NEWS - COALITION TO BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES

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Elizabeth Forel <coalitionbanhdc wrote: Sat, 31 May 2008 14:16:41 -0400 (EDT)Elizabeth Forel <coalitionbanhdcfortheanimalsSubject: NEWS - COALITION TO BAN HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES 3-25/89-June 1, 2008 HORSE SENSE

Weekly updates about issues and actions concerning New York City's Carriage Horses Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages www.banhdc.org Postcard campaign ** Irish Activist ** Chicago carriage horses ** Letters ** Horse Racing ** Blinders ** Volunteer ** Notice

QUINN POST CARD CAMPAIGN Please take as few as 5 post cards? Thanks to all of you who have already returned your completed post cards. You have done a great job and it is much appreciated. Many of you asked

for five cards and it has really made a difference. If everyone asked for just a few cards, it could help this cause greatly. You do not have to take responsibility for a huge number - just a few. But we still need more of you to participate. All you need to do is be willing to get some post cards that are addressed to Speaker Quinn signed by your friends and colleagues and returned to us. There is no charge to you. You can get 5 cards, 50 or more - your choice - but please, please participate. We cannot do this without you. If everyone who reads this took the responsibility for only 5 cards, it would represent a large total number to us. Our post cards are directed to Speaker Christine Quinn because she controls the City Council.

She is not supporting Intro 658, CM Tony Avella's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages, and without her support, the bill will go nowhere. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO OBTAIN POSTCARDS: Send us an e-mail at coalitionbanhdc and tell us how many Quinn post cards you would like. Provide your street mailing address. When you get these cards - preprinted with a message to the Speaker - please ask your friends and family to fill them out in your presence. Return the completed cards to us in the stamped envelope that will be enclosed. We will take care of delivering them to her office. CARDS DUE BACK TO US BY THE END OF JUNE. COMPASSIONATE IRISH IN NEW YORK a word from an authentic Irish activist - Yvonne O'Neill Imperiale I am originally from Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland, the site

of a world-class equestrian event, the Dublin Horse Show, at the Royal Dublin Society, which has taken place every year since the 1800's. I have known horses since I was a child, ride English and Western, and love them. I've lived in Manhattan now for 30 years and have always hated to see the carriage horses suffering. One Christmas I saw a badly limping horse carrying an overflowing carriage in the city traffic. I politely pointed out to the driver that his horse was limping, the carriage was overcrowded and he should drop the people off and take the horse to a vet. He sneered at me and continued on his way. In the ensuing years I've continued to see the horses suffer: no water most of the time; working in below freezing temperatures; terrific heat, heavy rain; too long hours; being driven through all kinds of traffic with loud noises, sirens, and breathing in traffic fumes. And they have nowhere to interact, or run or rest in a pasture. It's torture, pure and simple and

must be finally stopped. The videos of their life on the streets and in their pathetic stables, their periodic deaths in traffic, also endangering people, are horrible. And the so called "discrimination against the Irish" (because most of the owners are Irish) thing is a farce. It really annoys me. I'm Irish and have Irish friends who also demonstrate for the horses. More to the point, if the owners are cruel and inhumane, their national identity is immaterial. It deeply offends me that the owners are using the 'Nationality' card to avert attention from the base cruelties they inflict. A proposed bill that would ban carriage horses is blocked by Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg because they think tourists wouldn't enjoy NYC without the horses. Duh?

I love NYC and want to do the right thing for our horses. Retire them! Vote to ban them! There are charming alternatives. As my late Irish mother would say, "Please God!" Yvonne O'Neill Imperiale Well said, Yvonne (who, by the way, still has a beautiful brogue.) OK - so I see it is time for me to come out of the ethnic closet -- something I have until now chosen not to do because the "industry" knows too much about me already. They have hired private investigators to find out where I and others work and live and how much money we make. They have taken our pictures at events and followed us with video cameras. They post lies on the Internet. Their problem is that they simply want to suppress our First Amendment rights. My

mother was born in Ireland and was more Irish than many of those who drive these carriages. And she cared deeply for animals. If she could see what was going on with the horses, it would break her heart. I am very proud of my Irish heritage. To see some in the industry try to make this an issue of discrimination against the Irish is - as Yvonne points out - "a farce." This is about cruelty to the horses - plain and simple. The carriage trade needs to put the ethnic issues aside - they have no place in this debate. SPEAK OUT FOR CHICAGO CARRIAGE

HORSES from an informed source My note: When we started this in January 2006, we had no idea how big it would get. It's always difficult for a volunteer group on a shoe string budget to make a difference because of the lack of resources. But our "will" is priceless and free and we have tons of that. We are always "on the job." One thing about us is that we are not going away and I believe we have already made a huge difference. From time to time we get e-mails through our web site telling us

we are wackos and worse. I never answer them. But by far the majority of e-mails we receive are positive. So thanks to all of you who have contacted us with your stories. People all over the country and world have reached out to us because of our campaign. They are hoping that we are successful in New York City. If so, it will give their legislators pause to consider their own city's carriage trade. This is from an informed source in Chicago. Chicago has a huge horse and carriage industry. In fact, it may be second next to New York City. Currently there are 50 licenses and 6 different carriage companies. The majority of the carriages are run by Noble Horse who monopolizes and blocks traffic near The Historic Water Tower just off of Michigan Avenue.

