Everyone--
       I talked with Rita McDowell again tonight.  I gave her the
address for the TV show "The Crusaders".  She has called them before,
but all she was old was that they get thousands of calls each week
and don't have time to track them all down.  So now that she has the
address, she's going to send them a packet of info about her family's
situation.  For anyone else who is interested in this show, the
address and phone number are:
                   The Crusaders
                   P.O. Box 6363
                   Burbank, CA  91510-6363
                   (800) 434-5111
 
       In other news from Kansas, Rita tells me that it looks like
the bill introduced to give ferrets a domesticated status across the
board will fail.  The legislators are saying that they want to wait
on it until a shedding period study is complete before recognizing
ferrets as domestic.
       Rita said that she recently saw in the papers where someone in
Kansas was bitten by a cougar, requiring multiple stitches.  The
person who "owns" the animal was fined because he keeps it as a pet
in an apartment (!), but the animal was only quarantined.  When asked
about testing the cougar for rabies, the state said that the animal
was too valuable to be destroyed for testing, and they weren't going
to kill it.  As far as Rita knows, the man will get his cougar back.
But ferrets are wild and dangerous animals as far as Kansas is
concerned.  What absolute idiocy!
       Tonight Rita said that it seems that a black cloud is just
following them around.  We've seen notes from other people telling
how their 13 year old daughter had her leg broken and the tendons
severed, requiring surgery.  Well her treatment continues, and of
course the McDowells are without insurance.  Two nights ago their
older daughter was driving a few friends home because the girl who
was supposed to drive had gotten drunk and couldn't drive.  The
McDowell girl is not allowed to drive any of the family's vehicles,
so she is not insured.  She lost control of the car and hit a brick
wall.  She had to have a few stitches but is okay, as are the other
occupants of the car.  However, there will be another court case,
because Miss McDowell was uninsured and the owners of the car don't
carry insurance that covers the vehicle regardless of driver.
       So far as Mike's job goes, more than one lawyer has said that
he has a good case against the sheriff/county as far as the malicious
attack on his character goes.  In Mike's favor is how he keeps being
called to testify in court cases on behalf of the sheriff's
department, yet he was fired for being "dishonest and untrustworthy"?
But all of these small-town lawyers keep refusing to represent the
McDowells even after saying that they have a good case.  Afraid of
offending the Good Ole' Boy Network, I suppose.  Lawyers from the
larger towns say that the case isn't worth the extra time it would
take them to do the travelling that would be involved to represent
the McDowells.  For now, Mike is working for a buddy operating heavy
equipment, but that's temporary/seasonal. Even the guy who had given
them his ferret has taken it back.  Rita said it was a really sweet
little fuzzy....
       For those who are concerned with keeping track of the
McDowells because of the impending loss of their home, Rita said to
let everyone know that the have been given until July 1 to move out,
so the address and phone number will be valid for a quite a while
yet.  Please consider giving Rita a quick call to boost her spirits.
She must have told me a dozen times how glad she was to hear from me
just to have a friendly voice again.  Even if you feel a little silly
or uncomfortable, Rita's gotten used to talking to all sorts of
different people while trying to find a way to defend herself and
Mike from this mess, and she'll be happy to talk away to you about
your ferrets, your family, or her situation.  It's certainly no
harder than making friends and learning to talk to each other on the
electronic net!  Someone on the FML asked for the address and phone
number to be reposted, so here it is:
             Mike and Rita McDowell
             Box 432
             Onaga, KS
             (913)889-7180
         One other note, anyone who is making contributions to the
McDowells, please be sure you send your money to a reputable national
organization or local club that is collecting funds for them, or send
the money directly to the McDowells.  Rita told me that two donations
have been sent to one of their former lawyers (including $100 from
AFA), and the lawyer had to practically be beaten into admitting that
he had received it.  He still hasn't credited it to their bill.  Just
a word of caution so that your money really goes where you intended
it to!
 
           Debra in Ft. Worth, TX
 
[Posted in FML issue 0779]