Andrea Rosebrock 
Update 9/15/09 – Meeting with the Lawyer
Please See Update 9/14/09 – Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings!
Caroline Watembach had been operating Saving Furry Friends Rescue in the Town of Saltville, VA for more than four years now and has rescued and saved about 500 animals from death. On September 8, 2009, the Town Council passed a new ordinance limiting the number of dogs that “any owner, occupant, tenant or person whatsoever” on any property located with the town limits to 6. This ordinance was passed without an announcement, without a public meeting, without any notice whatsoever. The first Caroline knew of it was when she was served papers by a Saltville police officer informing her that she had less than 30 days to comply or would she would be cited and charged.
My friends, SFF needs our help!
This is what Caroline had to say on her blog:
Today I was greeted at the door of my home by a Town of Saltville Police Officer who handed me an envelope. In the envelope was a letter from the Saltville Town Manager informing me that the Saltville, VA Town Council passed a new ordinance on on Sept 8th stating that anyone residing within the town limits could no longer have more than 6 dogs on their property, excluding dogs under 6 months.
Despite the fact I have 4 acres and have been operating here for 4+ years and our property is zoned for agricultural use, which as you may or may not know, management of domestic animals fall under the Jurisdiction of the Dept of Agriculture, if Saving Furry Friends Rescue cannot fight this, the Town of Saltville will be essentially shutting us down!
It is my opinion, the Town of Saltville is protecting the breeders in town by putting in a clause to prohibit puppies under 6 months of age from being counted toward the 6 dog limit, while punishing us, Saving Furry Friends, the ONLY rescue in this town. It appears that Saltville is more interested in adding to the problem of pet over population than it is in solving the problem. It seems they are also protecting hunters with a limit of 6 dogs where most ordinances usually limit the number to 3-4 dogs. In essence, this new ordinance will affect only us, Saving Furry Friends Rescue and Sanctuary!! Is there a reason that we seem to be specifically targeted?
It should be noted that EVERY animal control officer in this county has been here and complimented us on the work we do as well as the care of the animals and the cleanliness of our rescue. Thankfully we have written references from them. We also have several reference from neighbors in regard to how our animals are cared for, how clean our rescue is, etc. In fact on one occasion we were actually called by the Saltville PD to please come and pick up a stray beagle, which we did.
As for the animal loving citizen’s of this town, we ask that you remember these council members as well as the mayor come election time. If you happen to be a resident of Saltville, VA, please contact the Council Members and let them know what you think about this.
Those wishing to help us in our fight may make a tax deducible donation to help us defray legal expenses. Donations may be made online on our website www.savingfurryfriends.com or thru snail mail:
Saving Furry Friends
PO Box 741
Glade Spring,Va 24340PERMISSION IS GIVEN TO CROSS POST AND IS APPRECIATED!!! WIN, LOSE OR DRAW I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW HOW THIS TOWN’S OFFICERS REGARD ANIMALS
Thanks to SFF and its volunteers, almost 500 animals have been spared. Some where adopted to be therapy dogs, some were adopted to widowers whose only company and companionship comes from an animal they adopted through us, many many more were adopted to families with children; by parents who wanted their child to have a pet to grow up with, to teach them unconditional love, compassion and responsibility.
Aside from rescuing and adopting pets that where on death row, our rescue has distributed petfood to low income families in the community who, without our help would be unable to keep their pet(s). Our rescue has also picked up pets belonging to the citizens of this town, some of them shut-ins that did not have a way to get their pet to the vet to be vaccinated, and transported them to the veterinarian, at our cost. Our rescue funded the surgery of one Saltville woman’s dog after he was struck by an automobile and required an amputation of his front leg. She called us for help upon realizing she herself could not afford his much needed surgery, surgery I might add he would have had to been put to sleep without.
We have also, through rescuing dogs, saved the tax payers of Smyth County over $8000.00. Monies that did not need to be spent for the medications used for euthanizing dogs, for feeding them, for housing and caring for them because they were here at Saving Furry Friends Rescue, and for hauling off the bodies of animals that would have been euthanized if not for our efforts.
Perhaps you are not an animal lover, not everyone is as passionate about them as I am. But I ask you, what is my crime?? I ask you, how can I be guilty of a crime when they wrote the law FOUR YEARS AFTER I started this??? Per the new ordinance if I am not in compliance by 10/10/09 (note THAT IS LESS THAN 30 DAYS) I could be charged with a Class 1 Misdemeanor.
We will be speaking to an attorney on Monday as I am not sure, but I believe this to be illegal as I feel we should have been grandfathered in.
I will update everyone on Monday after I meet with the attorney.
In any event if this IS legal, we will still continue to run our rescue utilizing fosters and boarding for the older dogs until such time that we can sell this property and secure another. We will continue taking in kittens/cats and puppies under 6 months old.
