Hi Everybody..
 
The charges against Pat are very shaky to say the least.... and his
Attorneys are working to have them withdrawn..  the Prosecutors office is
having trouble justifying any prosecution at all..  so we will see...
 
As for the civil suit by the Mother of the bitten child... anyone can sue
anyone else here and that is that.... Oh, sure, Pat has a good chance of
'winning' in the end..  but also has a chance of only getting a partial
'win' with some damages awarded to the kids family... Why Pat..  because he
'claimed ownership of Gabby [the ferret] in order to save it and get it
shipped out of state safely... we are committed to the anonymity of our
people and the only way to preserve that was for Pat to take on the
'ownership' responsibility... and that is why Pat is taking the heat now...
 
As I mentioned in Part 1... Pat, and the rest of the legalization community,
are thorns in the backsides of the 'authorities' out here... and that means
you WILL have a certain amount of 'attention' in your life from those
'authorities'..  If you mouth off to the wrong person just once too often
you may find you are the ;darling' of the local sherrifs officers and are
'escorted' everywhere you go, when ever they can get even two minutes to do
so... or you may find your other pets are suddenly too loud, too messy, too
something or other..  or maybe dept.  of bldg.  and safety takes an interest
in you..  and the list goes on... just because your right does not mean you
are immune to the misuse of power by local officials...
 
Pat can, and probably will, win this one..  however, the cost of that win is
going to be upwards of $5,000.00... and this man has impoverished himself
for years in his dedication to saving confiscated ferrets and the
legalization effort....
 
None of us will ever recover economically from being advocates for ferrets..
not in Calif... we cannot get out there and be visible and attract financial
help for what we do... that is accepted... we knew it going in...
 
Soooo... if you want to help Pat and through that help in turn help get the
domestic ferret legalized in Calif... get out your pen..  and write a
check... No one deserves our support more than this selfless defender of
helpless fuzzys....
 
thank you for your interest and consideration ....
 
 dayna frazier
 archivist and historian for Ferrets Anonymous in California
 
 "Resident of... Marvelous Menagerie Of Mirthful Mayhem"
 dayna frazier  102046,3162  12-Oct-1996  19:51:32 PST
[Posted in FML issue 1720]