Retire the puppy mills
Thank you for your well-written story about puppy mills ("Rescue Me," 3/6/09). As a volunteer with the Wisconsin Westie Rescue, I've personally witnessed the agony that haunts puppy mill survivors.
Puppy mill retirees often show signs of physical damage. I've seen broken teeth that must be removed and ear infections that leave normally pink ears permanently scarred.
But it's the emotional pain in these dogs' eyes that you remember. These are dogs who are afraid to come when called; dogs who shake uncontrollably at any sudden noise; dogs who've never played with a toy, gone for a walk or used stairs; dogs who latch on so deeply once they feel safe they won't let their new owner out of their sight. Whatever happens in the mills is so awful, it induces post-traumatic stress disorder.
The dogs can survive and even thrive. I volunteer because it gives me joy to see these dogs bounce back. I've been there and wept when a former mill dog wagged its tail for the first time, then found its bark.
Our group has placed many puppy mill retirees in loving homes with great success. Visit The Amish and Mennonite populations are relatively tiny, so it's natural that most people wouldn't know much about us. We have no monolithic culture that would lead us to disregard the welfare of animals. First, the Amish and Mennonites are two distinct groups, and there is no single culture among us. The vast majority of American Mennonites do not live on farms or engage in animal husbandry, much less dog breeding. Kathryn Kingsbury Linda Falkenstein replies: The article never states that Amish and Mennonites all believe the same things, or that they are the only or even the primary puppy millers in the state. However, rescue groups are active in trying to remove dogs from Amish puppy millers, and the state's only dog auction is run by Mennonites. Rath draws wrath I disagree with the analysis in Jay Rath's article on the Falk/Mistele race ("Falk Lies Low as Mistele Attacks," 3/20/09). Far from making me "wary," I appreciate that Falk's campaign is focusing on Kathleen's record rather than getting into a back-and-forth with the other campaign. If Nancy Mistele wants to say that commuter trains pollute, why is it up to the Falk campaign to refute that? Reporters can report what candidates say, and voters can make up their own minds. The fixation on making this a "fight" between campaigns really does a disservice to the voters. It is this kind of politics and political reporting that I hope we will move beyond. Eileen Sutula Your article on the Falk/Mistele race was misguided in several ways, not least in its assertion that Nancy Mistele has the "momentum." Falk, over the past several weeks, has earned endorsements from Planned Parenthood, FAIR Wisconsin, Clean Wisconsin and the Sierra Club. That's in addition to endorsements from labor, teachers and firefighters and hundreds of elected leaders, including Sens. Feingold and Kohl, Rep. Tammy Baldwin, Lt. Gov. Lawton and Gov. Doyle. Mistele has been endorsed by the Realtors and the builders. There are hundreds of Falk volunteers dropping tens of thousands of pieces of lit every weekend. As for the idea that voters should be "wary" of both candidates, I am amazed. Nancy has a record that should make every Isthmus reader pause: anti-choice, anti-environment, anti-investment in schools, anti-government. Kathleen's values are 180 degrees different: protecting the environment, quality human services, smart crime initiatives, clean energy and clean jobs. The choice could not be more clear. Melissa Mulliken, Campaign manager for Kathleen Falk What about the girls? Appalled! That's the only word that describes my reaction to Jason Joyce's column "Psst...Wanna See Some Prep Hoops?" in your March 13 issue. In a publication that bills itself as Madison's weekly newspaper, Joyce was touting sectional games in the state boys' high school basketball tournament as far away as Milwaukee, Oshkosh and Green Bay. Only the fleeting appearance of the adjective "boys" suggested that there might be a different kind of tournament. Indeed there was! Not three miles away from Isthmus World Headquarters, there was a dandy occurring at the Dane County Coliseum (known to corporatists as the Alliant Energy Center), featuring - gasp! - girls. I suppose it was easy to overlook despite its proximity and low ticket price ($8 per two-game session), since it only involved, y'know, girls and was, after all, only for the state championship. Sure, there's no way Joyce could have known in advance it would be the best girls tournament in the 25-plus years I've been attending them, with the championship games in the four divisions decided by a grand total of only 10 points. I find it almost beyond belief that, 37 years after the adoption of Title IX and a third of a century into the girls' tournament, they still can't get any respect in the state's capital city. Richard S. Russell
