On the heels of the “budgetary” dismissals of the Chesterfield Co ACOs comes word that the SC Attorney General has signed a settlement with the county regarding the allegations of torture and killings in and outside of the pound. You can read the officially useless document here. Here’s my unofficial summary:
Don’t shoot dogs again. Well, ok you can shoot dogs again but if you do, you’ll need to let us know about it directly. Also, your pound is subject to random inspections by DHEC and the “Humane Society”.
DHEC (Department of Health and Environmental Control) is the SC state agency responsible for regulation of various health related matters (like permits for serving food to the public and such). They don’t regulate animal shelters as far as I know. I can not imagine Chesterfield Co is too worried about any surprise inspections from DHEC.
The “Humane Society” – I don’t even know what entity the name refers to so can’t really comment on the possibility of surprise inspections except to say there is no “Humane Society” I know of that would have any authority to do a damn thing about anything going on in the Chesterfield pound.
All in all, a pretty clear message to animal abusers in SC: Come on down, it’s anything goes here, especially if you get on the county payroll. The worst case scenario if you get caught is 5 months paid vacation, courtesy of taxpayers.
I just love the way you tell it like it is! Keep hammering away at them.
It was a horrible thing they did in Chesterfield and justice was not served. But at least there is some light shining on that shelter now – I see there are people going in and helping the dogs and trying to get them to rescue.
I guess that could mean that any animal advocate could technically represent the “Humane Society”. A group of concerned people could have some t-shirts made and and ID badge and inspect away…
Except that as a Humane Society inspector, you’ll have ZERO power to affect any sort of change no matter how many inspections you make.
http://www.facebook.com/NikkiHaley/posts/10150257068783226?ref=notif¬if_t=feed_comment_reply
Here is the link to the Governor’s Facebook posting. PLEASE stand with us and voice your displeasure over the lack of justice served for the Chesterfield 22
What a pitiful punishment to the horrific and torturous crimes these “animal patrol” people committed. What a let down by the court system? This is it? So a new batch of “Inhumane Society” officers come in, and maybe not at first but mark my words within a year the torture will start all over again!
A five month paid leave of absence and were they really fired? Or were they shuffled off somewhere else in the Sherriff’s Department?
For a moment I thought the right thing was going to be done. What a crock!
Thanks for the link, Ginger! I wrote a note as you know…here it is:
We voted for you Governor Haley and we will NOT vote for you again as long as this issue is left unresolved. While you state that you are not involved in this matter, it is incumbent upon you, as the highest ranking public official in the state, to hold state agencies accountable, not accept a cavalier or laissez-faire attitude towards unlawful actions, and insure the Attorney General upholds our laws. You have not done your due diligence on this matter and neither has the AG’s office. If you think that a sheriff’s department’s abuse of its powers, or heinous, neglectful, and illegal actions perpetrated against those in their charge, or a misuse of drugs and possible distribution of them, or inappropriate use of funding is acceptable, then the outcome must seem fine to you and to the AG’s office. What should have happened? A proper investigation, unpaid leave for the ACOs, the sheriff relieved of his command for dereliction of duty, and charges pressed for any one or all of the illegal actions taken. And why is this facility still open if it cannot even feed or care for these creatures?? Instead of a dismissive attitude towards this issue, there should be a push from you for proper funding (govt, corporate, and private) of this shelter with competent staff to run it. Those in your constituency who are animal lovers, taxpayers, and voters believe that this attempt to once again shovel dirty deeds under the rug, waste good money on proven perpetrators, leave the person running this hellhole in charge, and allow these animals to continue to live in state-run squalor is confirmation that this state is still living in the dark ages. In one fell swoop, the AG has undermined the good work being done to showcase SC and in one ‘pass the buck’ remark, you have proven we are run by questionable leadership that would rather hit the cocktail circuit than pull our state up by its bootstraps. This is an utter disappointment that goes beyond political boundaries…it is a moral and legal calling that has gone unheard. This decision has just fueled a louder voice for those that have none and it will not end here. You have the chance to use your power for the greater good and rectify this situation and end this injustice. We voters will be watching.
Please ‘Like’ Governor Nikki Haley and AG Alan Wilson’s page and let them know what you think about the Attorney General’s decision to do nothing about the events in Chesterfield County, SC. You might only get one try before being blocked, but they do need to know that everyone is watching them.
The ‘shelter’, if you want to call it that, is a bunch of open air pens with no walls to stop animals from dealing with extreme cold and hot temperatures, rain, snow, etc.
There were witnesses, there were bullets, the drugs are missing, and the animals are still in need of food and donations. The ACOs had paid leave for five months and the sheriff who tried to cover it all up is still running the facility.
Here are the allegations against the ACO’s:
1) Shooting of dogs for target practice in an area across from the shelter and burying dogs in an unapproved landfill.
2) Using metal pipes to beat cats to death.
3) Distribution of euthanasia drugs for profit instead of using them for the animals.
4) Selling and using dogs from facility for dog fighting rings.
5) Neglecting animals by withholding food while spending money on four new vehicles.
Now what do you think should have been done?
For those of us not on facebook (there are a few of us) is there a link/snail mail address to the governor and AG so we can send our letters? (I have found that actual letters tend to get more attention than email)
Well written – powerful and reasonable!
The local animal welfare community is sickened by the AG’s ruling.
http://firebrianburch.blogspot.com/
this is what I had to say on “Haley’s” wall.
I wish I didn’t have to “Like” this page to post a comment. Haley.. your the Governor!…. You can’t, haven’t and won’t protect VOICELESS animals? All you have to do is say ” This Will Not Be Tolerated”, put people in charge that will do the job that “THE PEOPLE EXPECT YOU TO DO”! Going “NO-KILL” is not that hard. How can THE PEOPLE trust you to look after your State if you can’t take care of animal? Why are the 4 shelter workers getting away with murder and other crimes? Just because your State is among other States that believe this practice is except able.. doesn’t make it right or what the PEOPLE want. I would ask you to pick up a pipe and smash a kitten’s brains out in front of your voters. Wonder how many votes you’ll get come election time.
db and anyone else who wants to send letters to the SC AG and/or governor:
The Honorable Alan Wilson
P.O. Box 11549
Columbia, S.C. 29211
Governor Nikki Haley
Office of the Governor
1205 Pendleton Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Thanks for posting Shirley!
Yes, thanks! I’m going to print my letters off and snail mail it too along with sending emails.
Here is SC Governor Nikki Haley’s info:
Email: nikkihaley@gov.sc.gov
Website: http://governor.sc.gov
And SC Attorney General Alan Wilson’s info:
Email: info@scattorneygeneral.com
Phone: (803) 734-3970
Website: http://www.scattorneygeneral.org
Please contact them with a respectful note so they know we are watching and this isn’t going to go away. There are still many animals at this shelter that need all the help they can get! Thanks so much!!
Thank you – I’ll get right on it.
How do we get Nathan Winograd involved?
Am I the only one wondering if it is that this case closed, and the press released issued, in August, when half the country is on vacation, and not bothering to read the news? A deliberate attempt to minimize the public outcry, I bet. You know it didn’t take them 5 months to investigate this. They wanted to let some time go by, so people would get over the initial outrage, and then release their “findings” (hah) when as few people would be paying attention as possible.
I wrote to Gov. Haley in an email. Thought maybe it would be harder to dissmiss than FB. I was nice but pretty persuasive. Hopefully all of us together helping these poor animals can do something about this ugly situation.