Banning dog and cat sales in Lexington stores could hurt pet businesses | Opinion

Pet sale ordinance

The rights of Lexington businesses are apparently of no interest to Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council’s (LFUC) Social Services and Public Safety Committee.

On April 9, the Committee entertained Todd Blevins with Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), in regard to a retail pet sale ban in Lexington. HSUS, a D.C.-based animal rights group with zero oversight of any U.S. or Kentucky humane society. Just 1 percent of HSUS’s cache of funds ($375.6M in 2022 per the IRS) support American animal shelters. Its fundraising tactics include disturbing imagery and false claims to attract donors in campaigns against the dog, equine, and food agriculture industries.

The Committee considered just one side of the story before moving the proposal forward. Petland requested to present the company’s position at the hearing. The committee refused our request.

HSUS is notorious for mega-fundraising on the backs of animals. Puppies are not HSUS’s only targets. They are also against the equine industry. If they get their foot in the door by banning retail pet sales, be assured they will come for the Bluegrass State’s horse industry. They have the funds, and apparently, have these LFUCC members right where they want them.

Joe Watson, President & CEO, Petland, Inc., Chillicothe, Ohio

Animal monopoly

The proposed pet ordinance is a conflict of interest and therefore unethical local government. Essentially, this proposed law gives monopoly status to the Lexington Humane Society (LHS).

The city is required by state law to finance animal control. They do it and they supply assets like trucks to animal control. Animal control supplies pets as inventory they then sell to the public through the Lexington Humane Society.

LHS is the largest pet merchant in Lexington. It owns the business that the city supports with public money. It generates salaries to officers of the LHS. And it spends at least enough on marketing to buy a car and paint it with an extravagant paint job advocating for “humane society.” LHS does quite well for a non-profit business.

Puppy mills, on the other hand, make most of their sales through online forums like Craig’s List, and any kind of city ordinance will have little if any effect on the practice. When puppy mill proprietors use up a bitch, they just dump her in a rural county somewhere. There is no proof puppy mills supply pet stores.

This law will interfere with legal commerce for illegitimate reasons.

Doug Epling, Lexington

DEI accountability

In a spectacular display of political ineptitude, Kentucky Republicans have failed to deliver on an issue of vital importance to the American people: combating the scourge of DEI.

DEI believers have marched across American institutions sowing division and hate, leaving a toxic environment everywhere they go. These petty tyrants set themselves up in their “diversity” offices, grab as much power as they can, and use that power to enforce ideological conformity in their organizations.

Republicans rightly decided to take up the issue, but when it came to delivering concrete results, the effort crashed and burned in a sad conflagration of bickering and incompetence. Senate President Robert Stiver, R-Manchester, put forward his bill, and Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Frankfort, put forward her own version. They couldn’t resolve their differences. Republican leadership refused to step in and the deadline for passing the bill came and went.

This stunning political malpractice saved DEI in Kentucky’s public education system. Surely, the DEI leftists can hardly believe their luck. Kentucky is a conservative state where Republicans hold a super-majority in the legislature, yet DEI lives on thanks to Republicans’ failure to get serious and get results.

Conservative Americans look to Republican leaders for action, not excuses. It’s high time for Kentucky Republicans to get their act together and start delivering on the promises they made to the folks who put them in office. Anything less would be a slap in the face to the voters who put these leaders in office.

American Accountability Foundation Action president Thomas Jones – a resident of Bardstown, KY

Alzheimer’s research

I recently read with great interest of research on the cause of Alzheimer’s Disease at the University of Kentucky in a feature article in the March 2024 AARP Bulletin. Linda Van Eldik is director of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at UK in Lexington. According to the article she says chronic inflammation may be one of the primary drivers of the disease.

Sanders-Brown has been of tremendous help to men and women here in Lexington and throughout the state, including my late husband and myself. Alzheimer’s is affecting more and more people in the U.S. I would like to see more news on medical issues and other research at UK in the Herald-Leader more often. Thank you for your consideration.

Joan Colborn, Lexington

Reforestation kudos

Congratulations to the organizers of Reforest the Bluegrass at Coldstream Park. It was a very well organized event in every respect. Thousands of volunteers on a beautiful spring day in Lexington.

But we need to redouble our efforts to protect our existing and mature trees. It’s sad to see so many trees lost in the recent storm, as well as for the widening of Newtown Pike and New Circle Rd near Leestown Rd. I am puzzled to see large mature trees being removed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, trees behind guardrails or stone walls that don’t seem to be anywhere near the road. When I moved here in 1990, New Circle Road was lined with beautiful cherry trees. They are all gone now.

Dave Cooper, Lexington

Foreign aid

“Those who do not know history are destine to repeat it “ George Santayana.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Psalm 94:1-3

In relation to Ukraine, it might help for those in congress (U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Green and like-minded others) to review the congressional record of the late 1930s when England stood alone against a tyrant and how congress acted in the belief of self-interested to preserve “our national interest.”

On another subject, an additional review the history of the Brown Shirts in Germany during the 1930s, in correlation of their nationalistic movement at the direction of a dictatorial charismatic leader; might serve as food for thought.

John Moore, Lexington

Sunday Christians

I hope America’s “Sunday Christians” (People whose only connection to Christianity is that they sit down in a church every Sunday) are happy with themselves. If they were really Christians our country’s government wouldn’t be so dysfunctional. When people who claim to be followers of Christ put a non-believer into office, they have lost their connection to God.

Now God doesn’t know what to do with them! “God is telling me and true believers like myself not to worry about anything Trump. It won’t matter if Trump wins. As long as we keep our faith, Trump cannot harm us in any way, because God won’t allow it! Whatever Trump does if he is re-elected will have no effect on our lives!”

The only people who will suffer from the aftermath of another Trump administration will be the people who put him back into the oval office! God is disappointed in these people the most, because they recognized what kind of person Trump was in 2016 when they voted for him. Now they’re praying to God to fix our inflation situation!

I wish I could tell those “Christians” God is blocking their calls, because they have yet to denounce Trump.

Yolanda Averette, Lexington

Real estate lawsuits

I’m surprised that I don’t see more coverage on the lawsuits against RealPage and Yardi - companies with property management software to which landlords outsource rent-pricing decisions and helps them maximize profits - software unavailable to consumers. This couldn’t have anything to do with the homelessness crisis could it? Welcome to the world that technology and humans give us.

Joseph Richey, Lexington

Compiled by Liz Carey