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9/12/06 - JAILED: SHAC 7 / Tammy Grimes, Dogs Deserve Better
1. 3 animal-welfare activists sentenced to federal prison BETH DeFALCO / Associated Press / TRENTON, N.J. - Three animal-welfare activists whose Web site led to the harassment of employees of a company that tests products on animals were sentenced to between four and six years in federal prison on Tuesday. They also were ordered to pay a total of $1 million in restitution to the company and people they terrorized. Three other members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty were expected to be sentenced within the next two weeks. Along with the organization itself, the six activists were convicted in March of using a Web site to incite threats, harassment and vandalism against Huntingdon Life Sciences, a Britain-based company that tests drugs and household products on animals. The government charged that the group waged a five-year campaign against the company, posting on the group's Web site information about the employees at Huntingdon's East Millstone lab and about those who do business with the company. The information included their home phone numbers, addresses and where their children attended school and church. Many of those people saw their homes vandalized and received threatening e-mails, faxes and phone calls. The group, based in Philadelphia, maintains its actions were protected under the First Amendment. The defendants, all in their late 20s or early 30s, were not accused of directly making threats or carrying out vandalism. Instead, they were charged with animal enterprise terrorism, stalking and other offenses. The three sentenced on Tuesday include the president of SHAC, Kevin Kjonaas of Minnesota; campaign coordinator Lauren Gazzola, of Connecticut; and Web site manager Jacob Conroy, of California. All three were given 30 days to surrender to the U.S. Marshals Office. Kjonaas was sentenced to six years in prison, Gazzola to 52 months, and Conroy was sentenced to four years. Each must serve 85 percent of their sentence and, once they are released, three years of probation. Those still awaiting sentencing include: Back to top 2. A System That Saves Big Business At The Expense of Free Speech Move Over Al Quaeda! Animal And Earth Defenders Top Most Wanted List, written shortly after the arrest of my friends, Kevin Kjonaas, Jacob Conroy, and Lauren Gazzola, along with Darius Fullmer, John McGee, Andrew Stepanian, and Joshua Harper: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/columns_articles/0050.html I said it when they were arrested and it's worth repeating: As Huntingdon Life Sciences enjoys unlimited immunity, its adversaries fight increasing repression. Please keep in mind: None going to prison are guilty of vandalism in the "first person." None used weapons. None laid a hand on person or property. Just words... only their words landed them behind bars.  THIS IS HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES Their crime? Formerly operating a website that reported civil disobedience, laboratory animal rescue, vandalism and similar tactics of other animal rights activists. Their crime? Conspiring to generate economic hardship for HLS through words, letter campaigns, calls to action. And who is Huntingdon Life Sciences? From 1989 to 2006, this contract research laboratory acquired multiple breaches of the U.S. Animal Welfare Act, the arrest of workers on animal cruelty charges, more than 520 infringements of Good Laboratory Practice in England, and a $50,000 payoff to the U.S. Agriculture Department for misstated records and animal welfare violations. HLS has a criminal record in the UK for failure to file company accounts on time. Currently the SPCA is suing HLS for animal cruelty. 500 animals die each day inside HLS. But their dying is a reprieve. It is their living that demands our voice. Photos, videos, and eyewitness accounts from six investigations describe HLS technicians who nonchalantly kill dogs by flooding their lungs with toxic materials meant for the animals' stomachs (oral gavage gone wrong). In one investigative video clip, a technician punches a 4-month-old beagle in the face. During a supposedly post-mortem dissection, another tech slices into the chest of a convulsing monkey... A former HLS employee who worked in the East Millstone lab stated: "I saw monkeys hunched over in pain after abdominal surgery. One of the employees doing the surgery told me that she had 'no idea what [she] was doing.'" ...And then as recently as late 2005: "I saw co-workers grab them by the scruff, shout and swear at them, swing them by the scruff and slap them."  THIS IS HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES For details about sentencing, updates and how to help the SHAC 7: For excellent synopsis/perspective of the SHAC 7 case: Win Animal Rights (W.A.R.): Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC-UK): Inside HLS: HLS EXPOSED FOR THE SIXTH TIME - WORKERS REVEAL THE TRUTH INSIDE HLS America's #1 Terrorists, a new film by Tim Gorski of Rattle The Cage Productions WHO IS HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES? INSIDE/OUT: DIARY OF MADNESS Back to top 3. Jailed For Rescuing Dying Dog: Grimes, Dogs Deserve Better Tammy Grimes, founder, Dogs Deserve Better, was arrested because she rescued a severely abused, chained, and dying dog. Please read below and do what you can to help in this injustice. The last time I saw lovely Tammy was at the August animal conference, AR2006, in Washington D.C. She had stopped by Kinship Circle's booth to give me a photo-painting of a New Orleans home she'd entered while rescuing animals in the Gulf Coast. In Tammy's art, now