What's happening in the state of Oregon right now...

*Please Cross Post........ .
"I'm mounting a campaign here in Oregon to file a class action lawsuit against the State for these laws as they take away both our Fourth and Fifth Amendments Rights. I found a non-profit group, Oregonians In Action, who fight for individual owners' rights, particularly in land use.

I'm also getting one together in our county (Columbia) because of all the new changes plus their Land Use head, Todd Dugdale, told me I have to get down below 10 dogs by Jan 1, file for a $960 Type II Home Occupation permit, and pay $30 per dog per year in order to be able to keep over 3 dogs now. And I live in unincorporated county. I asked what if I had more than 3 dogs, he said they could all be confiscated, and if I did the rest (Type II etc) anything over 9 needs to be put to sleep. Plus I would be fined $500 per day plus have to pay for all the confiscated dogs' care at unreasonable fees if this happened. And my kennel wouldn't pass their new rules anyway as it now requires 5 acres minimum with a heated & air conditioned building at least 100 feet from my house and would have to have a separate kitchen/bathing facility in it, with concrete floors with a center drain with a separate septic system. This is for over 9 dogs and for a commercial kennel. There is no place for private breeders under these draconian laws. Mind you, I've been continually and duly licensed and inspected as a hobby kennel here at my current address for 20 years now. But there is no grandfathering allowed now. They have eliminated the hobby license and only allow commercial kennels, yet HB 2470 virtually eliminates those.

Worse yet, Rep. Brad Witt has solely authored the latest travesty, HB 2986, which outlaws all line and inbreeding, subjecting breeders to MORE unwarranted search and seizure permissions, along with recordkeeping requirements that make the AKC look like grade school. It hefts huge fines if not in compliance, and can end up with confiscation of dogs and jail time. Fun, huh? Also note that it is already on the books that if you refuse to allow any unwarranted search by an animal control officer, you can be arrested/jailed for up to 7 days for that -- plus have all animals removed and immediately sold. Hey, when did we move to Nazi Germany?

So....if anyone is interested in joining our group -- first we will petition, then we will sue if no response -- I'm mounting a class action campaign against the violation and removal of our Rights. It also includes people with small hobby businesses as there is no county business license. You now can't do garage sales more than once per annual quarter, and you can't sell your chicken eggs or anything else out of your house, even with commercial zoning. Contact me if you want to join up.

Staying under the radar isn't working anymore. We need to be activists to protect our interests.

The Governor's phone number and email address, btw, is 503-378-4582, fax is
503-378-3827 and you have to go to the website to send an email. That's at
http://governor. oregon.gov/ Gov/contact_ us.shtml The more he hears from people who oppose it, the less likely he is to sign it. We need him to be inundated with no's.

Cheryl Anderson
Cherden since 1966
AKC Judge #4183"