For
Immediate Release:
The weather was overcast but beautiful as onlookers watched the incredible fusion of players and their horses competing in the annual Fall fund raising event for the Roanoke Symphony, an event that has become a rite of Fall for so many in the Valley.
But Bob Goodlatte, a regular at event, was no where to be seen this year. Had he managed an appearance, he would have been confronted with a hospitality tent sponsored by and the National Horse Protection Coalition, and staffed by the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and local volunteers bent on exposing the dark world of horse slaughter and Goodlatte’s hand in blocking the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. "I think it was a great success, said Tracy Abbott of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF). We certainly had a lot of visitors and everyone was extremely supportive." There could have been no more appropriate venue for the TRF whose purpose is to assure that retired race horses find good homes. Many of the horses on the field had begun their careers as race horses.
Representative
Goodlatte, Chairman of the house Agriculture Committee has been blocking
the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 857) in his committee despite
polls showing over 75% of Virginians are in favor of the ban, and despite
overwhelming bipartisan support for the bill in the House (where it has an
incredible 226 cosponsors) and Senate. Goodlatte is not only ignoring his
constituents, but even his own party. HR
857 was introduced by one of Goodlatte’s fellow Republicans, Representative
Sweeny of
Although Goodlatte
has more recently tried to obfuscate his hand in blocking the bill, he
freely admitted it in June during a town hall meeting in
Had
Representative Goodlatte attended the Polo Cup, he could not have escaped the
message rising from an ever increasing number of horse lovers. Over 250
people with buttons declaring "Stop Horse Slaughter" were
everywhere to be seen. Tom Durfee, a volunteer in the hospitality tent,
said "All we need to do is to keeping educating the public about the issue.
Americans and Virginians do not want their horses slaughtered to feed
foreigners! He [Rep. Goodlatte] needs to quit worrying about French
gourmets and
“Mr. Goodlatte recently gave a beautiful speech describing the Oak tree as having a unique place in American history” said Anne Russek, a long term supporter of the horse protection act. “If Goodlatte had only substituted the words American Horse for the words Oak Tree, he might have understood why he is so far from the people of his district on this issue”.
For more
information visit: www.horse-protection.org
and www.trfinc.org
Or for local information contact:
John Holland
Team Red Horse
540-268-5693