The City of Chicago does little to regulate the horse drawn carriages or the care of the horses. Chicago does have a long list of ordinances that have been put in place to help protect the horses but the enforcement is selective at best. Unfortunately, some drivers and companies feel that they can do whatever they want whenever they want regardless of the rules in place. It is not uncommon to see lame, dirty, thin horses in Chicago. Many horses here rarely see pastures and have unsympathetic drivers. On any given day, no matter what the weather, you will find horses pulling down Michigan Avenue amongst CTA buses and unruly taxis. When questioned why the horses are allowed to pull in extreme weather conditions, the best authorities can say is, "What do you want us to do about it?" It is time that the residents of Chicago stand up and start questioning the care and regulation of the horse drawn carriages of Chicago. The two agencies that are supposed to regulate the carriage

industry here are Animal Care and Control and The Department of Consumer Services. CONTACT INFORMATION: Snail mail letters - please write to: Mayor Richard M. Daley, Office of the Mayor, City Hall - 121 N. LaSalle, Room 507; Chicago, IL 60602. OR you may send an electronic message by clicking on this link: . Tell the Mayor that it is time the City of Chicago consider banning their horse-drawn carriage trade. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR CHELSEA NOW - local NYC paper - MAY 23 - 29, 2008 Quinn's contempt for critters To The Editor: Re "Speaker shortchanges animals" (letter, by Elizabeth Forel, May 2): Kudos to Ms. Forel for calling it like it is regarding Christine Quinn's lack of concern for New York City's animals, ignoring bill after bill to their benefit. Those of us who care deeply and passionately about the welfare of all living beings will not be so easily dismissed, as Ms. Quinn will find out when the votes are counted. Call us what you will - extremists, radicals, card-carrying activists - we, all of us, get to vote, either for her or against her. The ball's in your court, Ms. Quinn. Judy Purcell 'Animal envy' rears its head To The Editor: Re "Speaker shortchanges animals" (letter, by Elizabeth Forel, May 2): I agree with letter writer Forel's assessment that politicians would do well to pay attention to the new, powerful constituency of those who care about animals. Personally, I think Speaker Quinn suffers from what I call "animal envy," characteristic of people who are envious of the slightest attention animals receive. Why else would she not allow even meager protection for innocent animals to come to the floor for a vote? Why would she consistently refuse to even investigate an animal issue or a complaint? What exactly is she envious of, I wonder? Is it the fact that millions of animals are slowly burned alive in U.S. laboratories or skinned alive on fur farms? Or maybe she'd like to spend a day as a puppy in a puppy mill? Speaker Quinn needs to step down and be replaced with an

enlightened, compassionate leader. Susan Davis Alan's foie gras faux pas To The Editor: In response to several recent letters in your Community Media newspapers highlighting Council Speaker Christine Quinn's "callous indifference" when it comes to animal issues, I concur. But I also want to shine the spotlight on her equally egregious betrayal of public trust. Quinn's cozy relationship with folks in the cruel and well-heeled carriage horse industry and the control she wields over other councilmembers - such as Alan Gerson, who suddenly withdrew his support of a foie gras bill - reek of inside power plays that the public finds deplorable and distasteful. Quinn's refusal to let the Pets in Housing Bill come up for a vote is another

indication of her inability to connect with issues important to the public. Add to that her claims of memory lapse and/or lack of awareness of the misuse of taxpayer money in "slush funds" that found their way to her favorite "charities" and we are, at the very least, looking at someone who has "lost it" or, at worst, someone guilty of even more reprehensible acts. The public has had enough! Move on, Ms. Quinn! Zelda Penzel WE ARE ALL EIGHT BELLES Sports Illustrated article + PETA demo at Belmont Time For Some Horse Sense - Selena Roberts - GABRIEL SAEZ speaks in a voice that sounds as if it travels through cotton, each word soft and muffled, suggesting a persona more horse whisperer than whip snapper."People treat me like a monster," Saez said as he leaned on a Ping-Pong table in the jockeys' room at Pimlico Race Course last Friday, "but I keep going." For an instant Saez seemed almost worthy of a PETA pity party. The animal-rights group toted signs near the Pimlico gates last Saturday in Baltimore to protest horse-racing cruelty, with the filly Eight Belles as their poster martyr and her former rider Saez as their sworn enemy. As if the 20-year-old Panamanian jockey could have looked any more like a victim: His cheeks were as

