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.
I commend the VDT for its persistence in pursuing requests for information on many subjects. However, as John mentioned some subjects such as CUEE don’t seem to elicit the same due diligence in pursuing true facts. The VDT continues to support CUEE agendas even though it has been well established that the CUEE committee did not follow true priority of law when it ignored the 1983 GA constitutional law requiring all involved systems in a consolidation action be allowed to vote. CUEE still persists in following a 1926 statute that says only city voters are allowed to vote & the VDT continues to support their efforts. It seems to me a failure to acurately report all facts exists for both the CUEE committee members & the VDT staff.
Since a costly voter referendum action has been activated & supported by both entities in spite of & in the face of priority of law objections it is my opinion a crime or crimes have been perpetuated upon the citizens of Lowndes Co. & a Grand Jury investigation should be convened to address these criminal actions.
-Barbara Stratton
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
Well, it’s good to know somebody’s in charge at the Authority.“It’s forthcoming. I can’t tell you anything because quite frankly, lawyers have their own schedules. I literally do not know specific details because I’m not privy to that information as of this moment.”
My mistake in thinking they just elected you Chairman.
Much more in David Rodock’s story in the VDT today, Decision still looms for future of once proposed biomass plant site.
-jsq
The IA promised a future of more open communication.Good point!
And yet Tuesday, the board’s attorney refused to answer any questions regarding the potential sale of the land to the company, citing a caveat in the Open Records Act that protects information involved in a current legal issue. The Times issued an Open Records request Tuesday to obtain the information requested or copies of the litigation documents, assuming that since the attorney cited this exemption, there is an active lawsuit over the land sale.
The VDT acknowledged its own mistake and moved to correct it: Continue reading
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.