We are also asking our rescue friends, should it become necessary to move dogs, if any of you can commit to taking a dog in, should it come to that. If we are not able to fight this I don’t want to be scrambling to find homes/fosters/rescues at the last minute.
If anyone has any insight into matters like this please email me at savingfurryfriends@yahoo.com.
There is a great deal of background to this story and hopefully I’ll be able to fill in some of the blanks after I talk to Caro after she meets with a lawyer. Of course one of the problems here is that being a rescue, Caroline operates on a shoestring budget and even dealing with lawyer costs is going to be beyond a stretch. Saving Furry Friends is 501(c)3 incorporated.
TAKE ACTION!!
For now, please take a moment to sign the petition below. I will be providing contact info for the Town Council so that we can contact them and express our outrage and disgust.
Contact Info
Saltville Mayor
Jeffrey L. Campbell – jcampbell@saltville.org
Saltville Town Manager
Steve Johnson – townhall@saltville.org
Saltville Town Council
Stanley Cahill
Danny Maiden
Thomas Holley
Neil Johnson
C. Todd Young
Dickie Dye
Saltville Town Hall
Physical Address: 217 Palmer Avenue, Saltville, VA
Mailing Address: PO Box 730, Saltville, VA 24370
Telephone: (276) 496-5342
Fax: (276) 496-4814
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You can also vote in the poll on the Topix boards and check out the comments there – Topix
UPDATE 9/14/09 – Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings!
The following is from Caroline this evening;
Today I met with the town manager for 2 hrs about the new ordinance. The ordinance was passed based on the assumption that SFF operated under a Smyth county kennel lic. This is incorrect we are actually exempt from having to purchase kennel lic and county tags as per Section 3.2-6524 of the Code of Virginia we are a registered releasing agency for Smyth County Animal Shelter.During this meeting I also presented 3 yrs worth of inspection reports from the Chief Animal Control Officer W. Turman. We also presented him with notarized letters of reference from two neighbors as well as one from the Chief of Police,at which point he informed me the town council wasn’t aware of this. We requested to be put on the agenda at the next town council meeting to discuss rescinding or amending this ordinance or grandfathering us in.
I also informed him, in a nice way that I was willing to fight this as hard as they were, including facing the possibility that I may be charged with class1 misdemeanor ( up to 1 yr in jail and 2500.00 in fines)
It isn’t going to look to good that you went after a rescue so fiercely but have a man in town that starved his dog to death in a closet and got community service.
I have a meeting with our lawyer Atty Wayne Austin at 10 am tomorrow to find out if we can get an injunction. We are also trying to challenge the law based on the fact the council changed an ordinance without holding a public hearing. We are also challenging it because it is specialized legislation meaning targeted at our rescue specifically.
THANKS TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS FOR THEIR SUPPORT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I want to take a moment to thank ALL of the ACO at Smyth County Animal Shelter. They have taken it upon themselves to post the petition there. Chief ACO as informed me he was a county employee and enforced county laws not the Town of Saltville laws and that no one from animal control unless ordered to do so by the courts would be removing any animals from SFF
A world of thanks to my dear friend Deana Raeke who writes For the Love of the Dog for helping to get the word out. The friendship and support you have extended to me over the years means more than I could ever tell you.
Freedom Therry Jackson for all her help and support ONE LOVE!!!!
Becky Hoadley for being ready to take our animals in on a moments notice if needed.
ALL SFF BOARD MEMBERS, VOL, FOSTERS, I AM SORRY FOR ALL THE HELL YOU ARE GOING THROUGH WITH ME.
I also want to thank Smyth County Humane Society for all of their support, especially Bev Haddock and Joan Baldwin whom I met with this evening. Susan from Promised Land AR ( who by the way went to the shelter today and pulled Ruthie the sr hound for me, she is holding her at her rescue until we beat this) and Allen from the Siberian Husky Rescue, Bristol,Tn. I am so touched by the outpouring of support from people in the community. I knew we would have the full support of the people we have assisted but the effusive show of support from local people I have never met humbles me.
UPDATE 9/15/09 – Meeting with the Lawyer
Today I met with our atty, who actually used to be the atty for the town for 15 yrs. He assured me a public hearing was supposed to be held.
In the meantime the town manager as informed us that we are on the agenda for Tuesday’s town council meeting.
We are going to handle this, at least for right now, reactively. If the town is willing to work with us as far as amending, grandfathering us in the issue is over. If they do not we will have atty Wayne Austin file suit in Smyth County Circuit Court, at a cost of 2500.00 to SFF.
We also met with reporter Dan Kegley today from the Smyth County News and Messanger. During this meeting we also presented him with hard copies of references from AC/Adopters/Vol/the town police chief. The story will appear in tomorrows paper.
