Hey, it looks like our commissioners want to save the turtles and abandon the rest of the abused animals in our county. I have agonized over the arrogant conduct of our commissioners at the July 6, 2010, meeting and now it is time for me to make public things some of things you may not be aware of.
I was at that meeting and it was an absolute farce. A slap in the face to 16 honest eyewitness citizens who truthfully signed statements concerning the animal cruelty charges on the part of animal control officer Jerry Clase. The commissioners chose to support unnamed, unsigned secret statements and challenge the validity of those 16 signed statements.
How can these guys get away with such a blatant disregard for the the facts submitted by our citizens? Do the commissioners feel they are exempt from responsibility to these citizens? I have heard stories about the "good ol' boys" club in this county. Somebody is going to have to help me on this one.
There has recently been a number of additional animal abuse complaints lodged against this ACO after the commissioners' decision and there are individuals ready to testify to that. Are the commissioners going to follow through and "investigate" these complaints and do something about them as they promised. Wrong! Maybe after pigs start flying around our county courthouse.
When the decision was being made I watched the other two commissioners intently staring at the crowd looking for a reaction and to me they looked guilty as sin. It appears to me and others that the commissioners know full well that this ACO is indeed guilty of most of these charges and more and they are protecting and defending him for some unknown reason and this should be investigated fully, and and when the truth is found out all should be prosecuted for their part.
How many of you are aware that this ACO's wife made the statement to WANE TV News in early June 2010 that: "This has all been settled. They found no wrongdoings on his part. My husband was told today that this matter has been thoroughly been investigated and he's been cleared of all the 'so-called' charges."
Obviously, the decision to clear this ACO was made well before the the July 6, 2010, meeting. This is absolutely deplorable and we as citizens should be outraged over this. In addition, Bob Conley allegedly made the statement "off the record" heard by credible witnesses that, "Animals have no soul, feelings or emotions." What an absolute abomination that an elected public servant could make a cruel remark like that. Check out the Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010, Times-Union front page article where he did allegedly make a similar statement. All of our pet owners should let him know what you think of him after a comment like that.
And so, I have an opinion and there are others as well that this ACO is a danger in our county, not only to our animals, but to our citizens as well. He is a loose, well-armed cannon ready to go off and we must double our efforts to oust this ACO. In addition, we all should work together to campaign and get rid of these commissioners at election time who choose to disregard the welfare of our animals and allow this individual to work in our county.
In conclusion, I applaud those individuals who are not giving up on on their battle to protect our animals from cruelty and expose anyone who is protecting and defending those who do.
