Is it time to over turn Vermont's ban on Elephants?

[jimmy olsen]

I say yes.


http://www.wptz.com/news/22240783/detail.html

Elephant Ban Among Vermont's Statehouse Action
Legislation Runs The Gamut

POSTED: 6:32 pm EST January 14, 2010
UPDATED: 10:10 am EST January 15, 2010

MONTPELIER, Vt. --
In a year dominated by a mammoth state budget crisis, statehouse lawmakers have found plenty of other causes to sponsor.

"You know the old saying, 'Every bill is important to somebody or it wouldn't have been introduced,'" Gov. Jim Douglas said Thursday.

The new proposals now pending cover everything from allowing Mom and Pop stores to sell hard liquor -- to requiring "chain restaurants" to publish nutritional information on menus. One would up the penalty for "super speeders" while another would force hunters to wear blaze orange while out in the woods.

All are given a number and a name, and those too, sometimes raise eyebrows. S.153 is called "An act relating to preventing conviction of innocent persons" -- who'd oppose that?

"This has to do with preservation of evidence, particularly DNA evidence," explained Sen. Dick Sears, the Bennington Democrat who chairs the Judiciary Committee. That panel on Thursday was enmeshed in testimony on another new bill -- forbidding "human trafficking" in Vermont, a state that outlawed slavery in its Constitution.

But, Sears said, Vermont remains one of a handful of jurisdictions without specific legislation targeting those who exploit illegal immigrants and migrants workers, pointing to a 2004 case in Essex Junction where police discovered Asian women here illegally who were forced to work in "massage parlors" until authorities broke up the operation.

The absence of a modern statute "puts us at huge risk, because traffickers look for states that are less likely to prosecute" said Liz Tedrick-Moutz of Morrisville. Her group, Vermont Coalition Against Slavery Today, testifies before the Committee Friday.

Other proposals would forbid public schools from reopening each year before summer is actually over, defined as post Labor Day -- while another would impose sales taxes on a Coca-Cola -- and all other soft drinks, bottled waters, and candy bars.

Yet the bill that is causing Rep. Dick Lawrence of Lyndonville some grief this winter is H. 468, "An act relating to the importation of elephants."

Turns out Vermont banned circus elephants from the summer fair and field days circuit a decade ago, out of concern the animals might bring tuberculosis into the state. Lawrence, who works the Caledonia County Field Days each summer, believes TB testing would allay those fears.

"We think it has merit, promoting tourism in the State of Vermont," Lawrence said, "giving us, the fairs and field days operators the opportunity to bring in the entertainment we would like."

The bill's now before the Fish and Wildlife Committee.

[Razgovory]

No.

[Pat]

Depends.

[Josquius]

Its cruel to have circus elephants, I didn't realise circuses (circii?) still had elephants due to all the animal protection laws.

[grumbler]

Vermont is a Failed State, so it matters not what their laws say.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Elephants could aid in the maple harvest.

[jimmy olsen]

Its cruel to have circus elephants, I didn't realise circuses (circii?) still had elephants due to all the animal protection laws.

How is it more cruel for a circus to have an elephant than all the other animals they keep?

[Duque de Bragança]

Its cruel to have circus elephants, I didn't realise circuses (Latin plural would be circi) still had elephants due to all the animal protection laws.

Fixed it for you

[Grey Fox]

How is it cruel?

[derspiess]

Vermont can do what it wants, but I wouldn't want their kind in *my* neighborhood.

[Ed Anger]

Timmay should be made part of a donkey show.

[KRonn]

No, keep the ban. We in Massachusetts, just next door, don't need those pesky Vermont elephants running loose all over our state, again!! 

[Razgovory]

Vermont can do what it wants, but I wouldn't want their kind in *my* neighborhood.

Pie eating Vermonters or Elephants?

[garbon]

Timmay should be made part of a donkey show.

Who would want to see that?

Oh....Brain.