Tennessee Legislators Honored

[Tim Nunan]

From: "Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance \(SAOVA\)"<saova_south@mailman.montana.com>
Subject: [SAOVA_South] SAOVA First Annual Legislative Awards

A SAOVA message to sportsmen, pet owners and farmers concerned about protecting their traditions, avocations and livelihoods from anti-hunting, anti-breeding, animal guardianship advocates. Forwarding and cross posting, with attribution, encouraged.

SAOVA First Annual Legislative Awards

Dear SAOVA Friends,

SAOVA is proud to announce our Annual Legislative Award program and honor the state legislators who were our first recipients.

During legislative sessions burdened with emotion, these legislators clearly demonstrated their commitment to continue working with animal owners and sportsmen to preserve property rights and assure protection of our sporting heritage.


Each legislator understands firsthand the many challenges facing citizens involved in all facets of the animal industry and realizes that overzealous animal protection legislation can negatively impact responsible animal owners and sportsmen.


Collectively these legislators displayed outstanding leadership assisting their colleagues in making informed decisions about animal issues using factual, scientific data from experts in veterinary science and animal husbandry.

As an example, Representative Mark Homer (TX) received an award for authoring a bill that reinstated the right to appeal in civil animal cruelty cases.

After the existing statute was ruled unconstitutional, Mississippi Senator J. P. Wilemon has worked with stakeholders to introduce an animal cruelty bill that would protect animals while preserving the constitutional rights of their owners.

Montana Representative Edward Butcher demonstrated leadership skills in response to the growing concern over the fate of unwanted horses by introducing legislation aimed at providing a humane and regulated processing plant as an option for Montana ranchers and horse owners.

Illinois Representative David Reis served on the IL Dog Task Force and was instrumental in defending Illinois citizens’ right to own, field trial, and breed dogs against proposed overbearing regulations.

Each legislator on our 2009 Award list is a champion for animal owners in their own right. SAOVA along with our state volunteers appreciate the support they have shown us.

Representative Ed Butcher (MT) Legislator of the Year 2009

Senator Stan Gerzofsky (ME) Legislator of the Year 2009

Representative David Reis (IL) Legislator of the Year 2009

Delegate Ed Scott (VA) Legislator of the Year 2009

Senator Mimi Walters (CA) Legislator of the Year 2009

Senator J. P. Wilemon, Jr. (MS) Legislator of the Year 2009

Representative Charles Anderson (TX) Legislative Leader 2009

Senator Mae Beavers (TN) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Steve Drazkowski (MN) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Dan Flynn (TX) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Rod Hamilton (MN) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Dewey L. Hill (NC) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Mark Homer (TX) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Edmund Kuempel (TX) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Frank Niceley (TN) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Jason Smith (MO) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Fred Steen (NC) Legislative Leader 2009

Senator Jerry Tillman (NC) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Jim Viebrock (MO) Legislative Leader 2009

Representative Arthur Williams (NC) Legislative Leader 2009

The commitment demonstrated by the 2009 Legislative Award Recipients is exemplified in this quote from Representative Steve Drazkowski (MN), “Through continued vigilance in the legislative process and by educating people about the true agenda of the animal rights movement, we can ensure that our God-given rights to own, show, hunt, raise and sell animals, will be preserved.”

Visit the new Legislative Awards page on the SAOVA website http://www.saova.org/awards.html and join us in honoring this group of state legislators.

The world not only belongs to those who show up, it's controlled by the best informed and most motivated.


Susan Wolf

Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance - http://saova.org

Issue lobbying and working to identify and elect supportive legislators



Be a SAOVA volunteer. Contact saova@earthlink.net

The message above was posted to North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas residents by the Sportsmen's and Animal Owners' Voting Alliance (SAOVA).

SAOVA is a nonpartisan volunteer group working to protect Americans from the legislative and political threats of radical animal rightists. It is the only national organization fighting this struggle for both sportsmen and animal owners, natural allies, in these arenas. Visit our website at http://saova.org for this program's goals, methodology and list signup details.

SAOVA
PO Box 612, Spencer NC 28159