proudly displayed in my home, I see shadows of a musician's life. Battered brass instruments. Toppled knickknacks. Mold-drenched memories... And on the front doorstop, the body of a dog who seemed to have died in the act of dragging himself home. Tammy had layered these images into a striking summary of lives lost. But Tammy's compassion didn't begin, or end, in the Gulf Coast. Many of you are aware of her mission to end life on a short chain for dogs... You can read about Tammy's work for chained dogs at Dogs Deserve Better: Brenda Shoss, Kinship Circle, info@kinshipcircle.org Forwarded by: Bonnie Monaghan <njcarmod@yahoo.com> From: Tammy Grimes <tammy@dogsdeservebetter.org> OK, everyone, if you're getting this e-mail it means the police followed through on their threat to put me in jail for taking Doogie today. Here is the background info: The neighbor Kim has agreed to testify on my behalf if necessary. She cried the whole time we were there, you can hear her on the video. I think once you see the video and pictures, you'll understand why I made this decision. The vet documented his general negligent condition, low weight, sores, missing fur, and took xrays of his back and hips. He determined that he has very bad back spurs that are causing him a lot of pain and are most likely responsible for his inability to walk. He also saw an undetermined mass near his hip on the xray. He gave him a shot for pain plus some B vitamins for energy, so that perhaps he could have even one good day or a few good hours. He wrote a letter stating his condition in case we needed it. Shortly after we got Doogie to my home, situated, bathed (had to, the stench was too bad), and fed and watered an Officer Flag called from the Freedom Township Police Department (I know, Freedom, isn't that ironic?). He wanted me to return Doogie, which I refused to do. Here's what I need from you all. View the videos and photos, below. I think you'll agree with me that this is NOT acceptable in ANY kind of humane society, and we cannot allow this kind of animal abuse. We MUST stand up and STOP accepting this to be ok for people to do to their dogs, and STOP jailing those who are trying to help them. I could never look myself in the eye again, much less sleep tonight, had I left Doogie there dying, shivering in the dirt. I will spend the rest of my life in jail as opposed to handing him over to be abused further by these people. Please, contact ALL media with these photos and videos. Get justice, for Doogie and for me. Do NOT allow this treatment of those who are here to help, and who actually care. Call the Pennsylvania Humane Society and tell them you expect them to stand with me against this kind of abuse. Doogie laying on the ground, neighbor crying in background: Doogie after vet at Grimes house: PLEASE CALL AND EMAIL FOR TAMMY AND DOOGIE Altoona Mirror: 800-287-4480; pbanko@altoonamirror.com; news@altoonamirror.com All national media! Don't stop until there is Justice for Doogie and ME! I'm just not tolerating this kind of treatment, for either of us. No one should. Tammy S. Grimes, Founder, Dogs Deserve Better ###  http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/Doogie/doogiedead.jpg Tammys own words: I was treated like a common criminal, especially by Chief Reilly, who called me a 'freakin' idiot', 'incompetent', and I overheard him telling Officer Flaig that if I ever came near his dog I would have a slug in my a**. Again, there was no interest in any evidence that the dog had been abused or criminally neglected. As far as they were concerned, the dog's safety or condition was not even an issue.  http://www.dogsdeservebetter.com/Doogie/doogiedown5.jpg I was released after seeing Judge Aigner, where Chief Reilly asked that I be not given bail but incarcerated for my failure to cooperate. It was 2:00 a.m., and I had no ride home, over 30 miles away. I had to walk to a local all-night store to call and get a cab, because there was no concern over how I would get home. Their attempt to dehumanize me didn't work. I held my head high and still do. I looked Chief Reilly square in the eye at every opportunity. I will not be broken. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AND SEE MORE PHOTOS Please make calls, send emails, and contact the media! Go to my Share Bulletin to find emails that were added if you need them. KINSHIP CIRCLE Primary List: TELL US: Subscribe to Kinship Circle Primary KINSHIP CIRCLE Animal Disaster Relief List: TELL US: * Subscribe to Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Relief List * If you are a resident of LOUISIANA or MISSISSIPPI Back to top Remembering Shannon Moore http://memoriesofshannon.blogspot.com/ http://www.legacy.com/NOLA/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=18017409 Grant Giving / Investment Opportunity: The Next Step to Reduce Animal Testing Cruelty-Free * Human Rights-Friendly * Sustainable Please contact ethicalinvestment@gmail.com for information. TO SUBSCRIBE TO KINSHIP CIRCLE: subscribe@kinshipcircle.org TO UNSUBSCRIBE: PLEASE DO NOT USE YOUR JUNK MAIL FILTER! * Select a Kinship Circle ALERT received in your mailbox. * Hit “FORWARD” * Enter kinshipcircle@brick.net and send. [Type UNSUBSCRIBE in your subject line]. 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Kinship Circle - Action Campaigns I Literature I Voice For Animals Nonprofit working in animal protection/cruelty + animal disaster relief campaigns Brenda Shoss, president * Janet Enoch, vice-president info@kinshipcircle.org http://www.KinshipCircle.org Kinship Circle is a non-profit organization. DONATE ONLINE: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/donation/donations.html We are grateful for your support! |
