A Letter to Los Cruces & NM Public Officials

Folks, yesterday was a very dark day in Las Cruces, NM for animal advocates and especially for the animals themselves. I witnessed what had to be the most utterly disgusting display of judicial injustice by a disfunctual government body that defies the basic constitutional rights of the citizens in this community. In my own opinion I would call it judicial murder.

What we were subjected to was our sheltering board allowing the shelter director to stand up in public, with media present, and rant and rave, plus allow her for three hours to spew venimous attacks and accusations about the complainers of inhumane treatment of the animals at the shelter. She expelled thunderous lies about the care of these animals and the way she runs the shelter, all the while with the blessing of a shelterboard that really does not give a damn about the animals. We even have one board member that thinks all dogs should be chained! This same board member said in public at this very meeting, and I quote, "If Jesus himself were the director, you people (meaning we, the advocates) would not be satisfied.

And, if this situation was not bad enough, the public was only allowed 3 minutes to comment on her 3 hours of ranting. If that is not bad enough, we have a reporter at our local newspaper that not only sympathizes with the director, but also will not print anything negative about this city. We have pleaded with this reporter to talk with us so that we can provide proof of our allegations of the complete incompetency of this director and the shelter board and what amounts to a cover-up of what is actually going on inside the shelter. We have proof of lies and even volunteers at the shelter witnessing abuse by shelter staff.

As a footnote, we have turned over much of our material to the District Attorney for review and hope it leads to a grand jury investigation and possible charges of animal cruelty by the director and some of her staff. Without outside pressure from people like yourselves, this may be a terrible loss for our animals. We are not asking for help from others carte blanche. We have what we feel is sufficient proof of our concerns for anyone who asks for it.

There are many people who work and volunteer at this shelter, along with others such as rescue groups who are afraid if they come forward with complaints they will fall victim to the shelter director's proven vindictiveness. I would be happy to provide proof of the same.

I am sixty-three years old and have been involved with alot of community issues in my lifetime. I have never been subjected to such a disgusting display of governmental power at its worst. I can not walk away from this knowing it is the animals that need our help. I can not give up on them. Please find it in your hearts to help us win this battle for the poor animals living and dying in deploreable conditions. Please help us stop this insanity. Please!