hollow as potholes from the jockey diet, which has no book because there would be no pages required. In preparing to race on the Preakness undercard he shed two pounds from his thumb-sized frame by sitting for 20 minutes in a sweatbox that could steam clams. Here was the incredible shrinking villain. Fair or not, someone had to be to blame for the chilling ending at Churchill Downs on May 3, when Eight Belles broke her two front legs after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and had to be euthanized on the track. So PETA fixed on Saez, accusing him of whipping the filly mercilessly-he struck her at least eight times down the stretch-and calling for his suspension. Trainer Larry Jones defended his jockey, explaining the whip was meant to keep Eight Belles from drifting into the rail. But just when my inner Mister Ed started to go sweet on Saez, he defended himself with loopy logic. "The whip is half a pound, and the horse is 1,200 pounds," he explained. "It doesn't do

anything to the horse." Who knows the pain tolerance of a horse? And why beat its hide at all? In a tight Saturday matinee race aboard Buy the Barrel, Saez repeatedly flailed his whip down the stretch to win. "Some horses resent the whip," says Jones, who trains Buy the Barrel. "But if the horse responds when you hit it, you owe it to the public to try to get that horse the best place you can because they put their money on the horse to do it." (continued on our web site) PETA is sponsoring a demonstration at Belmont Racetrack in NYC on Saturday,

June 7th. What: Peaceful demonstration at Belmont Stakes When: Saturday, June 7th, 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Where: Outside the Belmont Race Course, 250 Hempstead Tpke, Elmont Note: The demo will be on the corner of Hempstead Tpke and Belmont Rd. A bus will be provided for those who do not have their own transportation, leaving downtown New York June 7, at 8:00 a.m. sharp! Please contact Virginia Fort for details. You can RSVP by e-mailing VirginiaF or calling 757-622-7382, extension 8703, or 757-284-7152. BLINDERS:

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE TRADITION Staten Island & NJ - 6/6 & 6/7- Last chance for tickets Now you finally have a chance to see Blinders: the Truth Behind the Tradition. It is being show in several film festivals in the NYC area. Please visit the web site to see a listing of screenings. In New York City, Blinders will be screened on June 6th at 2:00 PM and Saturday June 7th at 8:00 PM at the STATEN ISLAND FILM FESTIVAL at the College of Staten Island Lab Theater, 2800 Victory Boulevard. Please come out and support this very important documentary by Donny Moss. Tickets are $10 - please buy in advance Check the web site for travel directions and to buy tickets. Buses leave from E. 57th St. in Manhattan. For those who live in New Jersey, there is a screening in New

Brunswick on June 6th. From the Staten Island web site: "Romanticized in the movies and on TV, the horse-drawn carriages of New York City are a beloved institution that attracts tourists from around the world. But animal rights activists have been saying for decades that the noisy, congested streets of midtown Manhattan are no place for a carriage horse and argue that tradition and tourist dollars are no excuse for abuse. The plight of the carriage horses is now in the public eye more than ever before, and the debate about the future of the industry has taken center stage. Through original footage taken with hidden cameras and interviews with experts and witnesses, Blinders takes viewers behind the scenes of this controversial industry to expose

the truth behind the tradition." VOLUNTEER WITH US every Saturday weather permitting We table every

Saturday weather permitting -- handing out fliers and getting signatures on post cards. We educate people about the inhumanity of the carriage horse trade. Please contact Rita, our volunteer coordinator if you are available next Saturday, June 7th OR Sunday, June 8th - depending on availability of people. Hours are from 12-4. Rita can be reached at volunteerforthecoalition NOTICE please read about forwarding this newsletter Thanks to all of you who forward this newsletter. It allows the message to get out to many more people and I am very thankful. However, unless you forward properly, you run the risk of having someone else "" your name. If you forward to a only few people, hit the "forward" link at the bottom of the e-newsletter. This is the way the newsletter is set up to be forwarded. However, if you hit the "forward" key on your computer, YOU MUST THEN DELETE YOUR NAME AND E-MAIL ADDRESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE NEWSLETTER -- AND THE WORD "UNSUBSCRIBE."

If you don't, you run the risk of having someone who receives this forwarded newsletter unsubscribing your name, thinking that they are unsubscribing themselves. It has happened to several people and becomes an issue getting them back on the list. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead. email: coalitionbanhdc web: http://www.banhdc.org Thank you for caring about the horses,

Elizabeth Forel - Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages - a standing committee of The Coalition for New York City Animals, Inc. Forward email This email was sent to fortheanimals, by coalitionbanhdc Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUn™ | Privacy Policy. Email Marketing by Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages | P.O. Box 20247 - Park West Station | New York | NY | 10025 http://pets.Fortheanimals7/join http://www.myspace.com/fortheanimals7