We quickly learned that we were to have a short meeting with Mr. Tim Kraft to discuss this matter.  Tim Kraft is a legislative liaison with the executive office of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Mr. Kraft quickly conceded that the license applied for by Cavel on 3/30/03 and approved on 4/22/03 was a mistake made by the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and in his words, the license "should have never been issued."  Mr. Kraft went on to state that the Department was looking into the matter to determine how such a "mistake" could have occurred.  We asked Mr. Kraft, "What then is the current status of Cavel's license?"  His reply was that the Department was working on a revocation.

Well, this simply is not adequate!! 

The Department has known of this "mistake" for nearly 2 weeks.  This information was uncovered when we sent an investigator down to Springfield to review the Cavel licensing procedure.

This Department should have immediately revoked this license. This Department's response was to send a field representative to DeKalb, to see if there was indeed a slaughterhouse present at this address as was indicated in the license application.  Imagine the dismay when they soon discovered that the facility they had licensed was merely 4 concrete walls and nothing more!!  Mr. Kraft stated that the Agriculture Department "was working on a revocation of this license.  Cavel has falsified this license application and this license will be revoked."

This falsification may make Cavel ineligible for further licensing!! 

We are looking into this today.  Meanwhile, I am notifying all major newspapers of this fiasco. I have already spoken to the Chicago Sun Times and the Daily Chronicle (DeKalb).  More to come today including the Chicago Tribune with whom I did an interview last week.  This was a deliberate deception on the part of Cavel to obtain a license BEFORE they announced plans to reconstruct, which they KNEW would meet with great opposition.  This was a calculated lie on their part and we need to call for the IMMEDIATE revocation of this license.  There is also evidence that Cavel may have falsified their USDA license as well!!  We will be investigating this today.

As for the DeKalb city government and Mayor Greg Sparrow who so many times has stated publicly that Cavel has "all the necessary permits and paperwork required to proceed", well, Mr. Mayor, we will just see about that.  I have difficulty believing that a company that deliberately falsified State and quite possibly falsified Federal applications would indeed not have falsified local government procedures.

I will be contacting the Mayor today to demand a copy of any and all paperwork relating to Cavel International. 

News of SB 1921:
The bill should make it out of the Rules Committee today; it will then go to the House Committee on Agriculture where we will then get a hearing on November 18.  We spent the remainder of the day yesterday visiting the Agriculture Committee members.  We found support there for our bill and non supporters as well.  We need to focus our lobbying efforts on this committee for the next 2 weeks.  Please, do not stop faxing and emailing ALL house reps, but please be sure to make special efforts regarding the Ag Committee!!  All people and businesses involved in the  Illinois horse industry should use a proper letterhead when faxing and provide industry affiliation when emailing.  These reps want to hear how the horse industry itself feels about SB 1921.  Lets show them we mean business and that the passage of  SB 1921 is of vital importance to all Illinois horseman!! I will post list of Ag Committee members shortly.  Right now have horses to feed.

More soon!!

LOL and many thanks to the people who make the investigation of Cavel's licensing possible. And many thanks to all who are lobbying the reps.  Not a single rep was unaware of our bill!!
Gail Vacca 
DeKalb, Illinois