Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Commissioner Halkiotis: Well, what you may inherit, you may not be able to <br />control. That's just part of life, just be thankful when you wake up tomorrow morning. I <br />want to just reiterate what Barry just said, and I think it's critically important that there <br />needs to be another piece to this that has to bring some folks to a table and bring some <br />closure to some issues. And some people are going to have to give up some things and <br />some people are going to have to pick up some things. If there is anybody that can do <br />this work and do it well, it's Andy. We gave him his birthing money many years ago to <br />get that group going. And he's been very successful, and I've had an opportunity to <br />work with him on a couple of projects. He's taken same people who have been at same <br />extreme positions, and through a very interesting process, and a lot of it is his <br />personality and his skill level, and I'm firmly convinced a lot of the things he does you <br />cannot teach people to do. You are born with those things, they are flowing in your DNA <br />chain, and you're in his chain. I think he can accomplish many of the things that Barry <br />just spoke about. Because if he can't, nobody can. And then the other option is in the <br />end, is what Moses just said. We have a statutory responsibility. And I'm prepared to <br />move forward on that statutory responsibility. I've talked about this on numerous <br />occasions over the years. There comes a paint in time where the debates have to stop, <br />everybody has to give up some things, pick up same things, and we have to move on. <br />And I think what Margaret said earlier is critically important. I also see the whole issue of <br />euthanasia as a significant piece to all of this. The philosophies are apparent in <br />discussions I've had with people. The one option is to take these animals out of the <br />picture when you've got disease that's rampant. And another group, save the animals at <br />all costs. I'm not going out and putting animals to sleep. I'm not going to engage in <br />either argument. I can see both sides. But when the argument is so pervasive and rips <br />the program to the length that it's ripped it, there's a point in time we have to make a <br />decision and we're going to have to say it's all going to stop, and then we need to move <br />on with it. That's just decision time, and it comes at the end of the road. That's the last <br />option, the five of us. Or the four, and the one with a broken foot who shall return, and <br />then the decision will be made. <br />Commissioner Brawn: Having a person come back and defend or answer <br />questions about the report is something we want to do. I think it would probably add <br />maybe $800 to the total cost. <br />Rosemary Summers: They said they were willing for us to shop around for the <br />lowest rates for them to come back. <br />Public Comment <br />Chair Jacobs: We have two people who signed up to speak. I just encourage <br />you in the interest of time to be as brief as you can. Elliot Cramer, followed by Judith <br />Reitman. <br />Elliot Cramer: I am glad that this is left in the hands of you five people, because <br />I trust the judgment of you five people. But I am concerned that the problems are not <br />going to be solved by this review because I think the problems are much more than <br />mere differences of opinion. I'm sure you read in the newspapers of the latest actions of <br />the APS board. I believe that the officers and board of APS are guilty of malfeasance in <br />denying my request to review and copy the membership list and illegally changing the <br />bylaws, taking voting rights away from the membership. They have been aided by their <br />attorney, whose practice, I understand, has been mostly devoted to criminal matters, <br />