Fwd: [ntar_network] SHARK update features high school rodeo taxpayer handout

[Guest guest]

Note: forwarded message attached.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welfare Cowboys Leaching off “Land of Lincoln” Taxpayers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illinois Becomes Ground Zero for Fight Against the Rodeo Mafia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

in this issue...

· SHARK Needs YOU!

 

· West Hollywood's

Attempt to Stop SHARK

· Another Celebrity,

Another Contradiction

· AR2006 in D.C.

· In Closing

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

This coming July 24-30, the National High

School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) will hold its national finals rodeo in Springfield,

Illinois. Students trained to brutalize animals will come from all over

the United States, Canada and as far away as Australia. Oh yes, and SHARK

will be there as well.

Illinois is said to have one of the best sets of humane laws in the

country. The problem lies with the Illinois Department of Agriculture, the

agency charged with enforcing the law. The

Department of Agriculture is far more interested supporting those who use and

abuse animals than enforcing humane treatment. The following

excerpt from the August 9, 2004 edition of the Leader

newspaper demonstrates this point all too well:

 

" A $55,000 check

helped convince the National High School Rodeo Association to

return its rodeo to Illinois in 2006 and in 2007.

With check in hand, Chuck Hartke, director of the Illinois Department of

Agriculture, Kevin Gordon, assistant state fair manager, and Amy Bliefnick,

newly named bureau chief of business services, saddled up and traveled to a

Wyoming rodeo to meet with the National High School Rodeo Finals Board to

lasso the deal. "

 

 

Isn’t that special? Three brown-nosing

bureaucrats, including the director of the

agency charged with enforcing humane laws, traveled on the public dole all

the way to Wyoming to suck up to a bunch of welfare rodeo thugs! It

is telling that in spite of all the years I have been in contact with the

Illinois Department of Agriculture, I have never met Director Hartke. In

fact, no one I know involved in the Illinois humane movement has ever met him. I guess that’s

because he has his nose buried too far up the posterior of his rodeo buddies.

 

This isn’t the first time the national

high school finals have been held in Illinois. SHARK investigators attended the NHSRA rodeo finals

when they occurred in Springfield in 2000 and 2001. The

investigators documented abuses that violated not only Illinois humane laws, but also the supposed

humane rules of the NHSRA.

The media attention on the

cruelty and humane violations SHARK documented forced the Illinois Department

of Agriculture to give a degree of protection to rodeo animals statewide, and

eventually resulted in the first prosecution and conviction of a rodeo stock

contractor. The Department of

Agriculture apparently had enough damage to its reputation that it had to do

its job, at least for a while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the Department apparently believes it can return to its old

ways. Already the bureaucrats have started backtracking from the progress we

forged in the last few years. The backtracking began as far back as last

August, when SHARK investigator Mike

Kobliska filmed a rodeo in Andalusia, Illinois, videotaping rodeo animals being shocked with

electric prods to make them “perform.”

Mike contacted the Department of

Agriculture, and we provided them with video footage of the lawbreaking. A

Department representative contacted the people putting the rodeo on and

warned them not to do it again. The very next rodeo, in September, Mike again attended and again videotaped the same

violations, with the only difference being that the stock

contractor now tried to hide the shocking. Nevertheless, Mike documented

multiple violations and again contacted the Department. The Department refused to take any action.

 

The Illinois Department of Agriculture has

demonstrated that is as spineless as it is incompetent. It is outrageous that

one of the two most cruel and corrupt state agencies (the Illinois Department

of Natural Resources being the other) is in charge of enforcing humane laws

in the state.

One historical note: In 2000 a spokesperson

for then- governor George Ryan suggested that I was an “extreme

activist” when we demanded action against the high school rodeo thugs. The

governor tried to paint me, and by association SHARK, as a criminal. George

Ryan has since been indicted, tried and convicted of corruption in federal

court. He will be sentenced in August, and could receive as much as 20

years in prison. So much for who is the real “extremist.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHARK

Needs YOU!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) It

is vital that we have enough people to videotape the NHSRA finals rodeo.

This is an enormous event that includes two rodeos per day, with two arenas

of cruelty ongoing simultaneously! If

you can attend as a SHARK investigator, please contact me ASAP. If

you have your own videocam, great. If not, we can supply one for you. Help be

a part of history by documenting these cruel phony cowboys. Your evidence can

do more to stop the cruelty than a thousand-person protest.

2) Write to the governor of Illinois

to protest his state’s support of animal abuse. Demand that Illinois

humane laws be strictly enforced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the governor’s contact

information:

The Honorable Rod Blagojevich

Governor of Illinois

207 State House

Springfield, IL 62706

Phone 217-782-0244

Fax 217-524-4049

Email

 

Here is a sample letter you can work from:

Dear Governor Blagojevich,

 

I am writing to express my concern for the animals that will be used in the

national high school finals rodeo. Are you aware of the cruelty and

violations of law that occurred when the finals were in Illinois

in 2000 and 2001? It is shameful that the state is allowing, much less paying

these abusive people to return. This is a black mark the Land

of Lincoln will wear for many years to come.

