John Gattuso passed away last night. Arrangements are pending.
Thursday May 7.... Just got back from a week in Springfield. Here's the latest.
A.D.W. (S.B.1298) has passed out of House Executive committee and remains
on order of 2nd reading. Will the Speaker let it be voted on? We'll see.
H.B.26 is dead. The new gaiming bill is S.B. 744. It needs alot of work.
I along with all the other horse groups have many problems with it.
to work on the bill. Have a nice weekend.
out of committee today.
May 6... President Cullerton has just told the press that the Senate
will proceed with a major gaming bill, pass it and send it to the House.
will be needed to help fill the 12 billion dollar budget hole. The gaming hearing
is tomorrow at 11am.
in the house this year. The reason he gave was the incident with the former
sign the 3% bill. H.B.26 (delete recapture) is also dead. Our only hope is to have the Supreme Court deny to hear the case
They will decide next Thursday.
had a really good day. We sold over 90 t-shirts for the R.A.C.E. program.
Thanks to all who donated to the cause.
This coming week will be packed with important things for us all. Tuesday
of corrections. Wednesday I will be testifying in committee hoping to pass H.R. 309
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/29/2009
COLLINSVILLE — Lanny Brooks watched his wife, Janice, find homes around the country for retired or injured
Thoroughbreds from Fairmount Park Race Track and had an idea to save even more in an unusual way.
He wants to send them to prison.
With the help of Illinois state Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Highland, Brooks plans to set up a nonprofit organization called Racehorse Alternative Choice Environment. It would give a second chance to horses and inmates.
The Throughbreds would be spared the fate of a rendering plant; the prisoners would develop job skills and a bond with nonjudgmental animals.
"The beauty of this thing, there is no cost to the state. Zero," said Lanny Brooks, executive director of the
Illinois Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association at Fairmount. The organization, representing horse owners and trainers, is offering to pay the bills.
"That's the remarkable thing about this, we can pull off a project which is a
landmark thing in Illinois to not only benefit retired horses, but to benefit the
inmates' lives. And, we can pull it off in a time when the state of Illinois is
$12 billion in debt."
Stephens introduced a House resolution on Thursday, calling for the Illinois
Department of Corrections to start a Thoroughbred horse groomer training
program at the Vandalia Correctional Center, about 65 miles east of St. Louis.
It is a minimum-security institution with about 1,500 inmates.
The prison has more than 1,300 acres for a dairy farm, with barns and fences
that could accommodate horses.
"The grooming of Thoroughbred horses is a skill that can be taught to inmates
and can lead them to a productive life after prison," the resolution (HR0309) says.
Stephens re-emphasized, "The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and the
Illinois Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association will pay all of the costs." That would include feed, equipment and veterinary care.
Usually, racehorses that are injured or just too slow to run are euthanized.
With the program in place, Brooks said, any trainer caught sending horses for
slaughter would lose his stalls at the track in Collinsville.
Brooks said eight other states have similar programs and all have been successful.
One of them uses the Blackburn Correctional Complex, a minimum security
institution in the middle of horse country in Lexington, Ky.
"We teach natural horsemanship here," said Linda Dyer, 55, who has been the
corrections farm manager at Blackburn for two years. "I've been around horses
all my life, so I teach (the inmates) the right way. They learn that it's a better way
to do it in a nice learning environment."
Dyer said local farms are "very happy to hire" the trained inmates.
Brooks said, "Funding is going to be a chore." But he said, "... instead of farming
these horses out to individual places all over the country, I would like to take all
of our horses to these prisons. We'd know where they all are."
He said retrained racehorses could be adopted for use as trail horses, dressage
horses, polo ponies and other purposes.
Nicholas J.C. Pistor of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
April 27... I've just learned that after 17 years of service
to the I.T.B.O.F. Colleen Vesper has been fired. President
Gary Moore gave her no notice and no reason was given
for her dismissal.
Update on Supreme Court case. The case will be
addressed on May 14th and the results will be released
om Monday the 18th.
Thank you all so much. The fundraiser was a great success. We raised over
$8000.00 This money will help a lot of our horses in finding a new home and
a new career. We are so thankful for all that attended and those that helped.
Lenny, Dave, Dan and Christy.
And the special people that did the work in the trenches. Janice, Diane Lamew,
Mary and Colleen from the Breeders office as well as Rachel. I was overwhelmed!
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Attention horsemen! There will be a bible study group that will
meet each Wednesday from 6 to 7 in the H.B.P.A. trailer beginning next Wednesday the15th.
See Charlie Mullins for further details.
The Board certified the following purse recapture
amounts authorized under Section 26(g)(13) of
the Horse Racing Act:
Arlington Park - $4,417,773
Balmoral Park - $2,077,560
Fairmount Park (thoroughbred) - $1,733,128
Fairmount Park (colt fund) - $74,123 ( harness horsemen \
pay this )
Hawthorne Race Course - $3,072,011
Maywood Park - $2,405,487