Dallas Animal Services can't stop killing for Just One Day

Tomorrow is June 11, which has been designated as the day that all animal shelters are asked to stop killing for 24 hours and look for other solutions. This is from the Just One Day Web site:

"We are asking animal shelters across the USA to take a pledge not to kill any savable animals on June 11, 2013. For Just One Day, "Euthanasia Technicians" will put down their syringes and pick up cameras. Instead of injecting animals with lethal doses of sodium pentobarbital, they will photograph them and post them on the Internet, on Facebook, on twitter. On June 11, 2013, they will market their animals to the public, they will reach out to rescue groups, they will host adoption events with discounted rates, they will stay open for extended hours, and they will ask their communities to help them empty the shelter the good way."

I surfed around to see which shelters in Texas were participating.  Plenty were, including those with less funding and fewer paid employees than Dallas Animal Services. Seagoville's participating. So is Arlington, Irving and Carrollton Animal Services.  Even Houston's BARC is participating. 

But Dallas Animal Services isn't participating. They never have. Can Jody Jones explain why?

I decided to visit the DallasCAP Facebook page to politely ask why - but after reading their "Rules of the Road", I realized that my post would last about 30 seconds.  I've copied and pasted the Rules below. My comments are in blue.

Rules of the Road - please read before posting.

We are creating a community plan.  To that end, please consider the following before posting:

• DallasCAP is about reducing euthanasia by creating a plan to implement the community programs necessary to affect all the components of a no kill plan.
• DallasCAP is not about Dallas Animal Services.  Dallas Animal Services now has a manager with decades of experience in animal sheltering, who was instrumental in making Richmond, Virginia a No Kill Community. She knows what needs to happen at DAS and can get it done. (FP note: Er, how long do we have to wait for this? Jody Jones didn't just show up yesterday.)

Remember, no one individual or organization can tackle a problem of this magnitude. “No Kill may be defined by what happens to the animals within the halls of the shelter, but it can only be achieved by what happens outside of them.”  – Nathan Winograd, author and No Kill advocate*

• All comments need to be constructive.  If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it.  (FP Note: what this really means is if you can't ram your nose up our asses when you post, don't comment as we'll delete it like the good fascists we are.)
• If you've got a suggestion regarding a way you think our community can decrease the number of animals entering shelters and rescue groups, increase the number of animals reunited with their owners by shelters and rescue groups, help keep beloved companion animals in homes they already have, increase the number of pets adopted from shelters and rescue groups, and increase support and funding for spay/neuter, we want to hear it.  You are welcome to post it here for everyone on Facebook to see.  (FP: so why is there not a single posting of this nature to be seen?)
• But if you want to be sure the task force considers it, please use the Suggestions page on our website at www.dallascompanionanimalproject.org. (FP: This makes it easier for us to delete/ignore you.)
• Please do not post adoptable pets or pets in need of rescue.  We can't help.  (FP: No, you can't help. You don't want to do what it takes to end the killing. You want to sit in front of your computers and "educate" the likes of us.) We're a task force creating a plan - (FP: Where's the plan? Why no updates?) implementation will begin as soon as possible, but for now we are not handling adoptable animals.  For assistance rescuing or rehoming pets, please visit the Advocacy Partners page of our website for a list of local organizations who may be able to help.

Also, please note - months of research has been conducting up to this point, so while we appreciate the sentiment, general comments like "look at what Richmond did", keep in mind that we've already researched Austin, Richmond, San Antonio, San Francisco, and many, many more. (FP: Why they didn't replace this paragraph with the phrase "fuck off" is a mystery.)

* Although Nathan Winograd has literally written to the mayor of Dallas and asked that the quote be removed from all DAS-related materials - but as of today's date, it's still there.  Does anyone know who the author of this is? (Hint:  Winograd decisively ate her lunch on Facebook when discovering he'd been quoted in such fashion. She also likes to "like" postings that feature her on the DCAP Facebook page - a page she authors.)

Texas Unites is back. Sorry.

I really don't know why anyone who genuinely cares about animal welfare pays to attend the Texas Unites conference. There's not a lot of uniting, if truth be told. I suppose it's another way to prove your self-worth if you've run out of options at home. And Austin is quite a pleasant place to escape the local St Patrick's Day Parade.