I demand that you spare no effort or expense

to protect rodeo animals, and that those who violate humane laws are

prosecuted to the fullest possible extent.

Sincerely,

NOTE – Please pass

any response you may receive back to me at: Shindi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West

Hollywood's Attempt to Stop SHARK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may recall that SHARK’s Tiger video truck received a citation

and a $1,050 fine from the city of West Hollywood some weeks back. The citation claims we violated a law banning

“mobile billboards.”

The citation from code enforcement officer

Dave Williams came under very suspicious circumstances. First, the Tiger has

operated in West Hollywood many times in more than five years with no problem. It

was only when we began exposing Hilary Duff, who spends time in West Hollywood,

that we were cited. Furthermore, our Tiger Truck is not a mobile billboard,

nor do we advertise.

Last Thursday there was an administrative

hearing on the citation. Mr. Williams was present, and our legal eagle,

animal rights lawyer Shannon Keith, was able to ask him questions. Mr.

Williams admitted that he noticed the Tiger Truck's Illinois

plates, meaning he knew we were not from out of town. He admitted that he

never tried to talk to us about the supposed “violation.” He

could have, but chose not to first give us a warning, instead of an

immediate fine. When asked why he went right to a fine ($1,050) instead

of a warning, he replied that it was because he could.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr. Williams is quite a piece of work. He showed up for the

hearing in shorts and a T-shirt. My guess is that he has a relative with some

clout who got him a job in West

Hollywood, and that the city

stuck him somewhere where they figured he couldn’t do too much harm.

I firmly believe that the only reason we

were cited is due to the influence of Hilary Duff’s hired legal thugs.

I think someone in her camp got to someone in West Hollywood.

I think they figured that SHARK would pay the citation and never come back.

They figured wrong!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The irregularities associated with the West Hollywood

citation just keep compounding. Attorney Shannon Keith, who represents SHARK

in this case, asked for discovery (evidence relevant to the case) prior to

the hearing and was refused. It seems that these are people with something

to hide. I wonder if that includes records of contact between Ms.

Duff’s legal thugs and the city. If West Hollywood’s

administrators have any sense at all, they’ll abandon this fight. SHARK

will not allow any town to chill our 1st Amendment rights. It won’t be

our first trip to federal court.

If you have not yet contacted West Hollywood

Mayor John Heilman, I ask that you do so now. If you have already written or

called, I ask that you do so again. West Hollywood

has a reputation for being animal friendly, but it is starting to look like

this reputation is as invalid as that of the supposed animal lover Hilary

Duff.

Please contact Mayor John Heilman at:

Mayor’s Office

City of West Hollywood

8300 Santa Monica Boulevard

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Phone number: 323-848-6400

Email:

http://www.weho.org/contacts/index.cfm/id/5/lk/1/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another

Celebrity, Another Contradiction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The discovery happened when SHARK’s Alissa Finley looked

at the list of entertainers for the Cheyenne

Frontier Days in Wyoming, one of the most infamous and vicious rodeos in the United States. When SHARK

investigators attended this rodeo last year, we watched one animal after

another be dragged out.

Carrie Underwood was a winner on the

“American Idol” television show. An Oklahoma native, Ms.

Underwood claims to be a vegetarian animal lover. This sounds great, but why then is Ms. Underwood scheduled to perform

at the abusive and deadly Cheyenne Frontier Days?

At this point we do not know the answer to

that question. A letter of inquiry was sent from SHARK to her P.O. Box over a

week ago, and additionally other attempts to contact her are underway. So far there is no response from Ms. Underwood.

 

I hope we don’t not have to

“Duff” (our new term for expose) another celebrity. I hope Ms.

Underwood will reconsider her actions, and will then act with more conviction

than the utterly classless Hilary Duff. The next week should tell us what we

need to know, and we will report whatever happens to you via our E-Updates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AR2006

in D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget that SHARK will be

represented at the AR2006 conference in Washington, D.C.

in August. We have not made a decision yet about bringing the Tiger truck,

but it is possible. I will be speaking on a number of topics, and I look

forward to seeing our friends and supporters there. For more information

about this event, go to: AR2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In

Closing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHARK’s Tiger video

truck has just returned home from the West Coast, having done a great job of

exposing first Starbucks Coffee, and then Hilary Duff. Last November the Tiger started from Illinois

and worked its way to the southern west coast, and then up the coast to

Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. Then it was back down the coast to Los Angeles

for our friend, the silent and spineless Hilary Duff.

Now the Tiger has come home for some much

needed work and attention to prepare it for the next round of campaigning

against rodeos and all the other abuses we want to highlight. SHARK needs your donations to pay

for the work on the Tiger, so it can continue to be a successful

revolutionary tool for the animals.

Kindest Regards,

Steve Hindi and your SHARK Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick Links...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

· More

About SHARK

 

 

· " HilaryDuffisCruel.com "

 

 

 

 

· What's

Bullfighting About?

 

 

· Rodeo

Video

 

 

 

 

· AR2006

Conference in D.C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

email: shark.central

 

 

 

phone: 630-557-0176

 

 

web: http://www.sharkonline.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forward email

 

 

 

 

 

 

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