December 29, 2004

an explanation of asap's campaign against wcas

while the article in the register star was excellent, i don't think that the readers fully understand the background in this campaign asap has been working on. for more than a year, members have been dealing with winnebago county animal services and its director. please keep in mind that gary has never shown us how he is qualified for the job according to county hiring requirements. this is a brief summary of a very long story:

1. in august of 2003, sheila vayenas called the county facility to ask about the euthanasia rate. not only did someone tell her that the office didn't have a director, but she was initially denied the stats she asked for. former county chair, kris cohn, had to order gary to release the numbers.

2. in december of 2003, members of asap developed a proposal for the county that included no-cost suggestions such as using volunteers to increase off-site adoptions. also in the proposal were suggestions that they work harder on their spay-neuter program. one of our members helped at the last clinic which was almost two years ago!

3. after an attempt by longanecker to dodge the meeting with asap representatives in january 2004, former county board chair kris cohn had to get involved to force him to meet with us. that meeting was very unproductive.

4. as a result, members of asap and the wcas auxiliary met in february 2004, only to listen to gary pontificate about his plans for the facility - none of which has been implemented to the best of my knowledge. essentially this was an effort on his behalf to stall even further. i didn't trust him then, and there's no way i do now. as for the auxiliary, they claim to care about animals - and i don't doubt they do on some level - but they have submitted to the institutionalized killing, simply accepting it as an unfortunate part of life.

5. asap decided to submit multiple freedom of information act requests in the spring of 2004 to get info from the county that gary was so evasive about from the very beginning. we wanted to know figures like how many animals had been euthanized over the past five years (broken down by cats and dogs) and what it costs to euthanize an animal (the medical procedure and disposal of the animal). don't the taxpayers have a right to know!? mr. longanecker, along with the county attorney, dodged this as long as they could. we then contacted our own attorney to submit more foia requests on our behalf. once again, the data released was incomplete - leading me to believe that records aren't being kept very well.

6. mr. longanecker and the auxiliary told us early on (february 2004) that we needed to become part of the volunteer auxiliary if we wanted to help out in the shelter. members of asap submitted our applications in the spring (june), only to finally hear back from mr. longanecker in july that wcas was going to provide the orientation classes. we spent between 6 and 7 hours in the auxiliary's training course last summer (july-august), only to be later blown off. my attempt to follow up with them via phone was ignored (october) when i left a message with the auxiliary's leader.

7. since members of asap are educated people, well-versed in the democratic process, we decided to appeal to the new chairman of the county board, scott christiansen, about the matter. we met with both him and mr. longanecker in late august and late november - only to hear excuses about how gary has too much to do. during the first meeting, longanecker tried to manipulate us. he told us about how petland was going to be participating in the canine classics as he knew about our campaign against the local store. we questioned why a pet store like petland would be allowed to participate in such an event. gary claimed that he could not refuse them (their $300 for registration) - just like he claimed that he could not refuse the $1,400 check that dean johnson, petland's owner, donated to boost his image in the community since we have been picketing there every week for a year now.

8. in september, asap did protest the canine classic here in rockford. according to our members, mr. longanecker misrepresented himself in an attempt to get the protesters to leave the park. we moved, but would not leave altogether.

9. now chairman christiansen is saying in the paper that we should become an official non-profit group to take animals from the shelter to adopt them out ourselves. let me tell you that it would never happen. we have played their ridiculous game and have been stone-walled long enough. this is another bureaucratic story that goes something like: if we stall and ignore asap, then they will eventually go away. just create plenty of hoops to jump through and they'll get too frustrated with the whole deal. then we can go back to killing thousands of animals without any vision to solve the problem.

all i can say is that this story is far from over. asap isn't going to quit just because some people criticize us. gary should be fired from the county and replaced with someone who's more qualified. if you want more info on him, then please check out the 12/14/04 post.

Posted by Johnnyself at 07:31 AM | Comments (7)

December 28, 2004

your emails on asap and this campaign...

hello. after yesterday's article in the register star, i received quite a few emails (that i'm still sorting through), both critical and supportive of asap. i want to thank everyone who took the time to respond as i'm well aware this is a sensitive issue with many people.

that said, i would like to respond to all of the emails here at once. most of what i have to say will be posted tomorrow, but i wanted to make a brief statement now: members of asap only resorted to home demos after more than a year of being strung along by mr. longanecker (and yes, he knows this even if he's looking for every possible way to deny it to the public). we had multiple meetings with the county - including one with chair kris cohn and two with chair scott christiansen to discuss what happens at the county facility. members of asap are educated and well-versed in the democratic process and we would not have resorted to home demos if it weren't for the dire need in this situation. more to come...

