Do your homework and discover why state Issue 2 is a bad thing

To the Editor:

I am adding my voice to others who have written against the passage of Issue 2 (Livestock Regulation). I hope that readers will do their homework and find out why a NO vote is the right vote.

1.) This issue is a "constitutional amendment" rather than a change in Ohio's animal codes. It would make much more sense to make improvements to the Ohio Revised Code. The organizations behind this legislation want to be sure that the legislation they want will never be changed so they chose to make this issue a constitutional amendment.

2.) This legislation would create a 13-member board who would make all of the future decisions about how animals can be raised. There is no definition to define whether we're talking about livestock or pets. This omission could possibly encourage even more puppy mills to operate with little interference from governmental agencies. Now that's something we surely don't need! There are too many dogs and cats without more puppy mills.

The board members are appointed and have a huge amount of autonomy. Only one of the 13 members would represent any kind of humane issues that arise when the rules are written. If the board members representing different interests were not stacked against humane changes, it would certainly be more acceptable.

3.) Those who are really behind this legislation and who are responsible for the great amount of publicity to vote "yes" have their own special agenda. From what I have read, it appears that factory-farming industries from out of state that have financially supported this legislation are pretty excited at this opportunity to thwart any future efforts by animal-welfare groups to have an impact on the welfare of farm animals (or whatever animals). A constitutional amendment would be extremely hard to reverse at a later date.

For these reasons, I urge voters to send a big message that this is not the correct legislation. Vote NO and contact legislators that a different bill is needed after much more thought has been put into all of the ramifications and the details of any such legislation.

Thank you to The Athens NEWS for the informative article on Monday, Oct. 19. Please find this issue and thoughtfully read the information presented. It is fairly written and explains the amendment well.

Linda G. Sauer
North Coolville Ridge
Athens