December 13, 2007
San Antonio votes to go "Mo' Kill, not No Kill."

San Antonio City Council voted unanimously to approve the Chapter 5 Animal
Ordinance Revisions today. (Councilman Philip Cortez was absent.) After
two hours of listening to citizens to be heard during the public hearing,
council adjourned at 11:30 am for lunch and the mayor announced they would
assemble in Executive Session at 1:30 pm briefly for private discussion
before returning to council chambers. Upon returning discussion continued
with the council members questioning Jef Hale, Animal Care Services
director, for another hour.

However it soon became obvious that all council members supported the
ordinance. The Executive Session was simply to coordinate their votes and
not a single word in the ordinance was changed. Council members said the
revisions were constitutional as written since some speakers expressed
concerns about that. They also said the city is "on the right road with
this ordinance and heading in the right direction."

Thanks to all of you who came today. We heard from others who would have
liked to been there but had to work. It was very early with sign-in before
9 am. There were approximately 25 or 30 people representing each side. Our
side had some excellent speakers from varying perspectives but we suspected
going in that the vote was carved in stone months ago. Facts, general
information and statistics that we've presented the city all along this past
year have been ignored. Why would today be any different? The other side
had few speakers but they already had everything they wanted in the
ordinance.

RPOA held a press conference yesterday morning at City Hall and had made
arrangements to bring in "Laddie" and Bob Weatherwax from California to help
us since they did such a good job defeating CA's AB 1634. But there was a
problem with the airline and they couldn't make it. However we still
received good media coverage on the radio and TV with our president Lynnie
Bunten (holding a rescue Chihuahua) and Bilinda Marshall (with her rescued
Malamute).

Mention was made by one council member of thousands of emails and faxes
received, even some from other countries! Special thanks to everyone who
helped us in San Antonio - wherever you are. Get ready for the copycat
fallout because this is the worst ordinance written to date and will
certainly spread to other cities.

Responsible Pet Owners Alliance
900 NE Loop 410 #311-D
San Antonio, TX 78209
Phone: (210) 822-6763
Website: www.responsiblepetowners.org
$15 Annual dues (January - December)
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e-mail rpoa@texas.net.