I guess this answered my question,She quoted the whole thing, which is quite long. I found this passage particularly interesting. -jsqWhat is the legal definition of animal cruelty in Georgia?
-Susan Leavens
Local law enforcement (municipal or county police department or county sheriff’s department) enforces the criminal provisions of Cruelty to Animals, O.C.G.A. §16-12-4.
The next comment contained the clarification below. -jsq Continue reading
“You won’t receive an open-records request if you answer questions honestly and in accordance with the law.” What an honest statement; perhaps some of this too.
GEORGIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE IX. COUNTIES AND MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS
SECTION II. HOME RULE FOR COUNTIES AND MUNICIPALITIES
(c) The power granted to counties in subparagraphs (a) and (b) above shall not be construed to extend to the following matters or any other matters which the General Assembly by general law has preempted or may hereafter preempt, but such matters shall be the subject of general law or the subject of local acts of the General Assembly to the extent that the enactment of such local acts is otherwise permitted under this Constitution:(1) Action affecting any elective county office, the salaries thereof, or the personnel thereof, except the personnel subject to the jurisdiction of the county governing authority.
(2) Action affecting the composition, form, procedure for election or appointment, compensation, and expenses and allowances in the nature of compensation of the county governing authority.
(3) Action defining any criminal offense or providing for criminal punishment.
But there are still those who don’t understand the purpose of a newspaper, and it’s clearly not to be a marketing tool for the community. In addition to reporting the news of the day, a newspaper’s job as a member of the “fourth estate,” so deemed by Thomas Jefferson, is to hold public officials accountable for their actions.Now let’s see them apply the same standard to CUEE, or can the VDT not see through the bogus claims of an organization it supports?
To The Times and its editorial board, it’s far worse for the community’s image to have public officials knowingly lie, illegally withhold public documents and try to bully those who are only after the truth.
“When officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are.” When officials act like they are hiding something, they usually are. You can’t be accused of lying if you don’t lie. You won’t receive an open-records request if you answer questions honestly and in accordance with the law.
Companies looking to settle in a community are understanding when it comes to crime, as it happens everywhere. But far more interesting to them is the honesty and integrity of the community’s officials.
If an entity will lie and withhold information from the local news media and the citizens, why would industry expect any different?
There was an old game show called Truth or Consequences. Too often, some entities ignore the truth and are surprised by the consequences. Sadly, the public too often feels the consequences when it could use a little truth.
-jsq
There is no question how the Law reads; the only question is who indicated there no wrong doing? And they were questioning my character? I question those people who indicated I had a bios opinion to read the laws of Georgia. I am aware you can mirror laws and even add to them in county ordinances but you cannot take away from the law in anyway.Continue readingFrom the United States Department of Agriculture Web Site on Euthanasia
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=AZ_INDEX
Under Guidelines for Euthanasia
When performing euthanasia in a shelter
Lots of “don’t know the results of that” for drug testing,
administrative review board, etc.
Why don’t we know the results of those things?
Judy Haverkamp talked about what she’d discovered through open records requests.
“It seems like there’s been the same violations still occuring at the shelter even up to this year, and it doesn’t seem like anyone is trying to make an effort to correct these problems!”She repeatedly cited Georgia code sections that had been violated.
This pretty much sums it up:
“Why would you not do the proper thing to make this process as painless as possible?”Indeed, why not?
-jsq
Here’s the video: Continue reading
And that’s all she wrote. Really. Follow the link. There’s only that one sentence.“Authorities are looking into employee complaints at a local animal shelter.”
-jsq
Ms. Jane Osborn,I believe this was not meant to make the public’s attention. When I was told to write statements I was told that these people were going to be prosecuted. Several months went by and this remained silent, I waited for the county board memebers to to do the right thing. What happened was the infamous memo; which indicated we were not allowed to contact any law enforcement agency about crimes or we would be held accountable for discrediting a county employee. And it would be considered as an attack against a county employee. Whoever if we contacted our county manager it would be handled (I’m not quite sure how many times he needed to be contacted about the issues at the shelter). As I clearly remember in the first meeting he had at the shelter many years ago… Joe Prichard said “I’ll fire everyone except Linda Patelski, Kay Jones and Michelle Shultz” so I’m a little confused, the memo we got on September 22, 2010 said we wouldn’t be retaliated against if we followed the chain of command (so does it mean if we report crimes to law enforcement we will be retaliated against?) Clearly so, I assure you. The issues need to be resolved.
-Susan Leavens
And I continue to ask, since my email of a couple of months ago to the Sheriff never received an answer, where is law enforcement when there clearly are illegal acts of animal cruelty occurring here? We made a big deal (appropriately) several years ago about a dog that was intentionally set on fire by local people, but these violations are all the more difficult to understand since they appear to be happening at the hands of the very people sworn to protect our county’s animals.-Jane Osborn
Continue readingThis is Tres a special needs cat pictured above. Tres was abandoned and left to fend for herself. She has been living under the office of a local law firm where the employees have been feeding her and taking care of her. Because of her disability we were afraid that Tres would not be able to take care of herself or fend off other animals if left outside. It’s apparent that Tres once belonged to someone, she is a very sweet and affectionate cat once she gets to know you. It’s very sad to know that someone abandoned this sweet cat and left her outside to take care of herself with her disability.
Tres has been examined by a vet and the vet says
Continue readingFrom: SUSAN LEAVENS
To: gary.black@agr.georgia.gov
Sent: Tue, July 26, 2011 2:31:16 PM
Subject: Your attention would be grateful in regaurds to the Lowndes County Animal ShelterTo the Honorable Agriculture Commissioner Mr. Gary Black,
July 26, 2011
I would like to introduce myself, my name is Susan Leavens I currently live in Quitman Georgia and I am an employee with Lowndes County, formally as an animal control officer with Lowndes County Animal Services. In June of last year I turned in three statements to Pat Smith who is no longer with the animal protection division she is currently running the Thomasville Animal Control. After speaking with Ms. Pat an advising her of the situations that have occurred and are currently occurring in the Lowndes County Shelter; she advised me to have statements written by individuals that were willing and not afraid of retaliation. Two current employees myself and Ronnie Ganas wrote statements, one previously employee Amanda Jordan. The issues were heard before Vinessa Sim-Green and several other animal protection employees along with Ms Cora Potter. An administration hearing took place an several “options” were offered to the Lowndes County Manager Joe Prichard. These were things that would help the shelter run more efficiently and perhaps come up to date with the Georgia Dept. of Ag. standards; but the issues of animal cruelty, inhumane treatment and practicing veterinarian medicine (surgery by castration of a 2 young adult pot belly pigs). My concern is that the director was never charged in any criminal court of law for her actions regarding the animals at the shelter.