They 'fell through the cracks'

Any property seized by the authority of the Sheriff becomes county property.  The CCAC nor the Sheriff's Office have the authority to give the property away.  They cannot do this with an extinct and broken typewriter, so what makes anyone think they can do this with a chicken that they seized from a Clay County citizen.  I have read the report and according to Clay County Ordinance 86-47 Section 15, the disposal of animals is limited to the following:

1) Adoption.

2) Redemption by the owner.

3) Humane Euthanization, or

4) Sale.

They can hide behind "we were rescuing the animals" rather than giving them away, all they want.  Without following one of the 4 methods described, they circumvented the ordinance.  Releasing government property that has been seized to anyone other than another government entity is a "disposal" of government property. 

Furthermore, my sources tell me that the Deputy that Sheriff Beseler assigned to animal control had a friend of her's purchase a horse that had been seized for $500 and that horse was later given to the Deputy.  That allegation must be investigated.  If she did not do this, great!  If she did, shame on her. 

The Sheriff has been remiss in not fully investigating this matter from the beginning.  They spent thousands of dollars to go investigate Chrity Fitzgerald for sand bags that were given to everyone that asked, yet county employees have been given government property that was seized by the Sheriff without following the legal process?  I am thoroughly confused.  Can someone please explain this to me?

If the investigation by the Sheriff follows the same lines as his work on the Fitzgerald case did, the two running CCAC will get a bonus for their outstanding work.

I just hate it when people blow smoke in my face and tell me it's fog. Just be honest and tell me you're not going to do anything about it so you might as well be quiet.

I spent about an hour writing a letter to the BoCC about this. An effort in futility, but it made me feel better. Of course, people like SPOT don't make it any easier when they give the investigators ammunition by actually being the 'overly emotional people'.

We'll just have to wait to see what happens. 

MikeH

My sources tell me that the Deputy assigned to conduct animal cruelty investigations has a special relationship with Sheriff Beseler since her husband is a State Attorney's Office Investigator and used to work with Rick Beseler.  I am told that is how she got the job.

If my sources are correct by saying that the Deputy inappropriately obtained a horse from the CCAC by having a friend pay $500 for the horse and then give the horse to her after the sale, how can we expect an impartial investigation?  Will the Sheriff fire his friend's wife for stealing a horse?  Is is theft or is it inappropriately (unethically) obtaining government property under false pretenses?  Either way it stinks!  If you have to pay for something with your friend's name on the sales slip, you obviously know what you are doing is not right! 

This administration has already shown it cannot adequately conduct an internal affairs investigation.  Just look at the investigation into the man with a prosthetic arm that was in the Clay County Jail.  I do not know all of the facts, but my sources tell me that the Corrections Deputy involved was suspended for 6 weeks and then brought back to work with no discipline.  If he did nothing wrong, why did tax payers pay for him to sit at home for 6 weeks.  If he did something wrong, why could the Sheriff not discover that and in a more timely fashion?  I am very disappointed with the CCAC, Sheriff Beseler and the whole mess.

In reading all the recent blogs and news stories about Clay County Animal Control, I think we might have lost perspective of a problem that goes far beyond pointing the finger at individual county employees.

In the most recent fiscal year, Clay County Animal Control had to house, albeit temporarily in far too many case, 9,172.  The vast majority were picked up by Animal Control.  Of those, 2,037 were returned to their owners or adopted out.  Almost all of the remainder were euthanized.

We can and should insist on that government process being run as efficiently and humanely as possible, but until Clay County residents stop asking them to handle an additional 4.4 animals every hour of every work week, the real problem isn't being addressed.

Too many people are simply irresponsible pet owners, allowing their dogs or cats to continually add to the existing animal overpopulation in Clay County.  One can expect that problem to grow as the number of county residents grows, and is another subtext of growth management that needs to be addressed.

It's OK to look closely and place blame on Animal Control when blame is earned and make changes where changes are warranted, but they're not creating the problem, just attempting to deal with the mess our own lack of responsibility is creating.

Michael S. Mann

michaelsmann@comcast.net

Mike,

Great idea to trying to bring the larger picture into view, sometimes we all need to "re-center" a bit.  When I spoke to the Director several weeks ago she told me that in some ways they're operating in the stone age with technology over there.  They're on dial up, not even something as basic as DSL.  Don't hold me to this but I believe they even have issues with phone lines.  The question is, do they have the money to make the changes they need to make? 

Lack of responsible pet owners, it's certainly an issue.  Just like the lack of responsible Parenting.  I agree the issues with Animal Control do not lie only in the laps of the people over there working in it.  It's futile to attempt to mop up water from a leak if you can't plug the hole. 

If a person has been running animal control for 19 years and they have not figured out how to run the place. It seems the person in charge has failed to do their job given 19 years experience. Sited for poor customer service which still seems to be the same complaints were are hearing today. She has been a failure in her ability to keep up with her paper work. I don't think you blame it on a system. We have had a paper system alot longer than computers. Has the highest turnover rate of employees in the county. She should be put in jail for giving away animals seized in a court case to her employees. If as she states she release diseased animals to people that could spread those diseases then she is beyond competent.

In the court system the Judge determines what is to be done with the animals. Since he is not a Vet or animal control director. He makes his decision based off evidence. The evidence presented to him he determined to put those animals up for auction. If they were not auctioned off then they should have been adopted. That is stealing I don't care how much lipstick they put on that pig. It is still a pig.

If the Judge has ordered the animals be destroyed and the poor employees felt bad and didn't want to kill them and instead took them home. That would be a completely different story. That's not this story and they stole those animals.

And when the Deputy in charge of animal abuse reported them for taking the animals they want to run her off now. Just like the employees, just like the people they have filed complaints against with the Sheriff's Office. Even to the point of filing false charges against the reporter from Folio.

The other with 17 years experience who don't know when the animals need care. She should be cited for animal abuse herself. The county would charge you with animal abuse if they found the animals in a person possession that treated them with pure neglect.

In a rural area you will have more animal problems because of it being a rural area. I will agree people need to be responsible for their animals.

However we need to put programs in place and partner with the community that assist the citizens with low cost spay and neuter of the animals. They have many animal groups that would assist in helping with the animals. If you stop the problem where it starts then you don't have all the other problems. 

Many counties have impliment lots of programs to stop the problems. First I think we need someone that can have a good working relationship with the community and not poor customer service and the higest turnover rate of employees.

They have accomplished what they wanted to tell everybody everything is fine at animal control now just go away. And when we kill all these animals I will just shut my blinds. That's what they want the public to do with animal control just shut the blinds and stay out of there.

Well it's worked for 19 years no reason to think it wouldn't work this time. I think paying 63K for a part time job is the biggest waste of money in animal control. The problems sited on here are just a mere tip of the problems. Until they make some changes at animals control it will still be plagued with problems.

Just like Finder said after 19 years and 17 years they are going to wake up tomorrow being stellar employees. If that the case they should have left Mr. Ivey in his job and just changed a few rules. I agree we are trying to fix a leak with the same mop maybe we need a new mop in animal control.

I have always heard if you have a problem with one person it may be them. But if they are having the amount of problems coming out of there as they do it can't be all the people who have contact with them. It may be time to look in the mirror for the problems.