Open Letter to the APS Board August 23, 2003 No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. -- Abraham Lincoln The Board has little understanding of the financial records ... and other aspects of the Shelter's overall operation. - -- Virginia Ellington Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive -- Sir Walter Scott Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest --William Shakespeare Giving money to APS is like throwing money down a rathole (of which there seem to be some at APS - but not in Laura's air-conditioned office). ---Elliot Cramer Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough. -- Abraham Lincoln Kendall Page has submitted exactly the same guest editorial to THREE newspapers; it does show a certain lack of imagination. The voice is Kendall's but the words are Laura's. It makes one wonder about all of the other statements by APS employees and supporters. Virtually all of her factual statements are incorrect or misleading except that she is an "APS Board member and lifetime resident of Orange County". This is testimony to the validity of Ellington's statement (above) to HSUS. As Abraham Lincoln said "Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." The full text may be found under "Kendall in Wonderland". Many of APS's other false and contradictory statements can be found on the PAWS website www.ourpaws.org under tall tales of the APS. At my eight hour deposition on August 8, APS attorney Ronald Merritt asked me (page 102): What did you mean by "corrupt organization"? He followed up by saying (page 104): "Okay. Will you tell me each and every outrageous lie that you are aware of having been made by Laura Walters?" I then proceeded to go on through page 176 (out of 408 pages) enumerating the outrageous lies that I recalled Laura making and discussing corruptness at APS. Of course there were many more outrageous lies that I couldn't recall off hand and Laura (who was present) didn't volunteer them. This part of the deposition is on the PAWS website under "outrageous lies". Page: The current animal shelter run by APS was built more than 25 years ago at a time when Orange County had a population of 57,567. Fact: it was enlarged in 1986 and 1991 to from 2926 to 7488 square feet. ________________________________________________________________ Page: The building now houses a greater number of animals because the number of residents in this county has doubled to more than 116,204. Fact: This number (5088) is actually down 14% from 1990 (5919) ________________________________________________________________ Page: In addition, the funds that the Orange County Board of Commissioners budgets for APS has not increased in recent years to compensate for reasonable salaries or the high costs of day-to-day operating expenses. Fact: Funding has increased every year and is now $428.818, double the 1990 figure ($208,980). The number of funded staff members has increased from 5.5 in 1984 to 15.5. The salary schedule is the same as Orange County with a minimum of about $20,000. Darra Das's salary was doubled when she was promoted from book-keeper to Associate Director. ________________________________________________________________ Page: Despite the limited funding provided by Orange County, the APS has continued to do the best it can under such restricted housing-space and financial constraints. Fact: The County shelter is currently one of the two best funded shelters in the State and the County is committed to building a new shelter within three years costing nearly three million dollars. ________________________________________________________________ Page: Last year alone, the APS subsidized the county to the tune of $87,000. Fact: In exchange the County provided the principal APS office and funded the entire salaries of the APS Executive Director and Associate Director. ________________________________________________________________ Page: Unfortunately, the limitations of the building along with the recommendation by HSUS to reduce the number of animals housed in the facility has and will cause more adoptable animals to die. Fact: Sauls and Walters stated in 'Animal Shelter FAQS "Why can't all the adoptable sheltered animals be adopted? There are more "surplus" animals than people wanting to adopt them." ________________________________________________________________ Page: "the APS cannot operate as a modern day shelter with a 1970s facility." Fact: *** award It is apparent that APS, under the current management and Board, cannot adequately operate the shelter AT ALL. ________________________________________________________________ Page: Currently, the APS is working toward the creation of a new adoption center for those animals that have been adopted and are waiting for their spay-neuter surgery before going home. This facility will complement the Orange County Animal Shelter by freeing up space so that other animals at the animal shelter will have more time to be adopted. Fact: These adopted animals need be there for only a few days and, at current adoption rates space is needed for only about 24 animals. If it is ever built it will house 25 dogs and 50 cats and will have little effect on adoption rates. Almost $400,000 was available and committed by APS two years ago. No one at APS could tell Virginia Ellington what had become of it. Sanctuary Committee chairman John Wise stated in June 2000 "The adoption center is going to need to have money to support it. ... We hope to have a successful kennel that people will come to and patronize, and help us fund the adoption center." No kennel is planned; APS cannot support it and it will probably never be built. As of August 15, there was no building permit. ________________________________________________________________ Page: Orange County provides funding for only four programs (e.g., rabies clinic) and such funding represents only a third of the total APS operating budget. Fact: APS contributed $87,000 to shelter operation last year, only 14% of the shelter budget, and APS was committed to contributing up to $100,000 if it were needed. Evidently it was NOT needed. ________________________________________________________________ Page: The Emergency Animal Rescue Service is a vital APS program and one that residents of Orange County have come to rely upon. This is a 24-hour rescue service for animals that have been hit by cars, animals suffering by the side of the road and wildlife that have been injured late at night. Currently, the APS foots the bill for this program in the County but it operates in the red annually. Fact: The Emergency Rescue Service is fully funded by the County and is operated by the County, not APS, during daytime hours. APS does NOT foot the bill and it does NOT operate in the RED. ________________________________________________________________ Page: The APS has provided many services to the county over the years that reach far beyond housing, abandoned, sick and injured animals. Services such as low cost spay-neutering ... This represents only a fraction of the 33 programs offered and paid for by the APS independent of the county. Fact: The low cost spay-neuter program, started in 1997, is fully funded by adoption and spay/neuter fees and it made sufficient profit to fund the now abandoned APS wildlife program. ________________________________________________________________ Page: We continue to give our hearts to save each and every adoptable animal and have done so under constant distracting criticism by a few members of the public who don't understand animal shelter operations. Fact: 5088 animals were admitted last year of which 2232 were euthanized. The majority of those euthanized were adoptable. Walters and the APS Board do not "understand animal shelter operations." The solution to this problem is reducing intake through a much more intensive spay/neuter program. ________________________________________________________________ Page: The community needs to support APS Fact: The community HAS supported APS while APS under the current management and lack of Board oversight has failed the community. Since the APS Board refuses to clean house, the only solution is for the County to take over shelter operations. ________________________________________________________________