Hi all, Just received news from State Rep. Molaro that our bill has been
assigned to the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE!!! This was a fabulous
"coup" accomplished by the Molaro camp!! This means that our
bill will go to an executive committee hearing on Nov. 18 instead of going to
the Agriculture Committee. This is much more favorable to our side as we
will face much less opposition in this committee. I will post a list of
the executive committee members asap. Molaro asked that we IL based horsemen
also continue to contact our Farm Bureau representatives to let them know that
we disapprove of the position they have taken against Molaro's bill.
One extremely important issue Molaro has asked me to convey is the content of
our letters, faxes etc. It is vitally important that we stick to the
content of his bill --- outlawing slaughter of horses for human consumption.
Our letters should state that we oppose the slaughter of horses for human
consumption as it is culturally unacceptable in the US and in our state.
We need to focus on this aspect of our case if we are to win the support of
these legislators!! They are, for the most part, not interested in humane
issues. They are however interested in the human consumption argument.
This is the only way we can win this battle. We must let them know that we
do not oppose the slaughter of any other species that are raised for food in the
US and eaten in the US. This is the argument that the Farm Bureau is using
to scare people away from our bill. If they think that we are trying to
take away the American choices for "protein" we will be hard pressed
to win their support.