"Animal Control" Out of Control - Part 3
Attorney Jennifer Edwards speaks on behalf of the Animal Law Center in favor of HB1124, which would set standards for training of animal control officers.
Tiny Totally Independent Media
Representative Wes McKinley (HD64) is carrying a bill which would provide State standards for the training and bonding of animal control officers. The hearing room was packed with citizens testifying in favor of the bill as well as control officers and administrators speaking against the bill. Many of the citizens told horror stories of officers abusing their powers, threatening owners with jail and legal expenses, and taking actions of questionable legality. In short, out of control control officers.
The Colorado Humane Society came under fire back in 2008 for claims of misusing funds in the shelter. These claims were directed primarily at the operators of the facility, Robert and Mary C. Warren, and staff member Stephanie L. Gardner. The Office of the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against Gardner and the Warrens back in December of 2008, alleging that they, through the Colorado Humane Society, violated numerous provisions of Colorado law. Along with numerous other violations, the shelter’s operators were mismanaging funds with the charity and needlessly euthanizing animals to make room for ‘more adoptable pets’.
As part of the settlement, the Warrens are barred from managing or operating charitable organizations for ten years and will not be able to operate any business covered by the Colorado Pet Animal Care Facilities Act for the next five years. Gardner was also barred from operating a charity for at least two years and operating an animal shelter for one year.
“The fact that the Colorado Humane Society is no longer in operation today is a testament to the mismanagement and poor choices of the organization’s former management,” Attorney General Suthers said. “This case should underline the reality that the managers of nonprofits throughout Colorado have a duty to manage their operations responsibly.” – http://www.ColoradoAttorneyGeneral.gov
(Editor's note: Phil Goodstein, author and historian, publishes a monthly print-only newsletter called The Naysayer. He also gives us permission to publish it here, for which we are very grateful as his writing lifts the prose of this site considerably, to say nothing of the benefit of his historical insights. The Naysayers next meet on Saturday, February 6, Enzo's Pizza, 3424 Colfax (between Cook and Madison) 5:30 PM.)
by Phil Goodstein
From the time of the Pikes Peak gold rush, Colorado has been a magnet for financial swindlers, con artists, and snake oil salesmen. Not surprisingly, the state was in the vanguard of the savings and loan swindles. It has produced a rich crop of Ponzi scheme perpetrators. The only reason the recent banking crisis mostly skimmed the state's surface is because Colorado's longtime dominant banks-First National, Colorado National, and United Bank-had previously sold out to Wall Street manipulators. Even so, the collapse of the $1 billion New Frontier Bank in Greeley was the country's largest bank failure in 2009. New Frontier's collapse stemmed from bad management, deceit, and swindling. Colorado bank regulators mostly turned a blind eye to such practices as the financial institution's problems escalated.
