ATTENTION - Show Support for one of OUR OWN - She NEEDS Your Support!! SPEAK OUT!!

May 31, 2007

Permission to CROSS POST!! This makes me want to vomit!! These people finally have someone willing to do her job and then they publicly crucify her!! Please do what I did, go to the site and leave them a message!! Support Barbara Dunn for doing her job!! She nailed a BYB for neglect but yet Dunn is the villain!! What the hell is wrong with these people!?? "FYI -" remember ATTENTION - Show Support for one of OUR OWN - She NEEDS Your Support!! SPEAK OUT!!Thu, 31 May 2007 09:31:22 -0400 Speak out Join the conversation on the lawsuit in the "Putnam" forum at LoHud.com. Deputy sheriff's role as animal activist prompts battle By BARBARA LIVINGSTON

NACKMANTHE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: May 29, 2007) The head of the Putnam Humane Society, who is also the animal control officer for the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, is squaring off with a local dog breeder in town and federal courts over her dual roles. As a sheriff's deputy, Barbara Dunn removed 11 dogs from the Kent home of Linda Nelson, who is facing 22 charges of animal neglect and abuse, some misdemeanors, under the state's Agriculture and Markets Law. "It seems that Dunn's fiduciary duty as head of the Humane Society is in conflict with her public job as deputy sheriff," said Mary E. Marzolla of Nyack, who represents Nelson in two of three actions. "The Humane

Society is great, the sheriff's department is great. It is when they become intertwined it becomes a problem." The Humane Society is suing Nelson in civil court in Kent, demanding $34,000 in fees for care and medical expenses for the dogs since their seizure July 10, and forfeiture of the animals to the shelter. The suit was signed by Dunn as Humane Society president. In that role, she used to go by the name Barbara Devolve. Nelson is suing Dunn, Putnam County and the sheriff's department in federal court for $10 million, citing civil rights violations because she alleges a conflict of interest exists with Dunn leading the police efforts on animal abuse investigations and the nonprofit shelter. Nelson's attorney, Marzolla, contends it is not coincidental that Nelson was arrested

and received a hefty care bill within one month of Dunn petitioning Putnam County to provide greater financial support to the Humane Society. She represents Nelson in the federal case and Jeffrey Kane of Katonah represents her in the criminal case in Town Court. Nelson is charged with not providing proper food and water to Maltese dogs who were seized from her Peekskill Hollow Road home, according to court papers. On June 25, Dunn wrote to Putnam County Executive Robert Bondi asking him to reconsider a planned reduction in the Humane Society funding. Last year, the agency received $104,920 from the county. After a public campaign, the county agreed to $141,000 for this year. "The time frame is unusual in that (the Humane Society's) contract was under siege and, all of a sudden, a breeder's dogs are taken with no warning,"

Marzolla said. The Humane Society is an "impounding organization," its paperwork says, and is seeking "payment for all reasonable costs and expenses" for the dogs' care. Sheriff's Capt. Robert McNamara said the litigation kept him from commenting, and he referred inquiries to the county's legal department, which did not return calls. Attempts to reach Dunn last week were also unsuccessful. Claims of conflicts of interest related to the deputy's job and her volunteer post were raised in July, when the sheriff's department under direction from Dunn charged Garrison resident Sandy Saunders with animal neglect and seized five farm animals from his barn. Dunn has rejected claims that she has tried to artificially inflate animal cruelty investigations and said it was an often unpopular

task to make a determination on animal abuse cases. She has also said that the need for greater funding for the struggling Humane Society is clear and is not tied to her police work. Dunn, a trained veterinary technician, animal rights supporter and horseback rider, has said she is qualified to take on a police role in animal abuse situations when needed and, because of her personal beliefs, has volunteered for the Humane Society for years, taking on a leadership role. The agency is dependent upon volunteers, private donations and public funds from the county and the towns within it. "The increase in the number of animal cruelty cases, our attempts to address the overpopulation of domestic cats in our community, and the low-cost spay-and-neuter program are just three of the desperately needed services that quickly drain our inadequate contractual allocations," she wrote in a

June letter to the county executive. The criminal charges against Nelson and the Humane Society's claim for payment come before Kent Town Justice J. Peter Collins on Monday. The civil rights case is pending in U.S. District Court in White Plains. http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705290342 Speak out Join the conversation on the lawsuit in the

"Putnam" forum at LoHud.com.

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