Friday, April 29, 2011

We Did It!!!

Florida’s Greyhound Decoupling bill (SB 1594) passed!  25 – 14!

I was fortunate enough to watch today’s Senate session, when SB 1594 was coming to the floor.  Too many late-filed amendments came in.  Really?  The bill has been in the works for a long time, plenty of time to file amendments.  The impression I received from the President was of annoyance.  Rightly so.

They finally came back with a great debate.  Kudos to several senators during the debate.  Senator Sachs summarization of the bill was awe-inspiring!  She addressed every issue, but when it came to what would happen to the greyhounds, she knocked it out of the park!

Reading parts of letters from greyhound adoption groups, she ended with the one from Greyhounds First Coalition.  That is when the tears started pouring. The five largest rescue and advocacy groups signed this letter of commitment.

This is the same group to which I offered my services to help with relocations.

The vote came.  I screamed!  Then, literally started bawling.  I helped fight for this, but no where near as much as others.  But this was personal.

Sadly, I no longer have a greyhound to celebrate this victory with.  But Schemie is an “honorary” greyhound by virtue of “Doggie Days” with Berry’s foster sister and siblings.

We’ll forget the fact that I scared him when I screamed.  Unfortunately, he’s not a hugger, but he accepted kisses.  Then he was so not into it.  Maybe he will be when I order the doggie cake!  Bribery…

Finally, I went downstairs to the family room and picked up a treasured rosewood box with a bronze plaque, adorned with a collar and her Aunt Jen’s bling.

A kiss to the box.  A kiss to the collar.  We did this for you, Berry.  We did this for you and Stoker and Kelsey and Sweetie Pie and so many more.  And we did this for the Ebro greyhounds.

But we did it!

Thank you to everyone who contacted the senators or wrote their concerns about the racing.

We did it…

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