THOSE [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVE] [EXPLETIVES]…!!!!
I will sign and donate.
Thanks Andrea! Caro is a very dear friend of mine and needless to say, she is upset, worried and frantic over this. She and I have been on the phone a countless number of times over the weekend brainstorming, writing, doing the petition, etc.
She has to find out of this is even legal to start with. The town attorney already said that they will not grandfather her in. This ordinance is aimed specifically at her!!
D.
Thank you Deana.
You know I’m here for you Caro, and so are so many others!! I’ll be posting updates here so that everyone knows what’s going on. Keep on fighting my friend, we’re all with you!!
Hugs,
D.
My heart is heavy for Caroline. I know the importance of rescue, and what it means to those involved. I just cannot believe that the town is doing this to her and her efforts to save animals, and save the town money! This is like biting the hand that feeds you!!!
Since Caroline’s property is zoned Agricultural, that piece of information should over ride this new law that the town has put into place. If the Dept of AG has felt that her property is in its proper conditions to rescue our furbabies, then that in itself says enough. Someone is targeting her, maybe because of personal reasons, or possibly that someone is jealous of her love and devotion to animals.
It is a sick world out there, and I will be sending an email/letter to those that need to hear it from others – those that are in 100% support of what Caroline does, and those that also do what she does.
Susie, it’s quite well known who is targeting her and has as well been harassing her for years. What is amazing to me is that the Town Council is bowing to this person, a person who is known to be mentally unstable having been committed more than once, just because they complain on a weekly to daily basis. Complaints which have been proven again and again to be totally baseless!
D.
This is so so wrong. Sounds to me like the town council is being paid off to enforce this!
I doubt there’s any pay off, think they’re just so sick of complaints from this idiot that they’re doing this to get her off their back. One of the TC members said something about this being done only because of neighbor complaints to one home.
And out of a whole town, who has seen what Caroline has done for years, one stupid person (watch your mouth Sue) is complaining, so they have to go by this loonie tunes word, and change the laws which will effect not only Caroline and her love of animals, but all the homeless babies in that town? If she wasn’t that far away, I would definitely go speak my peace for Caroline, yes, me and my big mouth!
What complete bu–sh–!!Sorry for not having anything more intelligent to say right now..but that’s all that is coming to mind…I’m so sorry Caroline!!Of all the….better go cool off before I say anything else….We are with you Caroline!!Stay strong!!
OMG You can’t be serious!!!!! This is flat crazy…like the person causing this. If this individual has been put away once, why not solve this problem by putting he/she away again and shutting the door so no one will have to listen to the crap anymore? Is this one of those, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”, things? If it is, start squeaking very loudly Caroline! This is disgusting, to say the least. Caroline………Saltville, can’t possibly be thinking straight. If they shut you down, they will be spending a fortune to take care of what you are now doing on your own. That’s just insane! Even if they would be so mean as to euthanize all the animals they get, that, too, cost a ton of money!!! I have signed the petition and will pray this gets resolved (in your favor), rapidly. God Bless you Caroline, for the work you do and the love you put into it. Thanks D for posting this and the petition.
I work with zoning ordinances all the time (I’m an environmental planner) and if there is an EXISTING USE on the property before the enactment of a law that affects the uses allowed on a property, she should be grandfathered in – it would an existing non-conformity which is legal. She would not be able to expand by building new kennels to be able to house more animals than she can now, but she should be able to operate with what she has with no legal issues I think….I’ll bet that is what will come out of this (I sure hope so!).
Debbie you are right!!!She is grandfathered in already but she can’t expand unless there is a loop hole because it is zoned agriculture.I sure hope Carolyn talks to a good lawyer so she can win this and continue her good work for these babies…
I am heartsick over this! My letters are on the way. SFF is one of my friends on MySpace and I ALWAYS repost her bulletins to try in that small way to help get those babies into forever homes. She does such good work, and for this sorry excuse for a TC to bow down to one squeaky wheel is insane. WE need to be even bigger squeaky wheels and be relentless in it until they realize the error of their ways.
Thanks Bonnie, I have a feeling the TC is gonna hear “squeaking” like they had no clue before this is all over!!
D.
This is what I wrote in my petition. I will also write the individuals too. Caro needs our help and needs it NOW!!! Let’s not let her down.
Just what gives you the right to do what you are doing? Is it the money? Did someone pay you to do this? This woman has been helping animals right there in you community and now it’s not okay any longer. May you all rot in hell for what you are doing. She is zoned properly and doesn’t offend anyone. Let her be and continue the work that you morons can’t even imagine. People like you are what is wrong with this world. If you allow this to happen, then you are a part of the GREED that is killing us. But be cautious that in the end you will get your due. God is watching us closer now then he ever has and I don’t think you are going to be on his good side. Reconsider and let Caroline continue to do her wonderful work.
