[ SHOWGSD-L ] AB1634-Collateral Damage. You MUST read this.
- From: Stormy435@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:55:25 EDT
This post is about a couple of women who have been fighting for your right to
own and care for your dogs, your way. They own GSDs and they would love to
do what they love to do, SAR, Schutzhund, Trialing, and so much more. Read
their stories. And then resolve to help.
I was given permission by Administration to post this.
---PERMISSION TO CROSS-POST.---
Dear Friends in the Fight against AB 1634: I sent the following letter to
all of the California State Senators, in personalized form. What you read
below was addressed to a Democrat. The version sent to Republicans is only
slightly different.
As you will see, this letter contains deeply personal and painful content.
Feeling great concern that not NEARLY enough of us are contacting the Senators
(and urging all of our friends/clients/As you will see, this letter contains
deeply personal and painful content. Feeling great concern that not NEARLY
enough of us are contacting the Senators (and urging all of our friends/clients/
I send this to you, with their permission, with the hope and prayer that
this letter may serve as a different kind of call to action.
As always, your Friend in the Fight,
Tina M. Perriguey
July 19, 2008
Dear Senator,
This letter is about AB 1634 (the old and) the *new*, which you are about to
vote on.
Fighting this terrible bill has cost the State in countless ways that I've
come to think of as collateral damage.
There are two women I'd like you to get to know better. They serve your
District (and other Districts throughout the state) at various times, when your
constituents are in the worst kind of crisis ... when your people are lost,
helpless and afraid, perhaps buried, facing death.
Both of these women are brilliant, disciplined, successful in their fields.
Laura Sanborn is a chemical engineer, and built the SaveOurDogs.Laura Sanborn
is a chemical eng
Angie Niles is the nuclear physicist and math genius who testified before the
Senate Local Government Committee Hearing on AB 1634 last year, presenting
NAIA's shelter data analysis, proving that mandatory-spay-Angie Niles is the
nuclear physicist and ma
They are both devoted dog lovers, and members of the largest
Search-and-Rescue dog/handler-They are both devoted dog lovers,
They are both friends of mine, and it's impossible to express how much I
admire them, and how much they have impressed me with their perseverance,
dedication and selflessness over the last seventeen months, as we have worked
together
to try to defeat this horrible bill.
I recently sent each of them an email entitled "COLLATERAL DAMAGE," and asked
them three questions, and also requested that they elaborate, and speak
freely in their responses.
Questions: 1. When did you begin fighting AB 1634?
2. How many hours of service to Search-and-Rescue would you estimate you
have not performed (in training, along with actual missions) as a sacrifice to
the AB 1634 fight?
3. How many hours of vacation time have you sacrificed to this fight?
They both began fighting AB 1634 in early March, 2007.
LAURA: I did almost no Search-and-Rescue work during a 4-month period from
early March through mid-July 2007. I missed several searches, including one in
my own town. I'll estimate I missed 160 hours of training and 50 hours on
searches.
I have sacrificed 5 weeks of vacation, 3 weeks of which would have been
devoted to Search-and-Rescue training/missions.
I have spent over 1,000 hours fighting AB 1634.
I've also spent about $10,000 on this fight, which means I have to delay my
retirement date.
I think I've aged at least 5 years since March 2007.
I, a member of the Democratic National Committee "Chairman's Circle," am
completely disillusioned by the Democrats in the California state legislature.
---Laura Sanborn
ANGIE: I have sacrificed about three weeks of vacation for this.
I estimate that I have spent over 700 hours of my personal time working on
AB1634. From the quality of the analysis from the various Assembly and
Senate committees, I estimate that they have spent less than 5 minutes in
total working on AB1634. I have also spent about $3000 of my personal funds
on this bill. I have not had a raise that has matched inflation in over 4
years and this expenditure is a very real financial burden for me. In the
last year, my employer has made a 20% workforce reduction. The spending I
have done on AB1634 has required a downward reduction in my lifestyle in
order to stay solvent.
In the last year I estimate that I missed about 200 hours of wilderness
Search-and-Rescue,
and cadaver-detection training,
100 hours of volunteer ski patrol duty, 100 hours of avalanche training and
100 hours of K-9 avalanche training. I missed at least one avalanche callout
where
ten people died and arguably a second avalanche callout where
one person died. On Thursday, 7/10/08, while Laura and I were in the
Capitol
speaking to Appropriations Committee analysts, there was a search callout
for a missing mountain climber in the southern Sierras.
In February 2007, about the time that AB1634 came about, I
was diagnosed with breast cancer and my brother was diagnosed with lung
cancer. I missed both of the Assembly Committee Hearings and the Floor Vote
in the
Assembly because I was either in the hospital undergoing cancer surgeries or
recovery from one of my two surgical biopsies or one of my two cancer
surgeries. When I gave my Senate Local Government Committee Hearing
testimony, I was undergoing cancer radiation therapy.
