THANK YOU ...

... to Paint the Town workers

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Paint the Town for making my house smile again.

I especially want to thank Dr. Brewster’s team from Northview Dental: Sara, DaVette, Pam, Tashia, Mary, Kelly, Lori, Coleen, Gary, Chad, Keilie, Cecelia and Zack.

Thank you for the great-looking house and all the days of prep work before you could even start to work.

And the extras! Boy there were a lot of them, the weeding, the pruning, the flower planting and the beautiful hanging baskets for the finishing touch.

Plus, you even put a piece of molding back on the car door.

Thank you to the greatest, sweetest, happiest group of people I have met in a long time.

I’ll always remember you.

GLORIA WALSH, Boise

... to dedicated volunteers

Recently, FACTS (Foundation for Ada-Canyon Trail Systems) dedicated 1.64 miles of a 3.2-mile section of bike path west of the Glenwood Bridge. I wish to thank all of the folks who helped make this project successful. As president of FACTS, an all-volunteer organization, the cooperation and assistance our group received is rarely seen to the degree that we witnessed. And, to top it off, our website received several donations to carry us forward. A big thank you to everyone.

JUDY PEAVEY-DERR, Boise

... for story on killing animals

Rarely have I felt thankful for an article by the Statesman, but thank you for your story on the killing of animals by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

If you or I killed an eagle, we could go to jail. Killing a deer or an elk out of season will hit your wallet and result in the loss of your hunting privileges. Killing of a protected species, they’ll throw away the key. Yet the USDA is doing this every day and nothing happens.

Not only are they killing them, but they use the most barbaric ways to do it.

These cruel and heinous acts need to end and I hope people will act to help make it stop, before it’s their pet or, worse yet, child.

KATHY CALDWELL, Boise

... to initiative supporters

Idaho 1 of 3 wishes to thank the many Idahoans who supported our initiative to add felony penalties for animal cruelty. We did gather enough signatures to put it on the ballot; unfortunately about one third were invalid because of non-compliance with stringent legal requirements.

Even though they co-authored the language in our initiative that was presented as a bill in 2009, the Cattle Association and Woolgrowers persuaded the Legislature to pass a felony in name only to block our initiative. Why those groups find the language they helped write threatening is a mystery.

Animal cruelty has five legal definitions; only one will become a felony upon a third conviction: “the intentional and malicious infliction of pain, suffering, injury or death upon an animal.” It is virtually impossible to prove malicious intent once, let alone three times. Idahoans have been duped into thinking we have a felony for animal cruelty.

We will reorganize and give Idahoans eighteen months to gather signatures; we only had 10 months this time. Join us at IDRIGHTS@aol.com; Idaho remains one of three states without adequate felony penalties for the worst animal cruelty.

VIRGINIA HEMINGWAY, President, Idaho 1 of 3, Boise

CIRCUS

Support humane treatment of animals; don’t attend the circus

I am disturbed to see that the El Korah Shrine Circus is coming to town, again bringing with it circus animals that should be in the wild or in sanctuaries. In addition to the humiliating and unnatural acts that the animals are forced to perform day after day, there is much that we don’t see when the show is over. For instance, when they aren’t performing at the end of a bull hook, elephants are chained by their leg, unable to move about. Additionally, they are trained using cruel “breaking” techniques, and numerous undercover videos show the beatings that are often part of that process. They are subjected to an extremely stressful and unnatural life.

Little to none of the income generated by this circus actually supports children’s hospitals, and the animals used in El Korah Shrine Circuses are generally “rented” from smaller animal entertainment companies that are fraught with stress, neglect and downright abuse of these animals.

I urge my fellow readers to research the issue and find compassion in your hearts for these animals. Children should not be taught that these magnificent animals are on this planet simply for our pleasure and entertainment. Please skip the circus.

EILEEN DESHAZO, Boise