>Bill's latest barrage is just another example of the kind of public
>displays we feel is not appropriate being a representative for the AFA.
>I will not stoop to his level and go back and forth with a he says, she
>says battle.  I will not respond to Bill publicly concerning this matter
>again.  But I am sure you will continually see posts from Bill bad
>mouthing me, Sally, the AFA, and anyone else who has an opinion or
>viewpoint that differs from his.
 
I am responding here to Vickie's message since she felt inclined to take a
last stab, albeit a subtle one, at Bill, I felt that I could calmly point
out a few errors in her recent posts on this subject.  Let me begin by
saying that Bill hasn't 'bad mouthed' Sally or the AFA.  In fact, he really
hasn't even bad mouthed you, merely tried to set the record straight.
 
>Bill continually claims I was the one after him.  Sorry, he did it to
>himself.
 
You have attacked him openly on various mailing lists and here on the FML.
You have made several statements of supposed fact that simply aren't
true.  The reason stated in the official letter issued by the AFA Judge's
administrator bears no resemblance whatsoever to the charges you have
made in the past several days here on the FML.  There was only ONE letter
ever received from the Judges' Administrator (ok, the certified copy and
the copy sent regular mail -- but it was the same identical letter so
technically it was one letter).  No letters of warning were ever received
by Bill.  No letters of complaint were ever received by Bill.  We know that
this was the only letter sent out since we had discussed it with the AFA's
General Counsel after we received it.  We were informed that he had
reviewed this letter prior to it being mailed.
 
>Everything was sent to the AFA Judge's administrator, not me.  It was the
>AFA Judge's administrator who sent the letters out, not me.  If Bill has
>a problem, please, contact the judge's administrator, don't voice it in a
>public forum where you know she does not read it.
 
Unfortunately, with the current situation, we don't feel that we would be
afforded a fair 'hearing' if we wrote to the Judges' Administrator.  As I
stated above, we have only received one letter to date from her regarding
the non-renewal of Bill's license.  We have a copy of this letter, as
does our attorney.  No real purpose will be served by having the Judges'
Administrator inform us that yes, that's the only letter she mailed to us.
And from a legal, not to mention believability standpoint, any letter(s)
that would be produced now (long after the fact) could hardly be considered
legitimate since they would have had to have followed the same recognized
standard for sending official mail (a certified copy followed up with a
copy sent regular mail).
 
Additionally, since you have made these allegations against Bill in public
forums where anyone and everyone can see them and have their opinion of
him, and in fact us, affected, it's only fair that we be able to point out
they are provably false.  Writing a letter to the AFA office and detailing
all of the charges which have been levelled against us won't, in the long
run, accomplish much in our favor.  Even after proving the validity of our
claims, we would win nothing.  You know this as well as I do.  The Judges'
Handbook has absolutely no provision for an appeal process for a judge who
has been dismissed or, in this case, non-renewed, except in the instance of
failure to pay their dues.  However, in the 'court of public opinion' if I
can convince some people that Bill didn't do these things you've suggested,
then it's a victory of a sort.
 
I'd also like to point out another example of the futility of sending in
complaints to the AFA Office.  During the AFA Show in March that was held
in New Jersey, a former Animal Welfare Officer witnessed a case of what
she described as animal abuse by a breeder/AFA judge.  She reported the
incident to the AFA shortly after witnessing it.  She wrote about this
incident here on the FML and she wrote a letter of complaint to the AFA
Office.  Your response on the various publc forums was, in effect calling,
her a liar.  Saying she wasn't what she pretended to be and lying about her
identity.  The alleged abuser is still an AFA judge.  This former Animal
Welfare Officer (and she was in fact a licensed Animal Welfare Officer
from another state who had recently moved to New Jersey) was, and is, very
much who she claims to be.  In fact, this woman is running for public
office in New Jersey.  The AFA didn't want to respond to her letter of
complaint.  Rather than just accept on face value the AFA's, and your
claim that this woman was a fraud, I checked on her.  She was exactly what
she claimed to be.
 
diane
[Posted in FML issue 3217]