The Animal Foundation - A Group that keeps on Taking

People get weary of being treated poorly. Insiders, normal people who are not in the self-determined upper echelons of groups, are often dismissed or treated as inconsequential and they become very tired of it. Once they reach that point, they speak or they act.

Tired of ill treatment, being "marginalized" (a VERY popular term used by this group for those whom they have no regard and wish to dismiss, put out of business, or nullify) these aggrieved people engage in a private boycott and may even offer up information they have been privy to while inside the organization. Such is the case with the following information from HSCC meeting minutes.

Interesting time line and note how the Animal Foundation repeatedly has taken money from the HSCC - but we don't see that acknowledged, do we?

10/22/02 - Melanie Lattin, City of Great Falls employee, voted liaison between the HSCC & Humane Society Foundation of Cascade County (now Animal Foundation of Great Falls)

02/03/2003 - Melanie Lattin, City of Great Falls employee, President of HSCC. At this point $125,000 of HSCC money was given to the Humane Society Foundation of Cascade County (later HSCC Board would demand this money returned, which it was)

05/19/2003 - Melanie Lattin, City of Great Falls employee, resigns from HSCC, its Board accepts resignation and enters it into minutes

07/02/2003 - Melanie Lattin, City of Great Falls employee, becomes listed on Humane Society Foundation Board (now Animal Foundation of GF)

04/10/04 - Power Point presentation by Animal Foundation (new name) to HSCC Board. HSCC gave the Animal Foundation $8,000 towards their total (as yet undetermined) pledge to help with architect costs. Foundation said that they would be providing and ESTIMATE OF DOG PARK FENCING, drawing and other proposals to the City & are asking City to donate land.

Then you can throw in Gloria LaMott and Dona Stebbins and the circle remains unbroken.

What do we have here in the way of donations by the HSCC to the Animal Foundation?

$125,000 HSCC (returned by demand of HSCC Board)
$8,000 HSCC
$20,000 HSCC

What do we have here in the way of real progress or actual achievement by the Animal Foundation?

Nov 13, 2002 - "Humane Society of Cascade County has formed a foundation to raise money for a new, bigger animal shelter...Foundation President Bob James described the current facility as a territiorial prison. "It's time we provide adequate housing for the animals," James said...The dream shelter could cost as much as $1 million, but a feasibility study is in the works to determine how big they can build...To donate to the foundation, send checks to the Humane Society." (Great Falls Tribune, section: Montana, page: 1M)

Dec 02, 2004 - "The Animal Foundation is currently working with the HSCC to determine the size, services, and fund raising budget for the new animal shelter. Once this decision is made, Mark will provide a preliminary design and revised cost estimates prior to the project being handed off to a local architectural firm." (Sheltering Skies Newsletter, Animal Foundation of Great Falls, Dec 2004/Winter 04, page 2)

April 2005 - Great Falls Neighborhood Council Meeting @ Meadowlark School - "Sally Cerny (Volunteer for the Animal foundation of Great Falls and Chuck Tourtillot Director of the Humane Society of Cascade County provided a Power Point presentation about the Capital Campaign and future plans...The purpose of the Foundation is to provide good care to all pets/animals within the county. Their plans are to build state of the art Animal Shelter and a dog Park. Also they will do on-going fund raising for the Humane Society...they have...identified potential sites for both the shelter and the dog park; consulted with an Architect who designs animal shelters. The are hoping to build a 12,000 sq ft shelter @ a cost of $160/sq ft. The total cost will be about, $2,000,000.00" (see Neighborhood reports online at City site as almost, if not all Councils were visited by Cerny promoting this information during this period.)

June 2005 - Foundation "Speakers Bureau - BOB JAMES, SALLY CERNY AND CHUCK TOURTILLOTT are serving as the Animal Foundation Speakers Bureau. Armed with an informative PowerPoint presentation, either Bob or Sally will accompany Chuck, as theHumane Society representative, to speak to any group that would like to hear more about the Foundation, the plans for the new animal shelter and dog park, and the fundraising campaign. They have already met with the numerous groups in town such as the Electric CityKennel Club, the Lion’s Club, the Realtors Group, the Uptown Optimists, and all the Neighborhood Councils.
If you belong to or are aware of a group that would like
to know more about the Animal Foundation and the animal shelter, call Executive Director Mary Willmarth at 727-6826 to schedule a presentation." (June 3, 2005, Sheltering Skies pg 7)

April 04, 2006 - Let's make this easy, just go to Sheltering Skies and read the same old, same old...We're raising funds. We're working with the architect. We're planning.....

Nov 05, 2006 - "Although the floor plan is not 100% finalized, it is close." Just go to Sheltering Skies - again (pg 1 & 2). Just HOW LONG does it take to PLAN the schematics for a building???

Dec 06, 2007 - "The Animal Foundation has continued to seek assistance from Mark Hafen,
the architect from Animal Arts/Gates Hafen Cochrane in Colorado, who we’ve been working with since we first began this project. Mr. Hafen will be coming to Great Falls in December 2007 to meet with a variety of people to obtain the necessary information to begin designing the actual construction drawings. L’Heureux Page Werner will be the local architect/engineering firm that will design the exterior of the new animal shelter." Ah, hell, here we go again...Sheltering Skies pg 2.... They NOW want 3 MILLION DOLLARS, up from 2.2, for the new shelter.

5 years and still planning. 5 years and animals are still housed in a sub-standard facility. 5 years so that an elitist group can party while our animals die.

I wonder if it's ego for a building that's all twisted steel and sex appeal?

I wonder how they can claim to be FOR animals when they've known for 5 years that we have a problem?

I wonder how they can demand the HSCC donate money to them when the HSCC was grossly underfunded and supposed to be the entity the Foundation was in business to help?

I wonder if the money is there. Is THAT why we experience all the delays?