{"id":1650,"date":"2011-08-11T09:37:35","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T13:37:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/where-did-your-promise-go-commissioner-gary-black-susan-leaven.html"},"modified":"2011-08-11T09:37:35","modified_gmt":"2011-08-11T13:37:35","slug":"where-did-your-promise-go-commissioner-gary-black-susan-leaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/where-did-your-promise-go-commissioner-gary-black-susan-leaven.html","title":{"rendered":"Where did your promise go, Commissioner Gary Black? —Susan Leaven"},"content":{"rendered":"Received 9 August. -jsq\n
\n\n<\/a>\nFrom: SUSAN LEAVENS\n
\nTo: gary.black@agr.georgia.gov\n
\nSent: Tue, August 9, 2011 4:51:54 PM\n
\nSubject: Where did your promise go? We were counting on you Commissioner Gary Black.\n

\nDear Commissioner G. Black,\n

\nOn July 26th<\/sup><\/small> 2011,\nI contacted you with anticipation of a response to matters of concern regarding Animal Protection problems in your\ndivision, as well as issues involving Lowndes County Animal Services.\n

\nOn July 30th<\/sup><\/small> 2011, I sent a second email to your office, indicating\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n

\nthat perhaps you just didn’t get the first email on July 26th<\/sup><\/small> 2011.\n

\nMr. Black you are in a position of authority over the Georgia\nDepartment of Agriculture, which includes the Georgia Agriculture\nAnimal Protection Division. In respect to your position, it would have\nbeen appreciated had you, or your office, acknowledged receipt of my\ncorrespondence.\n

\nAs 2011 progresses, I’m sure you are aware of the problems involving\nthe Animal Protection Division — from employee turnover, untrained\n— or inspectors unwilling to fulfill their job duties, and management\nemployees that appear to “pick and choose” whose phone call they\nwill return, as well as which licensee (county, license type, etc) that\nthey are going to “go after”.\n

\nThese issues are only continuing to add to an already troubled state\nregulatory office, riddled with poor management, as well as allegations\ninvolving illegal behavior from within this state office’s management.\n

\nDuring your campaign, you stated that you would personally be\naddressing the numerous issues within this department, and bringing it\n\n“into the 21st<\/sup><\/small> century”<\/a> —\nonline, as well as in practice and\nprocedure. With all due respect, Commissioner Black, 2012 is quickly\napproaching, and the animal advocacy community has yet to see any real\nprogress being made.\n

\nCreating an Animal Protection Steering Committee, I’m certain, stemmed\nfrom good intentions, however, are you aware that you have a registered\nstate lobbyist as a member, along with several of the very persons who\nher legislative organization represents, and supports?\n

\nI encourage you to keep in mind that the Animal Protection Division was\ncreated to ensure the protection of the animals — not a dog registry\nclub, hunters nor Veterinarians — this office was created, by law,\nfor the protection of the housed animals in Georgia. The Akc, nor\nsportsmen\/hunters, have anything to do with animal protection — as\nwell, the Animal Protection Division regulates neither of these\nentities.\n

\nI realize that you probably have no idea what the Animal Protection\nDivision is about, but I can assure you that it is not about “picking\nand choosing” who your office will respond to, or help, for any given\nday. All taxpaying citizens of this state should be treated equally by\nthe Animal Protection Office, as well as by the Commissioner of\nAgriculture in Georgia.\n

\nI realize you are a busy man, and I think I have exercised patience\nwith waiting on a response from your office. But it is appearing, to\nme, that I am only wasting my time in sending you any future emails\nsharing my concerns. I would like to remind you, Commissioner Black,\nthat your staff will only follow your lead in how they respond to, and\ntreat, the general taxpaying public — by observing how you respond,\nand treat, the general taxpaying public.\n

\nI appreciate your time in this very important matter.\n

\nThank you,\n

\nSusan Leavens\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Received 9 August. -jsq From: SUSAN LEAVENS To: gary.black@agr.georgia.gov Sent: Tue, August 9, 2011 4:51:54 PM Subject: Where did your promise go? We were counting on you Commissioner Gary Black. Dear Commissioner G. Black, On July 26th 2011, I contacted you with anticipation of a response to matters of concern regarding Animal Protection problems in […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,202,324,49,70,2,22],"tags":[8750,8763,8728,2796,8701,7,3721],"class_list":["post-1650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-agriculture","category-animals","category-elections","category-ethics","category-government","category-politics","tag-agriculture","tag-animals","tag-ethics","tag-gary-black","tag-georgia","tag-lowndes-county","tag-susan-leavens"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-qC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}