Your Postal Service

It used to be that certified mail and proof of delivery was unheard of, but that was when the postal service actually did what was expected of them—what they were paid to do—what the consumer was paying for. The cost of postal service continually goes up and the service received continually goes down as the postal service continues to hire unqualified individuals. The testing standards must have been lowered substantially to get some of the winners handling and delivering our mail today. It's not being racist to weed out stupidity or inability or laziness. Although I see it far to regularly, I never cease to be amazed at the poor quality of service we see in the government-run postal service today. Most recently, I sent an important document. I had to pay the postal service extra to prove to me that they had done their job. I had to pay for certified mail and I had to pay to have the little green card mailed back to me supposedly showing me to whom the document had been delivered and when. That shouldn't be too hard. Make the recipient sign for the envelope, have them print their name under the signature and fill in the date delivered. I received the little green card back some weeks after I had sent the package. There was a signature on the card. I couldn't read it. There was no printed name below the signature so if I ever do have to question the receipt, I won't know who received it and, even more importantly, there was no date of delivery. This was a time sensitive document and , although I paid for adequate proof of delivery, without a date, I have no proof that the document was received in a timely manner. If this had happened in private industry, we would be able to track the employee responsible for this omission and, if this had happened in private industry, the responsible party would have been at least reprimanded if not fired for his or her haphazard job performance but, since the employee is a government employee, his or her identity cannot or will not be traced and there will be no consequence to anyone except to the consumer who paid for a service that wasn't ultimately received. There is accountability in private industry. There is no accountability within the postal service. I can complain and complain but I won't even be offered my money back for the service I paid for but didn't receive. Another great idea the government had to suck in more of our hard earned money was “guaranteed delivery”. If you pay this outrageous price we will guarantee delivery by this date—except where this offer isn't valid, and except when the day in question is a weekend, and except this and except that. They'll still gladly take your money for “guaranteed delivery” but they don't guarantee delivery! When rural route postal drivers have a package that must be signed for or is too big for the postal box, they used to take a moment and actually try to deliver the item. Now they may put a notice in your box that you must go to the post office and pick up what they were paid to deliver. Sometimes they are too lazy to do even that. You either have to be standing out at the box waiting for the mail in case there's something to sign for or something else the paid delivery person can't handle or you must have ESP and just “know” there is a reason to go check with the post office. Again, in private industry, if the employee is being paid to deliver a package, that employee WILL deliver the package. The US Postal Service has the US Postal Inspectors to “protect the postal system” from the very people that pay for it. Who protects us from being ripped off by the Postal System?? Thank God for email.

Donating Your Hard Earned Money

Dear Editor, Published: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:49 AM CDT Southside Messenger, Keysville, VA As the director of a non-profit organization, I ask for donations all the time. Times are tough for everyone and many people are cutting back on their charitable giving. If you are going to give to an organization this year, please make sure the organization is really a legitimate non-profit organization. If they are not, you may be giving your hard earned money to a fraudulent company and although you may take the deduction on your tax return, you are risking the IRS checking your return and finding that the organization does not have tax-exempt status and your deduction is not valid. Nobody wants to tangle with the IRS! If you are considering a contribution to an organization that you have not dealt with before, take some precautions. Ask to see their IRS non-profit determination letter. Ask to see their state letter granting permission for them to solicit funds. Look up their charity on the IRS website, www.irs.gov. Ask to see their latest IRS form 990 or their latest annual financial statements. Non-profit organizations must make these available for the public. Don’t just assume that since they have a lot of animals and a name that they are legitimate. There have been one or two new people popping up lately begging for donations and trying to “adopt” out animals for a fee. If they aren’t a legitimate charitable organization, they are just selling you an animal, an animal that will probably be a headache down the line. Some of these new “organizations” have little to no animal handling experience. Since they are also operating on a shoestring, ask to see the animals’ veterinarian records, shot records, and in the case of horses, training records, etc. Also, rescue organizations should not be breeding animals to sell the young, be it puppies, rabbits, etc. The idea is to stop the overpopulation - not perpetuate it. Just because they have made up a business name and say they have a federal ID number, don’t assume that they are legitimate. Anyone can make up a business name and get a federal ID number over the internet at no cost. That doesn’t mean they have actually formed a legal entity of any kind. One local “organization” has a large sign on their property and a sign on their truck claiming they are a rescue and asking for donations and volunteers. They may have a collection of horses, but they are not a legitimate non-profit organization. And the horses suffer further under this person’s care. This particular organization just had a horse seized by the US Equine Rescue League! It is actually illegal to solicit funds without the proper paperwork in place and it is illegal to claim or lead people to believe that you are a non-profit organization if you, if fact, are not. If possible, look at their website. Ask for references. The people who are not legitimate are not only hurting the animals they are collecting, they are hurting legitimate organizations, making people leery of making a donation. Georgette Richie, Director NEFCAS, Inc. Never Ends Farm Companion Animal Sanctuary 695 Meherrin Rd Meherrin, VA 23954 neverendsfarm.com

