Category Archives: Community Initiatives

Texas: Candidate positions on BSL

Posted on October 4, 2010 by | 2 Comments

Elections are coming up. Do you know how your candidates feel about breed-specific legislation?

In Texas, current state law prohibits breed-specific dangerous dog legislation. The next legislative session will likely see an attempt to change the law to allow BSL.

Do you know how your legislative candidate (representative or senator) would vote on a breed-specific law?

You can view the candidate responses here: https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AhApKv_NwWN9dE1DN3QxSHNYWGNMdEJ5c0N5V0x0ZEE&hl=en&single=true&gid=0&output=html

If your candidate(s) did not respond to the survey, you can contact them directly (contact information is provided at the spreadsheet link above). If you get a response, please send it on to stopbsl.com@gmail.com so we can update the spreadsheet!

FAQs

What district do I live in? Find your district here: http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

Why didn’t my candidate(s) respond to the survey? It could be for a variety of reasons, including the following:

  1. The candidate is too busy, does not think this is an important issue, or does not know enough about the issue to respond.
  2. The candidate does not respond to people who do not live in his/her district.
  3. The candidate’s contact information was not good.

When can I vote? Early voting begins in October. Election Day is November 2.

Why did you only survey state senators and representatives? Because TX state law prohibits BSL, the only place where BSL can be proposed is in the state legislature, where senators and representatives decide what laws to pass.

What other efforts are being made in Texas to prevent BSL? StopBSL and Love-A-Bull have teamed up to gather signatures for a petition against BSL. The petition will be sent to Texas senators and representatives in January. Read more and help us gather signatures here: http://love-a-bull.org/resources/bsl/petition/

Stay tuned to StopBSL for additional opportunities to join fellow Texans against BSL.

I don’t live in Texas. What about my state’s candidates? StopBSL is Texas-based, and at present, doesn’t have the manpower to run surveys in all states holding elections. State laws and legislative processes also vary. However, StopBSL will gladly post results from any other candidate surveys about BSL. If you know of any other surveys, please send the results to stopbsl.com@gmail.com. Thank you!

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Posted in Community Initiatives, Texas

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Butte-Silver Bow, MT: BSL opponents organize

Posted on June 23, 2010 by | Comments Off

A group of concerned citizens in Butte-Silver Bow would like to present commissioners with alternatives to proposed BSL. If you would like to get involved, contact Samantha Collier, sam@allaboutthedawg.com

Previous alerts for Butte-Silver Bow: http://stopbsl.com/?s=butte

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Posted in BSL Proposed, Community Initiatives, Montana

Auburn, CA: Alternative to BSL suggested

Posted on June 14, 2010 by | Comments Off

Auburn is considering breed-specific mandatory spay/neuter. Previous alerts for Auburn: http://stopbsl.com/?s=auburn%2C+ca

Local non-profits hope to implement program over breed-specific laws

By Bridget Jones, Journal staff writer

Safety First, a program being organized by several local non profit groups and American Kennel Clubs, would provide community outreach in the form of low-cost spay and neuter clinics, training clinics and educational campaigns, said Lynn Howe, of the A New Hope Animal Foundation and head of volunteers for Placer County Animal Services.

The groups were looking to create the program to avoid breed-specific legislation for dogs in Auburn, Howe said.

Read the rest of the story here: 

http://tinyurl.com/2eoxx3p

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Posted in BSL Proposed, California, Community Initiatives

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Auburn, CA: Trio On Hunger Strike To Protest Pit Bull Laws

Posted on June 1, 2010 by | Comments Off

Trio On Hunger Strike To Protest Pit Bull Laws

AUBURN, Calif. (CBS13) ―

Three women declared they are on a hunger strike to protest proposed and active regulations they say discriminates against pit bull dog breeds.

Read the rest of the article here:

http://cbs13.com/local/pit.bull.hunger.2.1725659.html

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Posted in Community Initiatives, Results of BSL

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Denver, CO: Campaign to end BSL

Posted on May 27, 2010 by | 2 Comments

http://ohmydogblog.com/campaign-to-end-bsl-operation-denver/

Campaign to End BSL: Operation Denver

The Goal

The objective of Operation Denver is to collect one mile of postcards that will be delivered directly to the Mile High City’s mayor, John W. Hickenlooper. Though the state prohibits municipalities from passing BSL, Denver’s breed ban was sort of grandfathered in, so we’re targeting the city itself.

The Postcards

To meet USPS’ regulations for the cheapest postcard, they have to be 4 x 6″ which means we need to collect 10,560 postcards for them to stretch one mile, end to end! And I know we can do it!

I created a simple template in Microsoft Word with text boxes aligned to meet the post office’s regulations. These postcards can be customized any way you’d like! Get creative! Use images, clip art, text boxes, fonts and colors. If you prefer to use another program (or even make one by hand!), please feel free as long as the measurements adhere to the regulations.

Postcard template in Microsoft Word: Postcard Template

Here’s the postcard I made: Emmett Postcard. Feel free to download the postcard I made and tweak it if that’s easier!

All postcards should be emailed to operationdenver@gmail.com. If you’d prefer to send a handmade card via U.S. Mail, please send an email to operationdenver@gmail.com to get the mailing address!

[Get more info on the campaign at http://ohmydogblog.com/campaign-to-end-bsl-operation-denver/]

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Posted in Colorado, Community Initiatives

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Lucas County, OH: Candidates assail ‘pit bull’ policy

Posted on April 15, 2010 by | Comments Off

Candidates assail ‘pit bull’ policy

Commissioner hopefuls say breed should get a shot at adoption

By TOM TROY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER
Article published April 15, 2010

Candidates running for the vacant seat on the Lucas County Board of Commissioners agreed yesterday the county should move on from its long-standing policy of automatically assigning “pit bull” dogs to be killed.[...]

Article retrieved 4/15/10 from http://toledoblade.com/article/20100415/NEWS09/100419858/0/NEWS24

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Posted in Community Initiatives, Ohio, Results of BSL

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Dead Dogs: Breed bans, euthanasia, and preemptive justice

Posted on April 12, 2010 by | 1 Comment

This is a powerful and thought-provoking article from the Boston Review about “pit bulls,” prejudice, breed bans, dog law, euthanasia, “humane” societies and animal control, dog fighting, and thinly veiled racism.

http://bostonreview.net/BR35.2/dayan.php

Brief excerpt below. Visit the link to read the whole article.

Dead Dogs: Breed bans, euthanasia, and preemptive justice

Colin Dayan
MARCH/APRIL 2010

…The seizures, detentions, and exterminations of pit bulls—sanctioned by laws in many states—expose the statutory logic for making preemptive justice constitutionally permissible: canine profiling supplies the terms for inclusion and ostracism, and even the suspension of due process rights. No criminal conviction of the owner is required for state seizure and destruction of property. In other words, the Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which prohibit the government from depriving anyone of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” can be suspended for the public good without evidence, without trial, by classification alone.

In legal rationales, realities are created. Old inequalities and radical discrimination are repackaged in unexpected forms. In breed-specific legislation, the taint and incapacity of the disenfranchised live on. At a time when our government is labeling certain persons as threats—alleged terrorists, enemy aliens, illegal immigrants, ordinary people who want to get on airplanes—we need to ask how the seizure and destruction of dogs deemed contraband becomes a medium for the intimidation and debasement of humans in turn. Who should suffer deprivation without redress so that we can live in reasonable—safe and secure—consensus? And who gets to decide?…

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Posted in Community Initiatives, Court Cases, Criminal Activity, Media Negligence, Results of BSL

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