Help Needed Please! Help stop a horse slaughter plant from opening in Montana!

[Solitaire]

Send out to your lists please!!!

Please if you haven't called call and if you have called call again. You have a family member or friend's name you can use. Ask your family and friends to call in the morning. The governor is suppose to make his decision tomorrow. It was in a MT article that more calls are coming in support of horse slaughter. The horses need us please help them.

Governor Brian D. Schweitzer
Office of the Governor
Montana State Capitol Bldg.
P.O. Box 200801
Helena MT 59620-0801


Phone: [phone], FAX [phone]

e-mail: [e-mail]

[flvegan]

1. Wasn't that outlawed?

On what reason are they suggesting opening a slaughterhouse in Montana?

[Solitaire]

2. We are trying to outlaw them with S 727 and HR 503

I wish! All they did was close the slaughter houses in the United States and now they are shipped to Canada and Mexico. In Mexico they stab them to death.

More horses went to slaughter in 2008 than any year when the slaughter houses were open in the United States.

If you have a moment, read this thread from the Montana board: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=163x1051

There's also a petition to sign, if you are so inclined: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/319413487

They are also trying to open a slaughter house in Illinois, where they outlawed it a couple of years ago. There are always evil people in our government and I pray that they get voted out, like Conrad Burns did.

Thank you for your interest.

Best,

Sol :)

PS the Federal bills S 727 and HR 503 need to be passed, please call your senators and reps and spread the word. If these bills get passed the nonsense of opening a slaughter house if the US will go away. :)

[Solitaire]

3. and here's the answer to what happened...

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904040303

April 4, 2009

Schweitzer kicks 'Trojan' horse-slaughter bill back to Legislature

By JOHN S. ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau

HELENA — Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Friday sent a controversial bill allowing the construction of horse-slaughter facilities in Montana back to the Legislature after striking key language that would have limited environmental appeals.

House Bill 418, sponsored by Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, would have prevented Montana courts from issuing an injunction stopping or delaying the construction of an equine-processing facility. It also would have required anyone who challenges a facility's environmental permit to post a substantial bond.

Schweitzer's amendatory veto eliminates those provisions.

Butcher said that language was necessary to encourage a horse-slaughter business to come to Montana without fearing "harassment" from environmentalists.

"All we've simply said is after they have been legally approved, that they can't be harassed," Butcher said. "Why should a business have some two-bit hippie sending in the $1,200 filing fee and stopping a five or six million dollar business?"

During a press conference announcing his decision, Schweitzer, a Democrat, opened with a lengthy metaphor comparing Butcher's bill to the Trojan horse, a strategy that allowed the ancient Greeks to enter and destroy the city of Troy.

"They could not get it done. So, someone had an idea. We will use trickery, not a direct approach," Schweitzer said.

According to mythology, after 10 years of failing to penetrate the walls of Troy, Greek troops slipped away in the middle of the night, leaving behind a giant horse, which the Trojans then moved inside the city walls. Later, under the cover of darkness, a Greek contingent hidden inside the horse sprang out and opened the gates for the returning Greek army.

Schweitzer said he supports the idea of constructing a horse-slaughter facility in Montana and would be willing to look at modifying the state's regulatory structure if a company wanted to build a plant in the state. However, Schweitzer said Butcher's bill, like the Trojan horse, contains "unintended consequences" that strip the public's right to appeal.

"This bill, while it may have an effect of encouraging someone to build a horse-slaughter plant in Montana ... unfortunately it does so much more," Schweitzer said. "Like the belly of the Trojan horse, there are these unintended consequences that as you open the latch and they all fall out, they start taking rights away from the citizens of Montana."

Schweitzer said no companies have expressed interest in building a horse-slaughter plant here, and that even if they did, federal law would make it difficult.

"Congress has passed legislation that disallows using the (U.S. Department of Agriculture) stamp on the carcass of a horse," Schweitzer said. "There's nothing in this bill that would modify the USDA stamp."

Butcher accused Schweitzer of "caving" to out-of-state environmental and animal-rights groups. He said the bipartisan supporters of HB418 would reject the amendments and send the bill back to the governor's desk in its original form, leaving it to him to either veto it or sign it into law.

"When you've got this kind of a political atmosphere, you have to sometimes play chicken," Butcher said.

The House is expected to vote on the amended measure next week.