charge was dismissed. The other protester must contact the city attorney personally to dispute the other charge of Trespassing, but has chosen not to, even though the city attorney was willing to review that file since this Trespassing charge was dismissed. The speeding violation has been paid. The illegal fireworks possession charge is not being disputed.

Just so you'll not think we are "professional" activists, we are all normally law abiding citizens. We are property owners, parents, and blue collar workers who felt that this situation was something that we could not sit by and let occur. Nor will we in the future should this occur again, God forbid!

Just got back from a candlelight vigil, concerning the fourteen women and five children that have unfortunately been killed by, (boyfriends and husbands) by Domestic Violence in Bienville, Webster, Lincoln, Jackson Parishes. Real sad about how women are abused in this country, hunters also predominate the areas where these women and children were killed, will do some research and find out if the "men" that killed these women and children were, in fact hunters, I feel they were in the narrow margin. News media is helping expose this issue, finally.

We publish our Non-hunters' Rights Coalition Messenger/Newsletter on a bi-monthly basis, I'll be happy to send you a copy, there's no charge for it or membership.

We have a "Non-hunters ' Rights BILL" and hope to have it introduced in the coming year, turned in a copy of it to our State Representative last week, this will be the third time we attempted to have it introduced in three years!

If you want I can send you a copy of the Non-hunters' Rights BILL, it's about four pages long. I am going to send a copy of the BILL to the following Wisconsin State Representatives in hopes that they will listen to the Rights of Non-hunters'.

The Addresses of the Animal Rights Supporters/ Wisconsin State Representatives are as follows:

Tammy Baldwin(D) (Animal Rights Voter)
Suite 405
10E Dotty Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
E-Mail: tammy.baldwin@mail.house.gov
Web: http://www.house.gov/baldwin/

Gerald Kleczka (Animal Rights Voter)
Rm 2301 Rayburn House Office Building(RHOB)
Washington, D.C. 20515-4904
E-Mail: www.house.gov/writeprep/
Web: http://www.house.gov/kleczka

Mark Green (Animal Rights Voter)
Rm 1218 Longworth House Office Building(LHOB)
Washington, D.C. 20515
E-Mail: mark.green@mail.house.gov
Web: http://www.house.gov/markgreen/

Sincerely,
Rex Stuart/NRCI
Our address:
The Non-hunters' Rights Coalition
P.O. Box 374
Simsboro, Louisiana 71275 - 0374
nrghtsco_2000@yahoo.com

I wanted him to read that one because it is mostly written by CAIDS and points out the institutional culprits that must be changed in order to make significant social change against our killer culture. But most important,the 8/29/02 entry has a link to the CAIDS website.

I told him the video games which could be so helpful to human evolution are doing nothing more than teaching ALL children to enjoy killing. How discouraging. Make it impossible for children to play safely in the parks and forests because of all the killing (hunting) allowed to take place there, (they killed a woman walking her dog - we all know it is too dangerous to try to use state lands) remove the children from time alone in the beauty and uplifting power of nature and then replace that with video games that glorify killing and being the best killer. I told him I was losing hope for evolution.

Rex wrote back and I am printing his reply in full. I hope you will sign the petitions he has posted below.
But I must say, he has no idea of what it is like in Wisconsin if he thinks we can do anything to stop hunting - we cannot even stop the most ridiculous, obviously evil aspects of it, like bow and arrow hunting, like hunting bears with dogs, which is our version of the aristocracy's fox hunts in Britain..

We allow the blind to hunt in Wisconsin, we allow children under 12 to hunt in Wisconsin, and we allow hunting in our parks in Wisconsin.

Cruelty to domesticated and wild life is a funded institution in Wisconsin. And Rex speaks of "Law Enforcement" being not helpful. Oh yeah, we go one step further in Wisconsin. Here "law enforcement" protects and covers for the animal abusers. Read what happened to me and my animals through the efforts of "Law Enforcement" in Wisconsin by scrolling down and clicking on "Higher Consciousness" on the green Index all the way at the bottom of this page.

Dear Ginny Rose,

Hi. You're welcomed about the comments I placed on your Beautiful Web Site, the colors and the picture of the cats, and everything about your Web Site is excellent!

Thank you for allowing me to voice my facts and statements about so-called,"sports-men". It's not one
of my best letters, however, when the shooting got too close and the local law "enforcement" would not help get these shooters away from our home, I had to start writing and telling others. It helps my feelings to bring exposure to the whole state of Louisiana especially, Arcadia, in which the hunters are out control and have been for a many years because of our "governor" and Louisiana DNR/Wildlife & Fisheries!

I know exactly how you feel. I've also felt hopeless, it's perfectly normal. However, please don't allow the feeling of hopelessness to negatively affect your health. We cannot allow so-called,"sports-men" to overrule, oppress, and/or suppress our views.

Hunters have proven their ignorance by being brainwashed by the "hunting culture". Educating this and the next generation is our job to effectively stop hunters from destroying future Wildlife and People.

I have posted some petitions at: www.petitionpetition.com under "Animal Rights", "Family & Children", "Hunting & Meat", & "Business/Boycotts".
Ban Shooting Of Guns Towards People In The U.S.!

I should have asked you for your permission first, I posted on our (message board),petitions, a web page of yours concerning the DNR Letter, I thought it was such a very good article, and would share it with other compassionate people?

At www.petitiononline.com is another petition, "Ban Hunting In Louisiana And Other States That Allow People To Be Threatened".

I sincerely apologize for overstepping my boundaries concerning the Web Page and I understand if you are upset. (I wasn't upset at all - I was thankful - anyone can use these entries and no one has to ask permission)

Hunters are outnumbered, thankfully. (I do not know if that is true in Wisconsin-the whole DNR is staffed by people with advanced degrees who hunt. The governor brags about hunting. Female mayor, Katherine Falk, brags about hunting The people at the University of Wisc. in Madison experiment on PRIMATES as well as cats, dogs, and rodents.)

I was so upset when I heard the gunshots next door, I wanted others to know that the violence from hunters affects all of us, and knowing they were shooting at a defenseless and innocent animal, is worse than hearing the shot fired, I feel!

Law "enforcement" answered our call, however, he is one of the officers that goes against everything my parents and I believe in, and of course he would not tell them to distance themselves from our
property.

I will also check the message letters on your Web Site about the DNR and CAIDS, I will contact them as well.

Going to finish your letter tonight, probably around 10 or 11 P.M.. Stay warm and safe. I will write more
tonight. Bye for now and thank you for the articles. Will also check some avenues concerning stopping
hunting in Wisconsin! We have a BILL that might help?