From: Mary Nash
To: lesley.lockhart@mail.house.gov
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 8:59 PM
Subject: Horse Slaughter Plant in Kaufman, Texas
 
Dear Congressman Ralph Hall:
 
I am Mary S. Nash, a 54 year old resident of Kaufman, Texas.  150 years ago my great grandfather settled on what is now a 40 acre farm on the western edge of Kaufman.  Today I own an undivided 1/3 interest in that farm, and it is adjacent to Dallas Crown, a horse slaughtering facility.
 
I am embarrassed that Kaufman is one of two locations in the U.S. where horses are slaughtered for human consumption.  I am disgusted that our culture has allowed us to place horses on the same side of the kill line boundary as cattle and hogs.  Will dogs and cats be next?
 
The Dallas Crown facility opened in the 1960's and originally slaughtered cattle.  They can do that again. 
 
I've heard the stories that only diseased, crippled, and old horses are slaughtered and that Dallas Crown provides a valuable service.  I'm sure those stories ease guilty consciences, but I've seen the horses arriving, packed into trailers.  Young, sleek, scared.  I've seen them in the holding pens on Sunday afternoons with little white spots on their withers verifying their long gone days as saddle ponies.  It makes me sick.
 
Please help free Kaufman from our shame by supporting the Morella Horse Slaughter Ban Bill.
 
Regards,
Mary S. Nash
104 S. Houston St.
Kaufman, Tx 75142
972-962-7706
NashHulme@msn.com