February 2010 Commission minutes

Here is the link to the PDF of the Feb 2010 Animal Shelter Commission minutes.

I am using a new storage system - I was using docstoc.com but had upload problems, so I'm trying Google Docs for the first time. So please let me know if you have problems with viewing.

Here is a partial list of conveniently omitted facts, provided by several sources:

On Page 4 of the minutes, there was a discussion about using catchpoles during seizures, such as the Jan 2010 seizure of cats from a motel room on Ft Worth Avenue (second bullet).

The part of the discussion that was omitted here – and moved to Page 7 of the minutes - was that ALL 118 cats seized were euthanized. One Commission member was obviously upset about this, as she pointed out that the video coverage made it obvious that many of the cats were adoptable and did not need to be caught by catchpole, nor killed. (No local rescue groups were contacted and asked to help, either.) But the judge in charge of the case ordered all 118 cats to be killed. When questioned, the veterinarian present could not give an explanation why this decision had been made.

Here is a link to the news coverage of the Ft Worth Avenue seizure.

On Page 7, there is the “Status of Laniq Adams investigation”. This was conveniently passed over – although Laniq Adams was right there in the room, ready to find out what the hell was going on (see the guest listing on Page 1). Sources are guessing that this was probably because the Commission had already passed the Laniq Adams harassment buck to Code Compliance, who falsely accused Ms. Adams of operating an animal shelter in a residence the very next Monday (see this March 2010 blog posting).

On Page 9, the Commission member who didn’t understand why DAS staff couldn't enter private property in the same way as utility and city workers was not identified. Seems that Jonnie England has no idea what the Fourth Amendment is – she seemed genuinely surprised that Animal Control staff couldn’t just breeze right into anyone’s back yard without a warrant.

More stuff will be posted as I have time to edit/research.