VA * Michael Vick Indicted on Dogfighting Charges * What You Can Do

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PLEASE FORWARD / CROSSPOST/ EMAIL / CALL / FAX!! Alert 7/18/07 Michael Vick Indicted on Dogfighting Charges By now you have seen numerous reports about the indictment of Michael Vick and several others on dogfighting charges. No doubt there will be more descriptive detail about the killing of the dogs that didn't make the grade as fighters, but there has been little said about what happened to the dogs that were "successful" fighters, far more grim and endless for those dogs that had no option but to fight. Keep in mind this is a business. People who fight dogs gamble and win. Only the dogs lose, and only the children who grow up thinking this is OK lose. Remember the words of Sen. Watkins during the last session of Virginia's General Assembly who thought it "country" and so funny to instigate a cock fight as a youthful lark. This is the opposition. This is the mind set. Now is the time to add more pressure to the situation -

pressure to produce change. And when you are making it uncomfortable for those involved and those who should be prosecuting, remember this is a deadly business that goes beyond dogs and goes beyond Surry County. Remember that we are Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare and our goal is to make change for Virginia's companion animals legislatively, either by passing new laws or by enforcing existing laws. Here is what you can do. As you get responses to your efforts, we surely would appreciate it if you let us know about them. 1. VACA (Virginia Animal Control Association). Contact info: Kevin Kilgore, President, VACAemail:

KMKilgore Kathy Strouse, VP, VACA email: KStrouse Thank VACA for their

work. Kathy Strouse has been on top of the Surry case since it broke. VACA has been important in the Michael Vick/Surry County case, and earlier this year were incredibly helpful in the successful prosecution of Mr. Stacey Miller, convicted of dogfighting in Richmond. 2. Governor Timothy Kaine Contact info: TKaine Remind Gov. Kaine that VVAW sent him (6/9/07) a letter signed by nearly 400 people asking for his action opposing blood sport, and he did not have the simple courtesy to even

acknowledge the letter. 3. Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner Contact info: GoodellR This man can affect Michael Vick's work. Let him know

what you'd like him to do re Vick's football career and how the Commissioner should respond to these criminal indictments. 4. Robert F. McDonnell, Attorney General, State of Virginia Contact info: McDonnell We have not heard any public statement from Mr. McDonnell about the Surry County dogfighting case, although we hear frequently enough that he is angry that the state of New York sends people to Virginia to buy guns and demonstrate how Virginia gun buying procedures are totally ineffective. Despite the invitation offered to Mr. McDonnell to become the Elliott Spitzer for Virginia (you'll recall that Spitzer is now Governor of New York), we have heard nothing nor read anything from Mr. McDonnell on the dogfighting issue. Ask him what he is doing about blood sport in Virginia. 5. Gerald Poindexter, Surry County Commonwealth Attorney and Harold D. Brown, Surry County Sheriff Contact info: Commonwealth Attorney Poindexter: GPoindexter Sheriff Brown: SurrySheriff To date, there appears to be nothing from Surry County officials except ineptitude and indifference. A failure to properly draw or execute a search warrant and a blind eye is what the good folks of Surry County got from their local boys. Why? Is either running for election? Should they be elected? 6. Tom Page/Bobbi Page, Publishers Sussex-Surry Dispatch Newspaper Contact info:

dmmonitor ofc: 757-899-3551 fax: 757-899-7312 Write a letter to the editor of the Sussex-Surry Dispatch, letting readers know what you want to happen in Surry County and what your concerns are about dogfighting there or in any part of Virginia. 7. Write to the newspaper in your own area. Contact info: call the paper and ask for the email address for "Letters to the Editor". There are blood sports throughout Virginia. Ask what is being done to combat this in your area, and if nothing is being done - if there are no dog- or cockfighting cases brought in the last year or so - ask why. 8. Contact your own delegate and senator. Contact info: to get the name/contact info for your legislators, use this link: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform Ask their plans for combating blood sport, already illegal in Virginia. Ask them to support an increase in penalties for involvement in blood sport. Tell them what you want changed. Tell them VVAW had a bill patroned last year (Senate Bill 1345) by Sen. Benjamin Lambert which was defeated; the bill would

have required the reporting by public employees of animals suspected of being dogfighting participants. Seek their commitment to support this at a minimum in the upcoming session, and offer your vote (and hopefully a group of votes you can deliver) if they commit to helping. 9. Contact the public pound for your jurisdiction. Contact info: call the public pound or the Sheriff, or look for your county information on line. Ask the pound and the ACOs (Animal Control Officers) to photograph and identify all animals entering the pound with particular emphasis on those showing signs of being involved in fighting. 10. Mark G. Parker, President, NIKE Contact info: email: declined ofc: 503-671-6453 fax: 503-671-6300 (not confirmed) US mail: #1 Bowerman Drive; Beaverton, OR 97005-6453 Let

the Nike people know you consider them spineless for having kept Michael Vick as their spokesman - their shoe salesman. Let them know what you think about that and which of their products you intend to buy. Make it uncomfortable for those who are not helping while at the same time being polite. Right now is the time to make your thoughts known to those who can help us make a difference. Lillian Clancy and Don Marro Virginia Voters for Animal Welfare 540-253-5309 "We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity." Rachel Carson (American writer, Silent Spring) www.actionforanimalsnetwork.org Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join 's

user panel and lay it on us. Patricia Breen www.petstorecruelty.org

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