COMING & GOING

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 1998:

Rick Obernesser, 42, chief ranger at
the Cape Cod National Seashore from 1993
until February 1998, and assistant chief ranger
at Yellowstone National Park since then, was
on August 5 elevated to chief ranger at
Yellowstone. Obernesser succeeded Dan
Sholly, 52, who was demoted and transferred
to a lesser post in south Florida for allegedly
sexually harassing his former secretary, Susan
Perkins, after her husband Rory, also a
National Park Service employee, was killed in
an accident. Perkins said the incidents began on
September 5, 1997, the morning after Sholly
and his wife took her to dinner. Assigned to
investigate the case, Glen Canyon Dam
National Recreation Area chief ranger Tomie
Lee testified at a June hearing that Sholly at first
denied Perkins’ claim that he French-kissed her,
and accused Perkins of heavy drinking, but
added that Sholly later said his tongue might
have entered Perkins’ mouth by accident.

USDA Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service acting administrator C r a i g
A. Reed and chief veterinarian Joan Arnoldi
were on July 24 promoted to permanent administrator
and assistant administrator, respectively.
Andrew Rosenberg, who was
Northeast regional administrator for the
National Marine Fisheries Service, has been
promoted to second-in-command at NMFS.
Donald J. Williams of Ocala,
Florida, president of The Cat Fanciers’
Association from 1986 until 1994, was recently
returned to the presidency despite winning just
213 of 519 member clubs’ ballots cast.
Incumbent Craig Rothermel and challenger
Loretta Baugh split the remaining votes, 162-
144. Formed in 1906, the CFA includes more
than 650 member clubs around the world. It
sanctioned 429 cat shows during 1997-1998.
Humane Society of Greater Burlington
executive director Connie Howard, previously
executive director of the C e n t r a l
Vermont Humane Society and a past president
of the Vermont Federation of Humane
S o c i e t i e s, is to join the American Humane
A s s o c i a t i o n on August 25 as senior director of
shelter programs.
Summit for the Animals m e m b e r s
have voted to hire the Animal Rights Network
to produce the next of the annual series of “summit”
meetings of animal rights organization
executives. The only other bid came from
Doing Things For Animals.
Al Fontana on July 16 quit his
$97,225-a-year post as director of the M i a m i
Metrozoo, after 21 years on the staff. Named
director in December 1994, Fontana was reportedly
in constant conflict with the Z o o l o g i c a l
Society of South Florida, which has hopes of
taking over and revamping the city-run zoo.
Attendance at the aging facility fell from
830,000 in 1986 to just 460,000 in 1996.