Mary
S. Nash
104 S. Houston Street
Kaufman
,
Texas
75142
NashHulme@msn.com
972-962-7706
March 26, 2003
First Lady Laura Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington
,
D.C.
20500-0003
Dear Laura,
I hope you will remember me. When you were a Junior at SMU living in the
Theta House, I was a Freshman Theta pledge. When you were a Freshman
pledge, my sister Betty Nash was a Junior and was your pledge trainer.
I certainly would not write to ask you for a favor at this catastrophic time in
our country’s history if it were not important. It is very important.
Last night I testified at the Texas State Capitol in Austin before the House
Agriculture and Livestock Committee to voice my objection to HB 1324 sponsored
by my State Representative, Republican Betty Brown of Kaufman and Henderson
Counties. HB 1324 would legalize what is now an illegal business operating
in the City of
Kaufman
– The Dallas Crown horse slaughtering plant
owned by Chevideco of France. This
French owned business slaughters horses and ships the meat to
Europe
and
Asia
where it is sold for human consumption for up to
$15 per pound. I am writing
to ask you to please do whatever you will to help us stop Ms. Brown’s bill,
and specifically, I wish you would call Betty Brown at 512-463-0458
and
ask her to withdraw her bill.
Although Texas Agriculture Code Section 149 forbids the sale, transport or
possession of horseflesh for human consumption, there are two live horse
slaughter plants operating in
Texas
– the
only live horse slaughter plants in the
United
States of America
.
They are Beltex in
Fort Worth
and Dallas Crown in Kaufman. Former Texas
Attorney General John Cornyn’s August 7, 2002 AG’s opinion confirms that the
two plants are operating illegally and confirms that police authority to close
down the plants rests with the District Attorneys of Tarrant and Kaufman
Counties. When the plants’ owners learned that the two DA’s were
investigating and proceeding with efforts toward criminal prosecution, they
filed a federal lawsuit declaring that the state statute conflicts with federal
law. That suit is still pending in federal court.
The 40 acre farm adjacent to Dallas Crown has been in my family for 150 years.
Since moving back to Kaufman in 1987, I’ve seen countless cattle haulers
move through town on their way to the slaughter house. From our farm I can
see the horses unloading, and I see them milling around in their holding pens.
These horses are not old; they’re not sick; and they are not lame.
Betty Brown appeared visibly
shaken last night during testimony from Pat Dickey, a horse broker from
Marble
Falls
who competes at horse auctions against
killer-buyers outbidding her for beautiful, young healthy horses. The
killer-buyer industry has developed over the last several years to supply
horseflesh to Beltex and Dallas Crown. Ms. Dickey says these killer-buyers
contract with the two slaughter houses to "supply" an inventory of
horseflesh, and the killer-buyers have "quotas" to fill each week in
order to maintain their favorable price per pound rates with the slaughterers.
At auctions she overhears them asking each other, "Met your quota
yet?" Several times Ms. Dickey has tried to buy horses from the
killer-buyers. She says she can always tell whether or not a killer-buyer
has met his quota. If he’s already met his quota, he’s happy to sell
her a horse at a profit. But if the killer-buyer has not met his quota,
his horses are not for sale at any reasonable price.
Betty Brown also appeared
flummoxed by testimony from Skip Trimble,
representing major players from the thoroughbred racing industry who oppose the
bill. Mr. Trimble pointed out that if her bill becomes law, an odd
precedent will be set because her bill would legalize the sale, possession or
transport of horseflesh for human consumption as long as the consumption takes
place outside the
U.S.
, but consumption inside the
U.S.
would be illegal.
Maybe we could slaughter dogs and cats and ship their meat to
Korea
where consumption would be legal.
What is most disheartening
is that these foreign slaughterers have tricked many veterinarians into
believing that slaughter provides a service. One vet, Dr. Steve Hicks,
spoke in favor of the bill yesterday, complaining that without slaughter, there
would be lots of horse carcasses lying around. Dr. Hicks obviously does
not know that out of the estimated 700,000 horses who died in the
U.S.
last year, only 42,312 were slaughtered.
The truth is, these Belgian and French slaughterers enlist killer-buyers to
furnish them with a steady inventory of young, healthy, meaty horses.
Old and sick horses are euthanized. It
is the young and healthy horses that are being slaughtered.
In 1812 when Napoleon’s starving soldiers ate their horses, the food culture
in this country was already well established.
We didn’t eat our horses then, and we don’t eat our horses now.
What an embarrassment for
the great State of
Texas
that we let French and Belgians trick us into
letting them have our horses so they can make millions of dollars.
And we are the only State that does it.
Sincerely,
/s Mary S. Nash
Mary S. Nash
Enclosures:
3/25/03
article from Austin
American Statesman and Habitat
for Horses information document published in this week’s Kaufman
Herald
(Microsoft
Word format - better for printing)
cc: Pat Dickey
Skip Trimble