In October my brother died of lung cancer.
I missed the Senate Local Government Committee
hearing, June 25, 2008, because I was undergoing an MRI as part of my
cancer monitoring. That is the hearing where Gloria Negrete-McLeod revealed
the gutted and *new* AB1634 where it was voted out of committee. Ironic that
she is known for her dedication to women's health issues.
Before AB 1634 opened my eyes, I was a "yellow-dog Democrat."
That has changed, and ALL Democrats, not just in California, have AB 1634 to
thank for it. No candidate, ever again, will be able to take my vote for
granted.
Now I know the danger in blind Party loyalty. AB 1634 has always had
overwhelming BIPARTISAN opposition. This bill is partisan ONLY within the
walls of
the State Capitol.
Thanks to AB 1634, my vote is up for grabs. From now on, ANY candidate, of
ANY party can get my vote. They just have to earn it.
---Angie Niles
Senator, I have spent countless hours with Angie Niles in the last
seventeen months fighting this bill, and every conversation and meeting
has revolved around the fight against AB 1634. She has always been focused,
dedicated and brilliant, and she NEVER, NOT ONCE mentioned the fact that
she was fighting for her own life, and that her brother was doing the same.
I found out from her husband. Angie did not even tell her own family that
she was fighting cancer, because she did not want them to have to worry
about her, because her brother had been diagnosed as terminal.
How much did the stress of fighting this terrible bill feed the cancer
that Angie was fighting off? We'll never know. I do know this.
Our society needs more women like Angie, not less.
Eleven people died on the avalanche-response callouts that Angie
Niles missed because she was fighting AB 1634. How many of them
could she and her dog have saved? We'll never know. These
questions may haunt you.
Having personally seen how well Angie's dog performs Search-and-Rescue
work - trust me,
these questions haunt me even more.
In the last seventeen months, I have exchanged emails with Laura
Sanborn between the hours of 2 and 5 a.m. so many times it came
to feel normal. The fight against AB 1634 has made sleep-deprivation,
and sheer exhaustion standard operating procedure.
So far, I've talked about two women. AB 1634 has become notorious
as one of the most contentious bills in the history of California's
legislature,
which begs the question: how much collateral damage has this worthless bill
left in it's wake?
How many lives have been sacrificed in missed Search-and-Rescue missions in
the
last seventeen months? How many dedicated, responsible dog owners have lost
all
hope and faith in their Democrat "representatives"? It has been said that
democracies
work best in times of crisis. We proved it to be true last
summer. For God's sake, AB 1634 became known as the bill that burned up fax
machines.
I have suffered a great deal financially in seventeen months of fighting AB
1634, and
that cost has been painful.
But that cost is nothing compared to what it's done to my faith.
I've seen far too much of partisan politics now.
Senator, I'm a true patriot. I vote in every election. In many ways, I've
felt for decades that I know and love the Founding Fathers as if they were my
family. I've always believed that our Constitution could withstand assault
from individuals who were corrupt
and tyrannical, determined to rob us of our freedoms. After all,
that's exactly what our Constitution was built for.
It is with a tortured last glimpse of innocence that I concede that I was
wrong.
Now I get to live with the painful knowledge and irony that it was the
"pro-choice" Party that destroyed my faith.
You've just read a little about three women. There are thousands, if not
millions,
of stories like ours out there.
All of this collateral damage, and for what? A bill (yes, this includes the
*new* version) that every subject matter expert knows will result in MORE
shelter intakes and euthanasias, and soaring costs to the state. We've proven
it
over and over again, presenting the truth in thousands upon thousands of phone
calls, emails, faxes, and personal visits to legislators.
(Angie and Laura spent another entire day at the Capitol last week, meeting
with Senate staffers, providing new, exhaustively-(Angie and Laura spent
another entire day at the Capitol last week, meeting
Our evidence is incontrovertible, and yet, over and over again, partisan
politics has triumphed
over that which is right. It is almost incomprehensible that our State
Legislature has gone this
far off the rails.
Millions of responsible dog owners are struggling to remain loyal to the
Democratic Party. It's not too late for the Party to redeem itself. Please
help
make that happen with a "NO" vote on AB 1634.
Seventeen months of collateral damage. All over a bill that has always been
terrible, and is now even worse. God forbid we should have to look back on
this long, hard fight as nothing but wasted time.
Please help us to FINALLY KILL this terrible, tragic bill.
If you could accomplish that, you will have done the impossible.
You will have made all this collateral damage worthwhile.
Yours sincerely,
Tina M. Perriguey
United Schutzhund Clubs of America
AllianceDogSport@xxxxxxxxxx (I would greatly appreciate a response letting
me know how you will vote on AB 1634. Thank you. If you would like to speak
to, and/or meet with, Laura and Angie, I know that they would welcome the
opportunity.
**************
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