Congrats MI; now CA has to go through the same process.  Willie Brown,
the state Speaker and alleged ferret hater, may not be such an enemy.  An
article in the L.A. Times this morning (1/9/95) reports that his resistance
last year stems from a fued with Jan Goldsmith, a Republican from Poway (near
San Diego) who sponsored the bill.
      A quote from page 3 of the front section on why the bill failed:
 
              [BG:  I don't think we need permission to quote this.]
 
   "One reason may have been that the sponsor, Jan Goldsmith, had fallen into
the Speaker's bad graces with his assertive ways and his opposition to
providing free education to Mexican children who cross the border to attend
schools in Goldsmith's district."
      The article also reports that the Speaker stymied the bill by "taking a
walk" with his supporters in the assembly.   In other words, if all had
attended, the bill might have passed.
      So now it's 1995 and we have another political conflict.   Willie Brown
and Jimmy Brulte are fighting over the assembly, and somehow poor little M.
furo is mixed up in the fray.  Are ferret owners Republicans or Democrats or
Libertarians or Peace & Freedoms or?...does it matter?  The issue of the
ferret proper has been forgotten amongst the political jostling.
      We CA ferret owners (MA too) must not only convince the general public
that our pets are non-threatening, but convince our representatives that
ferret legalization should not be used as a political lever.
      How to do so I haven't the faintest.  Maybe the CDFA has.
[Posted in FML issue 1085]