Wrote and signed, this is just the back of beyond! Is there enough local support for a vigil or peaceful protest to draw media attention to the situation? Fliers at local gatherings to catch more peoples attention to it? Local media that can be contacted for interviews? Sometimes local radio can be helpful in getting word out. Youtube of the shelter and a few of the saved animals? Letters to the editor of local papers? Let us know what those of us far afield can do, our thoughts are with you and the animals.
This WONT be the last sanctuary to be under fire as i said before there is something more sinister going on here and it has to do with government!!!!! United We Stand!!! We need to get our country back it is crumbeling. Glen Beck @ 5 pm ET FOX Hannity, Cavuto, Lou Dobbs @ 7 pm CNN Get involved!!!!
I signed petition!!!!!!!!!!!
Please see the update just posted from today. Things may be looking up.
What I have to say isn’t fit to print. If this organization “serves a very beneficial purpose” and is “to be commended” then why aren’t they treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve? I don’t know what’s going on here but it stinks … and if rescue folks in VA and anywhere and everywhere else just lie down and take it, it will continue to happen. NO dog is safe if this kind of absurdity is allowed to continue.
!!!!!!! The fools – how can you ‘commend’ & condemn in the same sentence?
Is there a legal way round? By deeding portions of your property to relatives, to God, or to a named charity, so there are enough separate ‘properties’ to take 6 dogs each? Best wishes from UK.
It looks like Carolyn really did her homework, and getting the notarized letters – she is my type of gal! I am glad she had told them she is going to fight this, because it is utter nonsense what they are putting her thru. Not to mention the facts about the man who starved his dog. Community Service? And here is a woman who is saving the lives of our furry friends?
I just love people who jump the gun, assuming they are correct in every way, but then having a woman stand up for her rights, and tell them they are 100% wrong in their assumptions.
WTG Carolyn. Rescue world has a different breed of people. People who give a damn and who will fight for what they believe in.
Excellent update. That ordinance was ludicrous. Get it repealed.
Andrea, Caro’s probably still got a bit of a fight ahead of her but she does have a good lawyer who she is meeting with, right now even, so we’ll see where it goes. I think there’s a meeting next week or so and most likely she’ll present her info and see what they have to say. Luckily, she has a lot of supporters, both online and locally so… she’s going to do whatever she has to do. Keeping fingers crossed, saying prayers and hoping.
D.
Signed petition, and sending good wishes and hope for saving this compassionate lady’s worthy and diligent work for animals no one else cares about or provides shelter and refuge. Bureaucratic cruelty is rampant, – the animals pay.
See Update 9/15/09 – Meeting with Lawyer
I am so glad Carolyn has a pro active attorney, who is aware of the workings of the town council, and is understanding to her plight. I hope you are able to post the newspaper report D. And please keep us informed if help is needed with expenses.
I hope so too Susie. If it’s not online I’m going to ask her to scan it for me so I can post it. Want to see it myself. Def will let everyone know about the $$ thing. If she has to file a suit, she’ll need all the help she can get. Thanks Susie, you’re a sweetie!!
D.
This is insane! I am glad she has what sounds to be a great lawyer. I wish her all the luck! Kick butt Caroline! Show them they can’t push you around! I’m a bit far, but locally we have a lot of rescues, I’ll make sure to cross post this to ALL of them. Again good luck, I’ll be rooting for you!
Thanks Drea, please help to get the word out and get sigs on the petition, Caro can use all the support she can get!
D.
<– number 562, lots more to go for sigs. I sent it to EVERYONE… good luck
“If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”
–St. Francis of Assisi–
I think it’s sad that they wish to close down someone doing something “good”. They could have spent their time making up an ordnance to shut down something bad or actually do some good through their positions.
I think that you should not only be grandfathered in but they need to not make changes to the ordinances with the “peoples’” input. It is not their town, it belongs to the people.
Last but by no means least, if they cannot come down hard on the people who abuse or torture animals then they should not be the elected officials for this town. We the people do not want the owner of a one animal getting his fingers smacked for starving a dog to death while the owners of more than one animal, dogs that have been properly cared for, are being abused by their system.
They need to spend their time productively and to the benefit of animals and people. If they have individuals with more than one animal that are not caring for them, then pass a strong, heavy law about their punishment; having less than 6 will not help the animals being abused.
Power back to the people who use it for good.
KC
On Friday Sept 26th the town manager as well as one of the council members paid us a visit, to see for themselves what goes on here. Neither of them saw a problem with what we are doing here. Hopefully they will go back and tell the other council members.
Caroline, this is the best news I have heard all week! The prayers from us humans here are working for you, as well as the prayers from our four legged creatures.