According to the conference brochure, you can play Bingo and schmooze with the other sycophants when you're not shelling out $200 for the Texas Unites workshops, plus up to $300 for your hotel room.  Add on a return flight on Southwest Airlines or a few tanks of gas, and you'll be out of pocket $800 to a grand if you're not careful.

Perhaps this wouldn't be such a wash if this year's Texas Unites wasn't so similar to the ones held in previous years. As usual, the HSUS - you know, those folks who are fine with Michael Vick owning a dog - is sending a few professional liars to Austin to drum up more retirement funds for their merry band of attorneys.  And there are the usual unemployed people who are jumping at the chance for a trip to Austin and an hour or two on a podium, pretending to be experts.  If you scroll through this year's brochure they're pretty easy to pick out.

Bastrop director out, volunteers back

From the KXAN television Web site:

Volunteers allowed back in at Bastrop animal shelter
BASTROP, Texas (KXAN) - Things may be looking up for the troubled Bastrop County Animal Center.

On Friday, county commissioners accepted the resignation of director Diane Mollaghan, who received her second DWI arrest after a crash a week ago.

They also invited back some 40 volunteers who were banished a month ago for criticizing conditions at the shelter.

Click here to go to the KXAN Web site and the rest of the story, together with a video.

Dumb and dumberer...and both in Texas

The following appeared on Ryan Clinton's Facebook page earlier today. 

Ryan is a Texas attorney who helped make No-Kill a reality in Austin. He is also a winner of the No Kill Advocacy Center's Henry Bergh Leadership Award, and co-author of the Web site O is for Onward.

Texas is providing some early frontrunners for the 2013 Ingrid Newkirk Worst Person in the World Award:

In response to a citizen e-mail* urging the adoption of No Kill policies and programs, Arlington, Texas, Council Member Charlie Parker reportedly e-mailed back: "Are you seeing someone concerning your mental problems[?] . . . I'm done with you . . . [I]f you want a no kill shelter then move to Austin."

*Note: the citizen who emailed Parker and received his smarty-pants response is believed to be a volunteer with Friends of Arlington Animal Services - a group who works to save as many animals as possible from euthanasia. However, I have not seen this email so I am not naming the author here. 

Not to be outdone, embattled Bastrop Animal Shelter Director Diane Mollaghan (photo below) was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated on Friday when, after being pulled over for reckless driving, she put her Fiat into reverse and slammed into a police car. That would be just plain sad if she hadn't the same day implemented a new volunteer program application in which she required applicants to submit their medical and financial records. Which of course begs the question for Ms. Mollaghan: perhaps *criminal* records would have been more appropriate?

You can contact Arlington Council Member Charlie Parker at this e-mail address: Charlie.Parker@arlingtontx.gov

You can contact the Bastrop County Commissioners here:http://www.co.bastrop.tx.us/site/content/commissionerscourt

Note from FP: If you have any additional details regarding these two, feel free to leave a comment.

Another PETA Kool-Aid drinker speaks out...and out... and out

I just received a link to a mind-numbingly long Facebook post by someone named Amanda Katz.  I'm not sure if this is her real name as she's taken pains to disguise her identity (although, if I'm able to unearth the real Amanda Katz, I'll say so):

https://www.facebook.com/notes/amanda-katz/reply-to-nathan-winograd/483946351651153

I'm not sure how long this link will work, so click at your own risk.

My question to Amanda is:  If you have enough room online to publish your reams of opinion - plus those of Mary Lundberg, whoever she is - why did you omit Winograd's?

This is probably because Winograd makes a fool of them. You'll have to click on View More Comments to see his responses:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=524016014289314&set=a.159167054107547.34833.159092957448290


If you're still awake after plowing through her mega-post, you  may be amused to read that her sycophant subscribers are surprised that Winograd didn't delete her remarks.  (See Comments.) You know, like most other HSUS/PETA lemmings. For example, try to post something negative on any page maintained by the Dallas Companion Animal Project (DCAP). It'll be gone in minutes.

Want to be Amanda Katz's friend? Forget about it. Her Facebook page is set up so that you can only subscribe to her. You can't be her friend, but you can hear from her any time she wants to bang on about her intelligence and virtue.

Whatever.

Where's DCAP?

