>........its important for people to continue to put pressure on their >State Senators to have this bill heard and to not assume anything is >a given. >Jeanne Massachusetts at this point three years ago had somewhere between five and six people calling every DAY concerning H295, our 'ferret bill'. One of the clerks told me that so many letters were coming in that they build a file several inches thick. It still came down at the end to the work of Mass Rep Brad Jones who pulled our bill out of a pile of pending legislation in front of the chairman at the podium, and put it on top. Then it was the Chairman's willingness to pick it up and call for a vote. Every little bit helps. You never know who is going to talk to whom, and who is going to be influenced by what. All comes down almost to luck at the end, but you CAN influence the odds, if enough people want it bad enough, join together, work hard enough, and convince others to help. Legislators are busy people, only a minority of bills get much more than lip service. Partly it is a matter of getting them to believe that it is in their interest to tell the other person that they are busy. Go you Californians !!!! [Posted in FML issue 2343]