The Plight of the Virginia Hunting Dogs

In no other state is the hunting dog treated so poorly. The hunters in other states take good care of their hunting dogs – regular veterinary care, cool in the summer, warmth in the winter, plenty of fresh clean water to drink, good quality dog food on a regular basis, and a clean pen in which to stay that is big enough that they can get adequate daily exercise. Hunting dogs in Virginia get none of that. Virginia hunters don’t treat their hunting dogs as anything but a tool. If the dog gets injured, it gets no veterinary care. If the dog gets old, they usually drop it off somewhere and forget about it. The dogs live in small dirty makeshift cages or on leashes so short they are unable to move. Just the other day, a friend of mine watched two hunters pull over to the side of the road on route 360 in Prince Edward County and take an old, malnourished and obviously ill dog out of the truck and just drop it by the side of the road. As I prepare this article, a dog appears in my yard looking lost and confused. After checking things out, she takes perch in the back of our pickup and rests there comfortably. After she had a nap, I went to check her out. She had recently had pups, she was very thin and weighed about half of what she should. She had no collar. She smelled just awful, had gnats all around her and was literally covered with ticks. And she had someones call letters painted on her side. I gave her something to eat and drink which she really enjoyed. Although she was very laid back – and that’s putting it mildly – she was also very nervous – every little noise made her jump and cower. Her tail stayed between her legs. I gave her three bathes before she finally came clean. I dipped her and the fleas were diving off her in droves. I put Frontline on her and proceeded to pick the ticks off. She sat very patiently while I did this, happy I think, for a little kind attention. After a while she sought out a cool spot and took a long nap. The mentality in general in Virginia as far as animal welfare is a little “off kilter” to say the least. I had a woman say to me recently that her female dog keeps getting pregnant because the people across the street with a male dog refuse to get their dog neutered. Hello? Why isn’t your female dog spayed? The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was, in July of 2008, debating on whether to continue to allow hunting with dogs. A Cumberland County Board of Supervisors Chairman, Bill Osl, was quoted in the local newspaper as saying that “The Cumberland County tradition of hunting with dogs is a wholesome family oriented heritage that teaches self reliance, individual responsibility and the values of community stewardship of our God given natural resources.” WHAT??? The hunting animals in Cumberland County are among the worst cared for animals in the area. The “family oriented heritage” seems to teach the young that these poor animals don't need to eat properly, don't need adequate housing and shelter from the elements, don't need proper veterinary care, can be ignored at all times except when they are “needed” to hunt, and are disposable. If these people were any kind of decent hunters, they wouldn't need the dogs to run the hunted animal out to the hunters. Virginia is always looking for another way to suck revenues out of the people. “Abusive driving fines.” How about fines for people who don’t take care of their pets? When one elects to have a pet, that pet becomes a dependent. If one neglects their children, they are fined, jailed, constantly monitored by the state, the children are removed from the house and they aren’t allowed to have any more. We should do the same for people who treat dogs, whether they are hunting dogs or pets, as disposable sources of entertainment. At the end of hunting season each year, there are dozens of abandoned, skin and bones, flea ridden hunting dogs roaming the country roads, hoping for a warm place to sleep and a bowl of food. They didn't do anything to deserve this treatment. The hunters of Virginia should be forced to learn to hunt without the help of a dog to do all the work for them. The hunters of Virginia should be forced to live in the manner in which they make their animals live. The dogs of Virginia should be allowed to have one shot each at the hunters that treat them so poorly after they do everything they can to please their “masters”. Hunting with dogs in Virginia should be banned.