Since I haven't checked out the Dallas Companion Animal Project Web site lately, I decided to take a look today. But it was gone.  I replaced the .com with .org - still nothing. Perhaps it's a temporary situation.

Finally I went to Facebook to see if they were still maintaining a page. They are - sort of.

It seems that the task of patting themselves on the back has been transferred to Chris Watts and Maeleska Fletes, who describe themselves as "co-chairs", aka "co-sit on butts and talk a lots".   Here's a DCAP posting on Facebook from November 2012 - I have added some comments in parenthesis:

Since the Dallas Companion Animal Project was launched a year ago, we have had the mission of making Dallas one of the most progressive cities as it relates to becoming a humane community for animals. The achievements have been plenty and the movement is so exciting!

We are only able to smile at the success of DCAP because of the dedicated people of Dallas. The passion, commitment and dedication to moving to a no-kill city is only because of YOU.

Everyday we are met with new obstacles (er...what new obstacles?) and everyday we have a champion to rise to the challenge (please ID your champion). Your dedication, compassion and commitment are what makes DCAP work, and there is nothing more then that to be grateful for.

On this day of being grateful, we, and the entire board of DCAP wish to applaud you for your efforts. It comes with a humble heart and a smile, you are the reason do (sp) many animals are alive.

Sincerely,

Chris Watts & Maeleska Fletes, DCAP Co-Chairs

Okay then, let's look at some of these so-called achievements Chris and Maeleska are crowing about.  

The euthanasia rate is what the majority of us are concerned about - right? From a PDF housed at www.dallascityhall.com, here are the official figures from Dallas Animal Services:

• Euthanasia rate for September 2011 - 1,572
• Euthanasia rate for September 2012 - 1,177

Considering that the DAS intake for September 2012 was LOWER than in 2011, these figures are even worse than they initially appear.

Backing up to 2011, DCAP's Rebecca Poling (Miss Friendly Fire) stated that their goal was to make Dallas no-kill in five years. In over a year, they have accomplished very little. Most independent 501c3 rescues still find DAS impossible to work with, which is a major part of The No Kill Equation. 

Another DAS - HSUS love-in

Sorry to publish this so close to Thanksgiving.

From the HSUS Animal Sheltering magazine - you know, the one with the ads for euthanasia materials and classes* - an article telling us about DAS' wonderful relationships with local rescue groups:

At Dallas Animal Services (DAS), good relationships with rescue groups have not only saved animals’ lives, they’ve had a wonderful effect on staff morale, says shelter manager Jody Jones.

At least DAS finally got something for the $50,000 they've given Wayne Pacelle and Co. over the years.


* An example ad from the online archive of Animal Killing Sheltering:

Does Mr. Trimble know who he's financing?

Skip Trimble continues to drink the PETA Kool-Aid.

I had a look at www.guidestar.org and there were the newest 990 forms for his nonprofit, The Foundation for All Creatures. 

The Foundation forked out an additional $9,000 to PETA over the past two tax years:  $7,000 in 2010 and $2,000 in 2011.

Considering that PETA is a proven killer of animals, and PETA's Ingrid Newkirk believes that feral cats should all die, should Skip be associated with Dallas' Animal Shelter Commission?  Especially since the city is pretending to support TNR for ferals? I think not.

I think it's time to gather up the evidence and visit the next Shelter Commission meeting. I can't imagine why Skip continues to throw money at PETA (especially since he's contributed to Kittico - a rescue that PETA would never support) so I think it's time to ask him. In person.

Skippy and his $52,000 PETA connection

By the looks of his 990 tax forms, Skip Trimble didn't win an award from PETA - he bought it.

From 2001 to 2010, Skip's nonprofit, The Foundation for All Creatures, gave a total of $52,700 to PETA.

The Foundation also gave $45,000 to the HSUS in 2001. The HSUS pension fund managers must have come in their pants when that check arrived.

The Foundation's donations contain more than a little irony: Kittico, once a major TNR advocate, received a total of $10,000. Considering that PETA believes in killing ferals - NOT TNR - one of these contributions wasn't well thought-out.

Read all about it here, at A and N Research.  I'm currently looking for the 2011 tax return for the Foundation, but it's probably a bit early to post.

Cat killings and mutilations in Casa View

Over the past six weeks (late June to this week), there have been at least three cases of cats being killed and mutilated in the Casa View area of East Dallas.  An equally disturbing fact is that, although the mutilations have been reported twice to Dallas police, no investigation of any sort has been done.

