To the Editor:
On November 3, 2009, the Ohio voters spoke loud and clear. By a landslide 67 – 37 vote they authorized the creation of a livestock board to regulate animal care in Ohio.
This was in response to the plea of those who introduced the ballot initiative to keep animal care policy in the hands of Ohioans and out of the hands of the radical Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
It was not to be. Gov. Strickland, together with his agricultural secretary and two Ohio agricultural ‘leaders’, negotiated an agreement with the HSUS that preempted any action that the livestock board might take in regulating animal care.
According to media reports, HSUS representatives and their surrogates have been showing up in force at meetings of the board. Their object is to intimidate the members of the board into believing that if they adopt measures not approved by them, a ballot initiatives will be introduced at the next election mandating draconian animal care regulations.(The response of the board members to this should be: bring it on.)
The people spoke and Gov. Ted Strickland didn’t listen. Will Gov. Kasich listen? Will he declare publicly that the agreement brokered by Strickland and the HSUS is null and void? Will the members of the livestock board listen?
In short, will animal-care policy in Ohio be governed by the voter-created livestock board or will it be governed by radical out-of-state vegan pressure groups?
The voters are watching and waiting to see which it will be.
Clyde Nehrenz
Sullivan , OH
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