Everyone--
This was in my mailbox this morning:
 
Originator: VDANESE, To: DTHOMASON
Debra,
Haven't read anything on the McDowell case lately. Any news? Did e tv
shows take interest in the story? Did the Rutagrs info pan out? You're
our only  link to what's going on and I wish there was something I
could do. If you get  a chance, please let me know if you've heard
anything.
Ann
_________________________________________________________
Ann (and others!)--
     I know, and I'm sorry I haven't written more about my last
couple of phone calls to Rita.  Yes, I gave her the Rutgers info the
day I got it, but I haven't talked to her since I gave it to her.  She
was busy writing up a carefully detailed account of the whole mess to
send to TV shows, newpapers, ferret groups, lawyers, etc., as well as
to present to the Kansas Legislature during hearings they were holding
on a proposal to have the ferret recognized as a domestic animal
across the board.  In case you contribute to any fund for rabies shed
period studies, you should know that the lady who heads up the Kansas
State study testified *AGAINST* ferrets!  All she cares about the
ferret and the ferret loving public is her professional credentials
and $$$$$!!  I'll send my money to the Morris Foundation and mark it
for ferret rabies shed studies, but specifically NOT the Kansas State
study!  Any study done with that woman's biases as a point of view is
likely to be less than what we want!
     As far as I know, there are no nibbles from other TV shows yet.
I'm going to call one of our local stations Monday to see if I can get
info on a syndicated show that they carry called The Crusaders.  They
do "people done wrong" shows and make an effort to try to correct the
wrongs too, so they seem a likely choice.  I'll be talking to Rita
again this week, so I'll let you know if anything good has come up
since I last spoke to her.
     As for Mike's job, he went through with his grievance process,
and basically was told the same garbage.  I believe (if I understood
correctly) that the Sheriff didn't even show for the grievance
hearing!!  All this in spite of the fact that there is a Kansas law
prohibiting public officials from saying or putting in records
anything that harms, discredits, or ridicules an employee.  The
Sheriff and Under-sheriff had been quoted by more than one Kansas
newspaper as saying that Mike McDowell lied about not knowing where
the ferrets were, the actual words used saying something like,
"Sure, he's telling the truth, and I see pink pigs flying in my
parking lot...."  Similar comments appear in the dismissal
paperwork.  However, Mike is getting unemployment benefits now, so
at least that will help them a bit monetarily, though it can't get
their house back or put their lives back together.
     On the subject of getting their case handled, their lawyer
dropped them.  He said their case was "... too political."  So they
are once again without lawyer.  They finally got someone from the ACLU
to speak to them about their case, but were told that the ACLU wasn't
interested in their case.  ACLU says that yes, their civil and
Constitutional rights have been violated, but the ACLU is only
interested in previously untried legal tenets, and theirs isn't
unique.  I did provide them the Rutgers info, but as I said, haven't
heard from them since.  For those of you who don't have this info:
 
      Rutgers University Newark School of Law
      S.I. Neuhause Center for Law and Justice Animal Rights Center
      15 Washington St., Rm. 530
      Newark, NJ  07102
      Phone #: (201) 648-5989
      Fax#   : (201) 648-1040
 
     The ridiculous positions held by the State of Kansas continue to
appear.  The Health Department sent Rita a bill for $1500 dollars for
the rabies shots supposedly given to the alleged bite victim and gave
her a deadline to pay it.  Rita, armed with the "victim's" name (she
found it on a tag he filled out on one of their appliances!) called
KP&L and pitched a fit because she'd been told by them that they would
pay the bill for the shots and she shouldn't be held liable for them.
The official she spoke with went so far as to offer her $1500 to pay
the bill with, but she didn't take it because her lawyer had told her
that if she were ever offered money in connection with this case, that
someone was admitting she and her ferret were not guilty, so she
wanted to consult the lawyer first.  When I last talked to her, Rita
had two days left to pay the bill, so I'll have to ask after that too.
Also of interest is that Rita was told by the KP&L official that the
worker started the rabies shots on the day that the McDowells went to
court, a month after he was bitten!  Yet the Health Department said he
MUST start the shots within ten days of the bite!
     So the tale drags on.  The McDowells will shortly be out of a
home, the state continues to persecute them, and nothing is resolved.
The only decent thing that has happened is that they have another
ferret now.  Someone who worked with Rita knew about the garbage that
has happened to them and gave her his ferret when he was moving and
was no longer able to keep it.  So they have a furry to hug, but
that's about it.  I'll write more after I talk to Rita next.
 
            Debra in Ft. Worth, TX
 
[Posted in FML issue 0774]