The first cat mutilation was reported to have happened on San Juan Street, where a resident found one of his cats literally gutted and left on his front porch. The police were called and attempted to an interview a neighbor known to have trapped and removed cats from a managed feral colony in the neighborhood. The neighbor - a DISD employee - refused to talk to police, so the police left. No followup was carried out.

The second incident in late July was similar to the first, except that the cat's gutted body was left in the owner's front yard. Again, the police were called but made no real effort to investigate. The cat's owner described the police as "being an ass about the situation".

I would ask readers to please repost and forward this information to all residents of the Casa View, and to ask any and all residents of the area to please keep their cats indoors 24/7 if at all possible.

I will post updates when I receive them. Currently there are plans to offer a reward to identify the waste of oxygen who is responsible for these acts, especially since the local police have forgotten that cruelty is now a felony in our state.

A bit of levity for you

Click here to find out how to trap cats without those pricey Havahart or Tomahawk traps.

Why I added Pawsitively Texas to the links list

The comments that follow this posting bring up many salient points about the inmates running the DAS asylum. 

Dear DAS - Please Wake Up From Your Positive Slumber

The comments are lengthy but make some extremely good points. For example, NOBODY in DCAP bothered to attend the No Kill Workshop, even after receiving personal invitations. Skip Trimble also received an invite, but he didn't show either. Only Jody Jones attended.  But plenty of DCAP folks, including chairperson Rebecca Poling, spent hundreds to attend the annual Texas Unites conference in Austin. 

I guess we can't blame Rebecca for wanting to fly hundreds of miles to hobnob with people who will never disagree with her while she downs a few alcoholic beverages. So what if it cost hundreds more than Winograd's workshop?  Sure beats admitting you've got it all wrong.

Ultimately, the author of Pawsitively Texas proves what a lot of us suspected:  DCAP is the emperor with no clothes. 

But not only are the folks in DCAP naked, they can't be bothered to actually DO anything except committee-sit, badmouth others, blame the public for their own failures, and defend their killing ways. 

It's kind of getting old, isn't it? Let's not allow DCAP to allow this to drag on for five years (see their Five Year Plan within my March 24 blog post) while the daily killing continues.

Some spring cleaning, web link style

I've added some links to Web sites you may find interesting.  To suggest a new link, leave a comment with your recommendation.

More about the cowards at THLN

This comment was posted by Bett Sundermeyer of No Kill Houston in response to the previous post. Bett is more than a commenter; she helped schedule the debate.

Since you have to click on Comments to see it, I decided to copy and paste it here so no readers would miss it.

I worked with Vegan World Radio to schedule this debate. Vegan World Radio has been supportive of No Kill issues in the past and wanted to talk about Nathan's Phyllis Wright Awards, of which Monica Hardy was a "winner". But VWR was trying talk about the issue in an unbiased way. That's why an open debate format was suggested...so each side would have equal opportunity to present their opinions. The questions were entirely unbiased. Considering that THLN took a lot of deserved criticism after they opposed us regarding Texas CAPA i.e. Hope's Law in 2011, one would think that they would have jumped on the chance to openly discuss their stance regarding CAPA.

THLN should have easily agreed to answer those question. And, if they didn't like the questions or the format, they should have made suggestions regarding changes instead of dropping out of the debate completely. 

Personally, I think THLN has a lot to hide and debating Nathan Winograd would have exposed it. They would have been roadkill by the end of the show. 

THLN needs to be open and honest with the public. The public deserves to know the whole agenda of organizations that they have supported.

Nathan Winograd 1, Monica Hardy 0. New balls, please.

Unlike the professional committee-sitters who comprise THLN, DCAP and similar groups - all of them as much use to animal welfare as an ashtray on a Vespa - Nathan Winograd is not a mealy-mouthed sort and lets the chips fall where they may. 

