COURT CALENDAR
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 1997:
WILLS BANKRUPT
Former Humane Society of the
U.S. vice president David Wills on August
22 filed for personal bankruptcy. Among his
17 listed creditors were H S U S, which in
October 1995 fired Wills and later sued him
for allegedly misappropriating $93,000; John
H o y t, president of HSUS and Humane
Society International from 1970 until last year,
who is believed to have personally loaned
Wills money; Sandra LeBost, of Royal Oak,
Michigan, to whom Wills agreed in June
1995 to pay $42,500 in restitution and damages
for nonrepayment of loans; and
William and Judith McBride, also of Royal
Oak, Michigan, who are believed to have
reached an out-of-court settlement with Wills
in a similar case involving alleged failure to
repay a loan of $20,000.
HEGINS 1997
New Jersey Animal Rights
Alliance director Angie Metler, 40, and six
other members were arrested on September 2
in Hegins, Pennsylvania, for shackling themselves
together in barrels filled with concrete
and blocking Route 25, the main road through
town for 10 hours in an attempt to keep spectators
away from the 64th annual Fred C.
Coleman Memorial Labor Day Pigeon
Shoot. Shoot organizer Bob Tobash s a i d
about 7,500 people watched 220 shooters kill
approximately 5,000 birds. Reportedly
charged with felony conspiracy, conspiracy to
riot, riot, aiding a riot, reckless endangerment,
resisting arrest, obstruction of a highway,
and disorderly conduct were M e t l e r ,
Kimberly A. Berardi, 20, of Queens, New
York; Janelle E. Soto, 19, of Newark,
New Jersey; Brian G. Smith, 23, of
Brooklyn; Anne Crimaudo, 52, of
Caldwell, New Jersey; and Daniel Thomas
R o t h, 18, of Selden, New York. Similar
charges were believed to have been field
against Christine Allen Matyasousty, 20, of
Milford, Connecticut. There were unconfirmed
media reports that other activists
splashed red paint on cars, trashed Tobash’s
office, slashed tires, and set a car on fire.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
The Massachusetts Office of
Campaign and Political Finance on August
22 announced a civil penalty of $1,500 against
the Ahimsa Foundation and the M a s s a –
chusetts Audubon Society for incorrectly
reporting a contribution to last year’s antitrapping
initiative campaign. Ahimsa gave
Audubon $35,000 in October 1996, which
Audubon by agreement relayed to P r o t e c t
Pets and Wildlife, the campaign umbrella.
Explained OCPF director Michael Sullivan,
“Using another party as a pass-through,
deprives the public of its right to get the complete
picture of who is funding a campaign.”
DRUG BUST
Connecticut Superior Court judge
Norris O’Neill on August 28 ordered the
North American Wildlife Association t o
cease fundraising, after the August 18 arrest at
the NAWA wildlife rehabilitation center in
East Lyme, Connecticut, of director Robert
Salvatore, 49, live-in helper Samuel Libby,
42, Kicking Bear Piper, 16, of Brentwood,
New York, and Aurelius Piper, 18, of
Colchester, Connecticut. State police said
they found more than 50 marijuana plants on
the 25-acre premises, along with about a
quarter pound of actual marijuana, drug paraphernalia,
instructions on marijuana growing,
and about $1,000 in cash. State wildlife biologist
Mark Clavette said 15 to 20 raccoons
and opossums who supposedly lived at the
facility were not found, but the remains of 38
birds and 14 mammals of various species were
retrieved and stored in refrigerators pending
authorization to dispose. “The financial
records of this organization are in disarray,”
Connecticut attorney general R i c h a r d
B l u m e n t h a l personally testified. “Until we
can sort out and account for the funds, it
should not be soliciting additional funds.”
