Virginia Resident Speaks

published in the News Leader and News Gazette
submitted by Gerri Wenz
06-21-2004

As a horse breeder and resident of the 6th Congressional District, I am dismayed by the position taken by our own Representative Bob Goodlatte on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (HR 857), a bill currently stalled in his House Committee on Agriculture.

Mr. Goodlatte is actively campaigning to keep the industry of horse slaughter alive in the U.S. and is blocking this bill that would ban the slaughter, or transportation to slaughter, of American horses for human consumption.

This legislation has an unusually high level of bipartisan support in the House of Representatives - Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals alike have signed on as co-sponsors. There is a companion and almost identical bill that was also just introduced in the Senate.

Hearing Mr. Goodlatte's various position statements has convinced me that he has neither studied, nor understands, the issue. He merely parrots the weak and misleading arguments made by the leaderships of a few organizations with their own agendas for keeping this business going. These organizations do not have the mandate of their memberships on the issue of horse slaughter, and The Honorable Mr. Goodlatte does not have the mandate of his constituents here in the 6th District of Virginia, much less of the American people, in his position on the issue.

Mr. Goodlatte, as I have heard you say recently, Texas certainly is a long way from Virginia. If you can't open your heart to the horses, then please open your ears. Listen to your constituents and the American public, not the very few with personal interests in the business of horse slaughter. You told me it was your "job" to keep this bill from going anywhere. Is it also your job to dismiss the will of over half of your colleagues in the House of Representatives? I urge you to re-prioritize. Your true constituency is here in and around the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and this, Mr. Goodlatte, is horse country.

Gerri Wenz
Windward Farm
Glasgow, VA
reprinted with author's permission

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