Goodlatte 'has too much to lose'

August Free Press
Guest View

Congressman Bob Goodlatte is the only reason that American horses are being slaughtered for human consumption in Europe. Horse meat is not being used in America for pet food, as is widely believed.

Congressman Goodlatte receives much of his financial support from the beef industry through contacts of one of his aides, Brent Gattis, whose father is Dan Gattis. Dan Gattis is tied in with Texas cattle associations, and Dan is also the chairman of the International Livestock Congress. Congressman Goodlatte receives money from Cargill, The American Meat Institute and the Texas Cattle Federation. Cargill and the American Meat Institute are industries that Dallas Crown and Bel-Tex work with to stay in production.

Here is a link - www.fund4horses.org/info.php?id=156 - that explains the trickle-down effect of how money is disbursed and where it comes from.

Upon reading it, anyone can understand why Congressman Goodlatte will not let H.R. 857 go to the House of Representatives and the Senate to be voted on. He has too much to lose.

While I am on the subject of slaughter, I would like to take this opportunity to mention a terrible accident that happened in Indiana recently. The accident involved a double-decker cattle trailer that tipped over with more than 50 horses aboard and almost half dying in the accident. There was another double-decker cattle truck loaded with approximately another 50 horses that went on to an unknown destination. The owners of the trucks are not talking to anyone, and the surviving injured horses cannot be located. It has been denied that these horses were slaughter-bound. Here is the link - www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=2075.

If these horses were indeed slaughter-bound, as many people suspect (I don't know of a single horse owner that would transport their horses in a double-decker cattle truck), then Congressman Goodlatte is responsible for the carnage.

If he had allowed H.R 857 to go for a vote, this may never have happened.

The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press.