Oak Ridge
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Indiana
Posts: 6168 |
Hold the phone.
I would like to ask, beg, plead, and urge evey one of us to "take a step back" at this point.
The PAWS proposal is real, it's not going to go away. I have my own opinion of the ammendment, it's impact to our way of raising, owning, breeding, and training our hounds. To tell you the truth, at this point my opinion does not matter.
What really matters is this. At the end of the day we are all coon hunters. We all have jobs and families, and the one thing that we all have in common is our love of hounds and hunting with our dogs.
What we are doing now is causing a huge division amongst our own kind. When the PAWS legislation is passed, or defeated, or altered, or never makes it out of committee....we are left with WHAT? I am most concerned with the fact that the only thing that I think we can all agree on 100% is that the fight over this legislation is certainly causing a break down in our solidarity. Let's face it folks, there are way more animal rights groups out there today that would like to see our right to own hounds, and follow them into the night. Most certainly at some point in the future our right to enjoy our sport is going to come under fire, and if we are all setting in different camps, aligned with different kennel clubs that can't seem to agree on anything because they are in direct competition with each other, where will that leave us?
I for one hold no animosity for anyone based upon thier beliefs about this legislative proposal. My question here is why have we allowed this to become "personal"? Have we lost the focus here? If you are opposed to the legislation, attacking people who see things differently than you do will do nothing other than tear us apart, leaving us vunerable to those that would strip us of our rights.
The "who said what" stuff is getting old, and reminds me of a fourth grade recess conversation.
I ask you to examine your thoughts and ask yourself the question...what is it I am fighting against? Am I really doing anything to ensrue that the legislation is defeated, or am I simply beating down those that have a different view than I do? Will the words or accusations that I type on a message board, or send in the mail, or convey to fellow hunters have a detrimental effect to our sport down stream? Am I driving a wedge between myself and someone that may be called on to support my sport and my rights to enjoy hounds and hunting with hounds in the future? Am I opposing a piece of legislation, or am I opposing an organization or individual? Remember, there are lots of folks that read this board and monitor it every day......
Folks like it or not...even if this legislation is defeated by our efforts, we are losing the over all battle. One of the most basic warfare strategies is "divide and conquor"........
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Joe Newlin
UKC Cur Advocate
Home of Oak Ridge Kennels
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