Tag Archives: inhumane

“Once the investigation is complete and closed all documents will be provided to you.” —Custodian of Records

More from Susan Leavens:

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: “King, Shirley”

To: “sleavens4@bellsouth.net”

Sent: Wed, October 27, 2010 2:21:02 PM

Subject: Open Records Request

Ms. Leavens, as you requested under the Georgia Open Records Act,
please find message from the custodian of records for Animal Protection
attached.

If we may assist you any further, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thanks.

Shirley J. King

Open Records Coordinator

The attached PDF is

here
on the

LAKE website.
Interestingly, although that message from
Patricia Mitchell, “Animal Protection Office Custodian of Records”
says

“Once the investigation is complete and closed all documents will be provided to you.”

it also says:

“By policy the department only retains 2 years (2008 & 2009) inactive files
and 1 years (2010) active files.”

So if the investigation takes more than 2 years, do the earlier files
about it start to vanish?

-jsq

All employees were drug tested and interviewed —Joe Pritchard

Susan Leavens sent this Tuesday:

John, this is the first open records reguest I did with GDA. The rest
will be in order of date of the request.

The document Shirley King attached for Item #2 was this

PDF
of a letter
from Joe Pritchard of 27 August 2010
telling USDA GDA all employees (presumably of the animal
shelter) had been drug-tested and were being interviewed.

Documents about the animal shelter are appearing

here on the LAKE web pages.
Here are the messages Susan Leavens forwarded along with this particular letter.

-jsq

Continue reading →

I tried following the chian of command —Susan Leavens

Many comments are on

Animal shelter open records
and

Return cameras.
Susan Leavens provides specific information in this one.
-jsq

Concerned Citizen,

Please understand that there are state laws that people get arrested for
each day also; the county ordiance mirrors the state law(s) however if
you have not read the statements no one was arrested either. And do you
think the bulldog was the first incident? Keep reading!! Below are some
other things which have occured in the shelter.

Page 3 #15 Cruelty,

Page 5 #23 hoplesly disable animal,

page 5 #26 humane care,

page 7 #36 records,

Section 5 page 10 Emergencies involving animals,

to name a few of the Lowndes County Ordinance.

So when you say why didn’t I(Officer Leavens)end

Continue reading →

Animal shelter open records from Susan Leavens

Received yesterday from Susan Leavens:

These are the open records that me and another animal control officer
sent to GDA
and I also have Amanda Jordans Statement if you would like
that. Please excuse some of the language in my statement she (pat smith
GDA inspector) told me to write it like it was said….

Here they are on the LAKE web pages.

These records include much more detail than

what we’ve heard before.

After reading them, do you think installing a few cameras is adequate
to deal with this situation?

-jsq

Animal cruelty does not require malicious intent to be illegal

A blog called Rattlin’ Georgia’s Cages

wrote at some unspecified date recently:



I beg to differ with Mr. Pritchard’s opinion regarding “malicious
intent”.

Lowndes County Manager Joe Pritchard says, “I don’t believe through
our investigation, nor through any info we received from the Department
of Ag, are able to indicate any malicious intent.”



Mr. Pritchard should understand that it matters not if this was done
with “malicious intent” or not. “Malicous intent” should be
determined by the investigating criminal agency, not a county manager.
“Malicious Intent” is only important in determining whether the
crime should be filed as a felony, or a misdemeanor.

The law is crystal clear regarding the denial of necessary medical care,
and/or humane euthanasia, for any animal deemed to be in need of such. Any
time a shelter impounds/houses a live animal, the shelter is required,
by law, to afford that animal with humane care – to include necessary
medical care or treatment.

The blogger then goes on to quote Georgia Code, which only brings
in the word “maliciously” for higher fines or imprisonment
for aggravated cruelty to animals.

The blogger summarizes:

Continue reading →

I am disappointed these matters are being swept under the rug —Susan Leavens

These comments came in yesterday and today on

Find out the truth about allegations of animal cruelty and abuse. -jsq



Yesterday:

Tomorrow will be a week and I have had no response! Very disappointing.

-Jane Osborn

Today:



Mrs. Osborn,

Thank you so much for your support. The County manager and several county
employees interviewed all the workers after a drug screen was conducted on
all employees back in late august of 2010. Several (4) employees advised
the people conducting the investigation (Joe Prichard, Mickey Tillman,
Page Dukes and Suzanne Pittman) of the charges brought to the Department
of Agriculture. From the

Continue reading →

Find out the truth about allegations of animal cruelty and abuse —Jane Osborn

This came in to the submission address Thursday.
More in
this topic
and

this VDT story.
-jsq

From: “Jane Osborn”

Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 23:21:09 -0400

Subject: criminal issues

Here is what I just sent to the Sheriff’s office by email:



I wanted to ask if someone who witnessed the alleged abuse of animals
at the Lowndes County Animal Shelter has to make a direct report to law
enforcement for an investigation to be started or if second-hand
information from the media would be good enough. I will include a link
to a video of the testimony of a shelter officer at the Lowndes County
Commission meeting this week. I am under the impression that animal
abuse is a criminal offense and that just having these reports go to
the Department of Agriculture will only result in a fine for the
shelter, not resolution of possible criminal wrongdoing.

Here is the link:

http://lake.typepad.com/on-the-lake-front/2011/05/neglect-abuse-suffering-falsifying-documents-susan-leavins-lcc-24-may-2011.html

Please let me know if it is possible for a criminal investigation can
be started to find out the truth about allegations of animal cruelty
and abuse.

Thank you. Jane Osborn

If the commissioners will not handle this, perhaps law enforcement
will. Jane

Jane F. Osborn, MSSW

Valdosta, GA

Restudy that those are the right people



The last animal shelter speaker
said she was looking at it from
a business perspective.
She called Commissioner Powell and they had a conversation.
She got a copy of the animal control ordinance.
She said she thought she had seen some things that others had not.
She complimented the Commissioners:

I know you to be people of your word.

After all that she indicated:

I guess I’m just asking that you restudy…
that those are the right people.

After she finished, Chairman Ashley Paulk said there would be a tour
of the shelter and everyone was invited.

Here’s

the video:




Restudy that those are the right people

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 May 2011.

Videos by Johh S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

Why do you not fire that person? —Judy Havercamp



Judy Havercamp wonders:

If you have an employee who is abusing animals,
why do you not fire that person?

She indicates urgency:

Things need to be changed now.

Here’s

the video:




Why do you not fire that person? —Judy Havercamp

Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 24 May 2011.

Videos by Johh S. Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq

The VDT was kind in their reporting —Jessica Bryan Hughes



This speaker talked about when her mother took her to volunteer at
the old shelter, and how bad it was,
then about how the current shelter started.

When I moved back to Valdosta five years ago,
I couldn’t believe the change.
A real shelter and animal control officers
that had compassion.
I personally know some current and former animal control officers.
They are caring compassionate people with a deep love of their jobs.

When I read about the cruelty and neglect allegations in the paper,
I couldn’t believe we had reverted back 25 years.

So she looked into it, requesting the files from the Dept. of Agriculture.

What I received was a slap in the face.
The Valdosta Daily Times was kind in their reporting….

You can listen to her yourself.

Continue reading →