When asked to debate Winograd, the THLN's Executive Director, Monica Hardy chickened out when faced with the potential embarrassment of these topics:

1. During the last Texas Legislative Session, a controversy arose over the introduction of House Bill 3450, known as (CAPA) The Texas Companion Animal Protection Act. Please explain your understanding of the meaning and significance of this bill and what sparked the controversy?
2. What are your feelings about this bill and legislation similar to it?
3. Why did CAPA fail to pass in your opinion, and can you offer any suggestions regarding this bill and others which would most help the animals for the next legislative session?
4. In the interest of benefiting the animals, please offer any constructive suggestions you may wish to share with each other, as well as any ideas regarding animal legislation.

I didn't see anything particularly scary within these softball topics.  Did anyone else besides Monica?

Read all about it here at Nathan's blog.

DCAP's Five Year Co-option Plan

The city shelter in Seagoville, Texas has been one of the most impressive shelter turnarounds - if not THE most impressive - I've ever seen. It proved that the No-Kill Equation is within every shelter's reach, even those with small premises, few paid staff and a high intake.

So...wouldn't it make sense for the City of Dallas to sit up and take notice?

Instead, the Dallas Companion Animal Project, aka DCAP, is insisting they need five years to implement no-kill - and they aren't even 100% sure it will happen. As I've mentioned before, DCAP is a textbook example of co-option as explained in Nathan Winograd's book Redemption.

Recently, the Web site dallascityhall.com posted a PDF of a DCAP presentation made in January. You can download it here. DCAP's presentation begins on Page 8 of the PDF.

DCAP's summation page of their five year plan was as follows:

 Now…
 Request Quality of Life and Government Services Committee support
of the Dallas Companion Animal Project.

 First year
 Focus on the detailed one-year business plan and multi-year strategic plan
 Finish prioritizing and begin implementing programs and initiatives
 Determine related costs and funding

 Years Two - Four
 Continue to implement, expand and build momentum

 Year Five
 Celebrate Success! If all major initiatives have been successfully implemented, our community will be one of the largest no-kill communities in the country.

(I particularly like that Get Out Of Jail Free clause at the end - "IF all major initiatives...".)

How about Dallas simply follow Seagoville's lead? True, the DCAP folks and some of the Animal Services Commission would have to do some things they wouldn't enjoy. Things like:

1. Mend fences with all the local rescue groups they've ostracized.
2. Smarten up and stop sleeping with the enemies - the HSUS and THLN. Neither support no-kill.
3. Admit that Nathan Winograd might have a point. Note: NOBODY in DCAP attended Winograd's recent local presentation. Only Jody Jones was spotted in the audience.
4. Get off their butts and spend more time with hands-on volunteering. Nobody needs further "education".

The folks at Seagoville skipped the presentations, the photogenic/useless Advisory Board, and months of committee sitting. They just made up their minds to stop the killing. Does this really take five years to decide?

Mark Twain: Do not steal the kittens!

This is an actual note left by Mark Twain (aka Samuel Clemens) to potential burglars. Click on the link below to be taken to the Letters of Note blog.

Besides being a brilliant writer, Twain was very fond of cats.

To the next Burglar

Yesterday's Animal Shelter Commission meeting

I'm kind of glad I wasn't able to go.

According to this Dallas Observer article, the proceedings were just as painful as ever.

Some highlights of the meeting:

The shelter is still short 30 employees, as it has been since October 2011. Joey Zapata's excuse: "they want to make sure they get the right people". So why did they shitcan some of the better employees last year?
Animals are still disappearing from cages. Joey Zapata blamed the public for this.
The shelter is still euthanizing around 75% of animals admitted for "shelter".
Dwaine Caraway is now contributing.
The Shelter Commission gave the Dallas Companion Animal Project "approval to move forward". Huh?

I see nothing in place that will improve things one bit, especially when you look at DCAP's faults. They're in bed with the HSUS, run by a professional committee-sitter, and have an Advisory Board full of folks with NO experience in transforming kill shelters into no-kill shelters.

Dallas goes into overdrive to stop shelter killing. (Backwards.)

By the looks of the city of Dallas' Companion Animal Project (aka DCAP), I don't think they could be getting any further away from lowering the shelter kill rate.

Let's look at the DCAP Facebook page. Instead of announcing any changes to the current m.o. down at Dallas Animal Services, we've been treated to excerpts from Wayne Pacelle's worst-selling book The Bond. From the Dec 29 posting:

From "The Bond": "Right now, slightly less than 25% of all dogs in American households come from shelters or rescue groups. That means that roughly three out of every four dogs come from other sources - from pet stores, puppy mills, small-scale breeders, or friends adopting out litters. There's still a stigma associated with shelters, the vague, sometimes snobbish, and always uninformed view that something is wrong with shelter animals." Here is what each of us can do: tell our friends to adopt from shelters or rescue groups! The dogs in shelters are just as wonderful as those in pet stores!