Posted by Johnnyself at 09:33 AM | Comments (3)

December 27, 2004

asap in the news!

all of our efforts, and by "our" i mean adopt shelter animals please, have finally landed us an article in the register star, the major local newspaper. i am delighted to see this coverage because the taxpayers of the community need to know what is going on (and not going on for that matter) at winnebago county animal services. if you have a moment, please check out the article: "animal activists in uproar over deaths"

and as a reminder, you can email gary longanecker, wcas director, with your complaints if you find the euthanasia rate upsetting: glonganecker@co.winnebago.il.us

Posted by Johnnyself at 08:54 AM | Comments (9)

December 26, 2004

beyondtheself continues to evolve as a resource

hello! as another year comes to a close, i just wanted to say thanks once again to all of my avid readers, because without all of you, the purpose of this site would not be fulfilled. over the past few weeks i have been working in my spare time to make additions to bts that activists will find useful and/or interesting. for example, i have added an "fbi watch" page as i like to keep an eye on law enforcement - especially since they like to keep tabs on what we're doing. another change involves the "resistance education" page that has everything from a revised list of "everyday actions" to a link on how to write a foia request. moreover, i have added to the "interviews" page to connect you directly to major activists of various progressive communities; from animal liberation to human rights. i also hope to start conducting my own interviews next year. with this said, you can expect much more of the typical bts writing as i'm working on a new essay right now. if you think that there's a direction i should go in, then please feel free to send an email my way. i'm always open to suggestions from like-minded people. lastly, please keep in mind that if we're going to win the battles we engage in, then we must band together and support one another in times of need. goodbye 2004 and welcome 2005 - may justice prevail for all beings everywhere.

Posted by Johnnyself at 11:21 AM | Comments (5)

December 14, 2004

the main "service" animals get from longan-killer is the needle...

you know, i thought my disgust with public leadership would have peaked with president bush's pre-emptive war against iraq last year, but it seems that i have a new enemy - one that's so much closer to home.

his name is gary longanecker, or longan-killer, as i like to call him. you talk about a public hack of the worst kind. first, this guy is killing almost 6,000 animals a year at the local county animal shelter that he is director of (if you want to acknowledge him by his title). why? longanecker focuses on the "control" aspect of his job without developing a vision that includes a "humane ethic" in his office. (think improper signage for the facility = bad marketing; public outreach? the last spay-neuter clinic was almost two years ago; and a blatant refusal to use committed volunteers who attended the shelter's orientation program last summer.)

ah, but then there's how he is such a smooth talker of sorts - the kind of person you know is lying through his teeth - the kind of person who gets himself into professional trouble because intelligent people can see through him. yes, when i think of this guy, i think of someone prone to making mistakes because he is unqualified for the job he holds. the county has a detailed job description (that includes education and experience - yes, i've read it myself), and even after two meetings with his boss where the issue was mentioned, i have yet to hear how longan-killer is qualified to work there. oh, how i wonder what his resume reads and what former employers have to say about him.

so, what evidence do i have of this incompetence? well, consider the following:

* a search warrant was botched in an investigation of a local woman's home (kerry brumm) where animal services confiscated many of her animals in january of 2004, only to later euthanize one of her dogs by accident. director longanecker's response was: "it was a god awful error," (rockford register star, 3/18/2004). the other animals were later returned. i hope she sued the county for damages. for more info, see: "woman's animal cruelty, neglect charges dropped"

* he accepted $1,400 from a local pet store (the rock river times, 9/29/04-10/5/04) that helps contribute to the pet over-population problem by selling commerically bred dogs and cats instead of simply focusing on adoption. for more info, you can read the pathetic "press release" that animal services and petland sent out as damage control to boost their image in the wake of regular protests: "petland donates $1,400 to wcas to benefit local shelter dogs"

* overbilling the village of roscoe, il for services (not) provided by his agency as a result of poor record keeping (beloit daily news, 11/19/04). i'd like to know how he was reprimanded for this by his superiors in county government. my guess is that the same hack who orchestrated his appointment and protects his job let the problem slide. for more info, see: "roscoe village overcharged"

these examples are just the ones that have made the local papers. i suspect that he has more to hide - more that he does not want the public to know about. if having someone like this in charge of a county agency bothers you, please feel free to send emails to both gary and his boss:

gary longanecker, wcas director: glonganecker@co.winnebago.il.us
scott christiansen, county chairman: CountyBoardChairmansOffice@co.winnebago.il.us

Posted by Johnnyself at 08:49 PM | Comments (2)