Comments Re: Skip Trimble and THLN

Spidey received this email.  It is worth posting and pretty much summarizes just how involved Trimble is in all things AR related in Texas.
Sent: Fri, Nov 19, 2010 11:21 pm
Subject: THLN/TXMVA join hands? Fair Use Act

Folks,
The TX Medical Veterinary Association joining hands with self-professed "mainstream" THLN has irritated me.

You probably already know most of this info but maybe some new info is here. Use this search engine, enter Robert Skip Trimble, and information will arrive.

I apologize in advance for grammatical/structural errors, but I am trying to compile quickly! I use the disclaimer Fair Use Act.
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1.Source:  The Animals' Advocate, The Quarterly Newsletter of The Animal Legal Defense Fund, Winter 2002, Volume 21 (Page 5)

"Old Dog, New Tricks, from 'Abuser' to Animal Champion" article on ALDF Board Chair Robert "Skip" Trimble

"I'm a former animal abuser. I used to own racehorses, raise roping steers, hunt and eat meat," Trimble says. "I've probably
done it all. But that's changed."

"They started telling me about vivisection and circuses and farming abuses and everything else," Trimble says. "The more I learned, the more I wanted to do something."

"The laws need to change if animals are going to be given the respect they're due on this earth, and there's nobody better equipped to change laws than lawyers."


2. Source: The Animals' Advocate, The Quarterly Newsletter of The Animal Legal Defense Fund, Winter 2002, Volume 21

a. Harvard Law School ..most active chapters of the Student Animals Legal Defense Fund in the nation.

With his fellow legal scholars...and Cass Sunstein (who did appear), Dershowitz is helping to put animal law on the map. (Page 1)

b. But Sunstein, ..teaches at University of Chicago, suggested that "property may not be as important as we think," and said animals regarded as property can still have rights under the law. (Page 4)

Article about where Cass Sunstein has ended up in President Obama's administration and what he proposes for America:
c. David Favre, ... a member of ALDF's board of directors, who urged a more incremental approach to winning recognition of animals' rights.

Perhaps, he said, animal lawyers should "find a shallower place to cross the river," shepherding chimpanzees and other non-human animals into the frontier of legal rights via "a series of stepping stones," rather than trying to break down the property status wall. (Page 4)  [Note:  Boiling the Frog - er Dog, Slowly....]

3. Source: The Animals' Advocate, The Quarterly Newsletter of The Animal Legal Defense Fund, Winter 2002, Volume 21
"Spotlight on Enforcement" (Page 4)

Steve Wells, director of ALDF's Law Professional Volunteer Program ..."You can get involved as an attorney by forming a bar association committee on animal rights or using environmental laws to protect animals. Or, if you're not a lawyer, you can testify before legislators considering new animal laws or use the Freedom of Information Act...."

4. Source: Skip Trimble Bio

* 1997 HSUS Legislative Achievement Award

* 1997 PAWS Volunteer of the Year Award

* 1999 Sarah M and Charles E. Seay Kindness to Animals Award, Operation Kindness

* 2006 Secretary and Treasurer of Metroplex Animal Coalition

* Animal Protection of New Mexico's 2000 Award for lifelong commitment to animal rights

5. * Elected Board Chair of ALDF in 2001, after 6 years as an active board member. (Source Animals' Advocate, Winter 2002, #21)

* PETA Activist Award. (Source Animals' Advocate, Winter 2002, #21)

6. * Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) 2010 Art of Compassion Award Recipient, Robert L. "Skip" Trimble

7. "Skip Trimble: Intact animals are the root of Dallas' animal woes"
3:40 PM Wed, Jun 18, 2008 Dave Levinthal/Reporter

"We've compromised in every way we think possible," said Animal Shelter Commission Chairman Skip Trimble, who months ago began advocating the animal control ordinance now in front of the Dallas City Council.

"An unborn dog will never stray," Mr. Trimble said in advocating a mandatory spay/neuter law that would allow owners to keep their pets intact by purchasing a $70 permit. "An intact dog is part of the problem, and a fixed dog is not."

8. The DAS manager has now been charged with felony animal cruelty. You can read the full story and see an affadavit with more details on the case here on the Animals blog.

Targeting: Robert "Skip" Trimble (Chairman, Dallas Animal Shelter Commission)
Started by: Stephanie Feldstein

Dallas Animal Services is being investigated for the death of a cat in the shelter's walls. After escaping from his cage, the cat ended up trapped in the wall. Sources say that employees heard the cat trying to escape and reported it to management, yet the cat wasn't removed until after he had died and his carcass started to smell.

This is not the first time that Dallas Animal Services has made questionable decisions when it comes to animals in their care.

Jonnie England (Operation Kindness), a member of the Dallas Animal Shelter Commission, said "If these allegations are true, these are the people who are charged with protecting and caring for animals in the city of Dallas. This is a level of callousness and unconcern and incompetence that is just stunning."

Tell the Chairman of the Animal Services Commission to hold any shelter managers who knew about the suffering cat fully responsible for their negligence and to replace them with compassionate leaders.

Skippy On Board

1. City of Dallas Board and Commission Chairs, 2005-2007, Appointed by Councilmember Natinsky
Robert "Skip" Trimble, Animal Shelter Commission member since 11/13/2003, reappointed 10/19/05, Appointed by Natinsky, Terms served: 1

2. Re-appointedment by Councilmember Natinsky

ASC 12 Skip Trimble reappointed 09/12/2007, general public, Chair, served 2 terms, member since 11/13/2003.

Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, July 13, 2004,
Coalition Participants:
...Skip Trimble...Born Free (Trimble's wife), ASPCA, SPCA of Houston, PETA, HSUS and more

State Bar of Texas Animal Law Section, Skip was also instrumental in the formation of the Animal Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.
Note the BOD and Members: Skip Trimble, Yolanda Eisenstein, Randy Turner, Cassie Evans, Bill Davis, Susan Hightower, Don Feare, etc.

Remember the Gideon Case in Dallas...Yolanda Eisenstein recently met with Dallas City Council Committee members on Animal/Human Abuse.

Skip Trimble, TX Attorney General, primate 'transfer'

Lots of vegan friends

Note the listing of lawyers for Texas; self-created new market, (who not to use?) Gee, how many of these used to be in THLN and are now on the Texas State Bar of Animal Law, founded by Skip Trimble?

AZ - Chris Wencker/520-623-1461

AZ - Stephanie Nichols-Young/ 602-257-9739

FL - Marcy LaHart/561-655-9537

KY - Katie Brophy/502-561-3486

NJ - Linda Sinuk/732-296-1771

TX - Donald Feare/817-543-2202

TX - Joel Hailey/210-333-3310

TX - Randy Turner/ randy@randallturner.us

TX - Skip Trimble/214-855-2960

THLN is on the HSUS bandwagon and is now feeding the press the line that "Texas is the Puppy Mill Capital of the U.S."  Sound familiar??!!!!   (Google "puppy mill capital" to see just how many states turn up)  State by state, the ARs are targeting animal owners.  Remember when they fought so hard, state to state, to make animal cruelty a felony?  Responsible animal owners never thought those laws would be used against them either.  

Texas, you must continue the good fight and defeat this legislation NOW.

  

Modus Operandi

Same Old Same Old

Raids and Seizures.  We read about them everyday.  The stories are always the same and it is always THE WORST case of animal cruelty/abuse/hoarding etc THEY have ever seen.  Feces cover everything.   The amonia smell is so bad they must wear gas masks.  Come on now.  Can't they write better news than a generic fill in the blank?  The mainstream media seldom, if ever, covers the other side of the story.  Maybe a small mention of a legal victory or charges dropped will be found in the back pages.  Like the little boy that cried wolf too many times and was caught lying, who would believe the press releases even if REAL animal cruelty did exist?   Here is how the system operates:

Animal rights organizations lobby for ever restrictive laws.  In many states, animal cruelty is classified as a felony.

Animal Control/Humane Society/SPCA trumps up cruelty charges on some unsuspecting person.  Motives vary from simple ego/power trips to obtaining valuable animals for re-sale, er I mean adoption. 


Animals are taken.

Ransom is levied in the form of daily charges  for board and vet care that run into thousands of dollars. Provisions for such charges are often enacted into law.

The animals often end up in less than ideal situations and some will languish and die without proper care.  This only helps strengthen the persecutor's, er I mean prosecutor's case that the animals were in need of rescuing!  Sometimes animals with no intrinsic value to the rescuers are simply killed, I mean euthanized.

Victims of the system are run through a court system that further abuses their rights.

Attorneys for defendants generally know next to nothing about animal laws.

Defendants pay a fortune to defend themselves and are ultimately forced to give up their animals when they are unable to pay the legal/boarding bills.

Victims of this system are threatened with jail time and high fines and are coerced into signing away their animals.

AC/SPCA/Humane Society profits from these cases.

AC/HS/SPCA etc are now considered law enforcement agents and they have police powers.
The failure to make formal charges ensures that they won't take a fall should the real nature of the incident come out. They can't afford to look bad.

The longer a case drags on, the more financial and other pressure is put on the defendant.   One person calls it the "litigate till broke" strategy.

It's been done many times before. It is happening today.

Spidey  has no problem with REAL animal cruelty being punished by law, but the problem lies with lack of compassion and common sense.   We should all be able to distinguish  true animal abuse from "case building".  Animal Control has become a big business.  State and national membership organizations are in place, complete with certification programs, newsletters, instruction manuals and even supplies.  These officers must justify their existence and often that means "finding" crimes where none exist.

Example of ACO Training Manuals


All states have some form of Animal Control Officer training manuals and course requirements. They are all very similar and the vast body of animal rights literature has been very influential in the development of this area of training, law enforcement, prosecution and legislation.

How to Prosecute Animal Cruelty in Georgia from Start to Finish

American Prosecutors Research Institute  (Randall Lockwood, ASPCA)


NEW JERSEY
ANIMAL CRUELTY INVESTIGATOR
In 1989 the New Jersey Certified Animal Control Officers Association along with the Humane Society of the United States  and other animal welfare groups, proposed legislation that would allow Animal Control Officers with additional training, to enforce the animal cruelty statutes of New Jersey.

NEW YORK
How to Investigate Animal Cruelty in NY State - A Manual of Procedures

VERMONT
Vermont Animal Cruelty Task Force Manual

TEXAS
Texas Department of State Health Services Animal Control Officer Training Manual


HSUS MATERIALS
Resources for Prosecutors
 
Know Thy Enemy!