That's right, DCAP! Just tell her our friends to adopt from shelters and everything will be hunky-dory.

Over at thte DCAP Web site, the Advisory Board just gets weirder and weirder. New members include:

An architect, whose usefulness totally evades me. He is also often photographed with his purebred bulldog - a breed that's been infamously overbred over the decades.
Someone who runs an SCPA in Virginia (like that'll do a lot of good).
Someone who's stinkin' rich and owns Six Flags - a place that relies on smaller local rescue groups to help them manage their feral cats.
Someone who's already professionally committee-sitting (ie., no dirty work please, it'll fuck up my manicure) on another local animal "advocate" group.

Let's see what goes down at the Animal Shelter Commission meeting this afternoon.

An apology to my readers

Readers of this blog have noticed that I don't publish a lot of updates any more. This is because things at Dallas City Hall took a nasty turn a few months ago with the formation of the Dallas Companion Animal Project, an exercise in Let's Preserve Our Positions By Promising No Kill, But Never Delivering.

Ever since the Dallas Companion Animal Project (DCAP) was launched, the hopeful kept hoping that things would change at Dallas Animal Services (DAS). But look who's chairing DCAP:

Rebecca Poling, the Chair of the Task Force OPPOSED lifesaving legislation in Texas which would have banned the cruel gas chamber, mandated collaboration between Texas pounds and rescue organizations by making it illegal to kill animals when qualified rescues were willing to save them, required transparency in how taxpayer monies were spent by requiring shelters to make their statistics public, and would have made it illegal for shelters to kill animals based on arbitrary criteria.

In addition, Poling’s tenure on the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission has been marked by staggering neglect and abuse at Dallas Animal Services, which is not only underscored by the fact that the agency routinely and needlessly puts to death tens of thousands of animals every year (24,793 of the 34,399 animals it took in), but allowed a cat to starve to death within its walls, while every single employee looked the other way at his cries for help. In short, you cannot create a true and authentic blueprint for No Kill success by empanelling a Task Force chaired by a person who has no track record of success and who opposes the very approach necessary to end the killing of savable animals.

You can keep hoping this will change. But they won't. I am willing to bet any sum of money on this.

Since DCAP came into existence, Poling and Co. have done nothing of value. Instead, they recycle old stories online at Facebook and the Net while kissing each other's bottoms until they're soda-cracker white. And since she has no real news to publish, Poling has recently begun to resort to publishing pretty photos of her friends, complete with their arms around their pets. The photo ops are getting downright nauseating.

Perhaps Poling should show us what's really going on at DAS. This is what is going on every day as DCAP pursues nothing of value:



(Note: This photo is from several years ago. The photo my ex took some 15 years ago was considerably worse. Animals were stacked in wire containers and some smaller bodies were falling out of the sides. She took it while visiting the now-closed DAS Forney Road shelter.)

But none of this is changing anything down at DAS. The killing goes on, day in and day out. Or, as Bruce Campbell would say,

"You ain't leading nothing but Jack and shit. And Jack left town."

At least the public is no longer banned from pointing out how the No-Kill Equation has worked in other cities and counties. Or are we?

From the DCAP Facebook page:

Also, please note - months of research has been conducting up to this point, so while we appreciate the sentiment, general comments like "look at what Richmond did", keep in mind that we've already researched Austin, Richmond, San Antonio, San Francisco, and many, many more.

From the DCAP Web site:

If you’ve got a suggestion, please let us know. We’re looking for specific programs and initiatives that have been used successfully in other areas, lessons learned from personal experiences, and unique, “outside the box” ideas that we may not have seen before. We want your input.

So...what are we waiting for?

Nathan Winograd described DCAP's real agenda - that of preserving the status quo, while only giving lip service to no-kill - accurately in his book Redemption. Specifically, the chapter Co-option.

Winograd also wrote a letter to the mayor of Dallas everything we need to know to stop the killing here in his blog - several months ago.

Does anyone know if our mayor ever responded to the letter?