Alpaca's - The Real Story

Thinking of getting into alpacas? Think again. Thinking of getting out of alpacas? Good luck. The cost of these animals is being outrageously inflated. The people that are buying are the newcomers—the people that believe the television advertisements about a better life and are sucked in by the hype that has been created by the alpaca industry. The people that are selling are the ones that are creating and perpetuating the hype (the people with the high dollar animals) or the people who have found out the truth (the people with rock bottom prices). The people that are trying to get out of the industry are finding out that you can’t find a buyer unless you find a newcomer to whom you are willing to lie as you’ve been lied to. They are finding that these animals aren’t worth the money they have invested in them. It’s just like the ostrich craze several years ago. The hype went on and on and now ostriches are a dime a dozen and that is where alpacas are heading as well due to people “claiming” that they have received or paid those outrageous amounts of money for these animals. When you ask these people what makes them worth so much money, they say fiber or offspring or confirmation or bloodlines. Confirmation and bloodlines are only as good as the industry deems them to be. The offspring, too, are only as valuable as the market is willing to pay. I have not found a soul interested in their “lustrous fiber”. You have to pay the alpaca industry’s “fiber pools” to take the fiber. And they are very picky as to what they will take and when they will take it. Isn’t that something? You shear the animals, or pay someone to shear them for you and then pay someone to take it. They take your money and your fiber, and then they turn it into yarn and sell it. Or, there are companies out there who, for another fee, will take your fiber and spin it into yarn and send it back to you. I have found nobody interested in paying enough for this yarn to even cover the cost of spinning it. Look on E-Bay. Nobody wants this yarn. Just as the animals aren’t worth their cost, neither is the fiber, whether it is raw fiber, yarn or finished product. The cost of the yarn is prohibitive and the related cost and the impracticality of the finished product are equally prohibitive. The television advertisements are such a joke. Most alpacas aren’t friendly. They aren’t clean. They stink. They are impossible to deal with. They kick, spit and, although they only have two teeth, they bite. You have to practically abuse them to do their toenails, get their weight, or shear them. Good luck trying to find a veterinarian willing to deal with them. And you can’t “retire to the country” and live off alpacas! The only people I know that have alpacas have another substantial source of income to support the alpacas. Whatever equipment or supplies you need to buy, if it is especially for alpacas, the cost has been doubled. If you buy a special alpaca poopy scooper it’s about twice as much money as a regular poopy scooper which is the exact same thing you can buy at Tractor Supply, Pet Smart, or several other places. If you buy an alpaca leash it’s about twice as much money and the same exact thing as a CAT leash. The cost of advertising in one of those high gloss expensive looking alpaca magazines is prohibitive to anyone who doesn’t have another substantial source of income. The Alpaca Registry is another joke. The registry is manipulated by a very small group who control while hiding behind “officers”. When an “officer’ tries to actually do something and do it right, he is instantly removed from office and replaced with a better puppet. Their “standards” vary as necessary to suit their needs. Blood typing can apparently be bought, as can anything, if you want to pay the price. The Registry isn’t there for the alpaca owners and breeders. The Registry is there for that small group I mentioned earlier and they charge dearly for every “service” they offer. You can’t even look up an animal’s background without paying to be a member. The successful sellers of alpacas are the sellers that are able to trick you. Most farms don’t want you to drop by unannounced. When you go for your scheduled appointment to see the alpacas, the owners have already captured them and put them in a small containment, oh I’m sorry, “visiting” area. You didn’t see what they had to do to get them there. You may not have seen them sedate the animal either. The woman in Butler, Maryland that I bought my alpacas from is unwilling to buy them back at any price, let alone the prices I paid when she sold them to me! When asked to explain why, she has no answers. I ask, ‘if they were this valuable when I bought them, why are they less valuable now?’ She cannot answer me without incriminating herself and being caught in over-inflating the price when she sold them to me! She said “the market is going through a ‘correction’”. She said that I live in a ‘remote area’. Wasn’t that the idea? If these animals were so valuable and so “special” then and I was given “such a good deal” and the owner “just hated to part with them” then, you would think she’d jump at the chance to have them back, especially at a reduced price. No, she said “she is reducing her herd”. Others have been told that she’s getting out while the getting is good. I have been told by two different alpaca brokers that these animals are not worth anywhere near what I paid for them. The seller had no comment on that either. One of the alpacas that this woman in Butler, Maryland sold to me was 12 years old. She neglected to mention that the industry norm is to stop breeding these animals when they are about 13 or 14. She also forgot to mention that this animal is completely impossible to handle and has to be heavily drugged to do anything with her. She also wasn’t there to help me load this completely unruly animal. She must have forgotten too to mention to me that this breeding female had only delivered two other cria that lived in her 10 year breeding history. When confronted with those items, she had nothing to say. She tried to tell me that this particular alpaca had had several other live cria’s but that they hadn’t ever been registered, but I should trust her, that she knew this was right. And what other reason do I have to trust her? The conclusion of a research paper published by the Agricultural Issues Center at the University of California in 2005, which examined the US Alpaca industry, determined that “the current prices are not supportable by market fundamentals and that the industry represent the latest in the rich history of speculative bubbles.” Thinking of getting into alpacas? Think again. Thinking of getting out of alpacas? Good luck.