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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0396.000 2016-2018 Murashige, Laura From: Angie Ali <foxywhitetip@gmail.com> Sent: Monday,July 31, 2017 7:51 AM COUNTY CLERK To: Council Testimony COUNTY OAF HAWAI'I Subject: HIHS ongoing �:5 1 LVED p, Attachments: HIHS - Civil Rights.rtf Time By &/ Date L11.1LV ! 2.D17 Thank you for reading and responding to my serious concerns regarding this contract vendor dealing with live animals and their families they are a part of. Angie Ali "To err is human,to forgive canine" ammo No. Ref To: Ref. Dote 2Q?7 1 I am writingto complain of HIHS's violation of manyof mycivil Rights. On 5/23 I received abusive p g treatment by two of the employees there. I was denied volunteering, adoption or fostering. I was interrupted,yelled at, insulted,and mocked by these two staff employees. I have been going to the Keaau shelter and taking photos of dogs since late 2016, posting them for adoption.The rudeness of the staff is always palpable and I am very cautious and quiet when I go. On Friday 5/19 at 1 pm I stopped in at the Keaau shelter to take photos of and volunteer for a few hours.There had been no volunteers and the tiny socialization excercise/photo area was full of poop. Cleaned up, walked,and photographed 6 dogs that afternoon. While I was there, an incident at the adjacent very large well-kept"public" dog park prompted me to seek further help in the organization: When I arrived at 1 pm,there was a man there who let his two large dogs use the park as their own back yard (dogs are suppoed to be attended at all times) while he was cleaning his car, and bringing food inside to the employees. The entire time his dogs were charging the fence at the back area, lunging and barking at the terrified emaciated adoptables I was caring for,socializing and photographing.Then he came over to the back and started badgering me, yelling- how many dogs is that you bring out ? My dogs are bothered ! as he started yelling I turned on my video camera and he walked away,yelling from afar- lets take it to the manager ! this gave me the idea he was friends with someone there. When I finished my work(which is never finished there are so many sad needy souls there) I asked the girls at front about the incident and asked them if I should ask the managers advice,they said he was not available and it was a public park. I also pointed out to them that they had the wrong Pet of the Week advertised- it was supposed to be Nate (the poor abused dog I had just bathed and photographed )They ignored me but when I mentioned it a few times one said she will "take care of it". (actual socialization bathing grooming walking photos etc is all done by volunteers-we bring food, treats, poop bags, and our time and effort)to an organziation that gets over 3.5 million a year. Since the manager did not respond, I called Bebe Ackerman (HIHS volunteer co-ordinator) to schedule An official "volunteer orientation"thinking I could bring this up with her and get her advice on how to handle similar situations. She told me to come on May 23 at 11 for the orientation. When I arrived the day of the orientation 5/23,the two girls at front were not happy to see me as usual. I also noticed the and the sign identifying the wrong Pet of the Week had not been changed. This is important because when a dog is featured then left dirty and emaciated and the wrong picture is advertised for a Pet not even at the shelter, people are confused or disappointed when they come to adopt. When I asked the office staff for the paperwork they said the orientation was full that day and I would have to come back some other time. I told them I spoke with Bebe Ackerman-they looked at each other,then told me to wait outside. I went to visit with the dogs and another volunteer I know. B. Ackerman came out at 11.25 to inform me that the girls told her that the shelter manager has a "problem" with me and also that there was an "incident" with a public park user(which I explained above).She told me they would contact me when she could figure out what s happening as she,had never heard of this issue previously. She did say that it seemed to her I was a "very nice person"who was there for the right reasons, specifically to help the animals.The manager was Not there that day so the two female front desk employees are solely responsible for how they treated me- unless it was under the managers instructions. I was told to leave and not allowed to care for or photograph animals. I know several of the employees there, and I know there have been internal complaints filed against themselves with lots of animosity and vindictiveness.That doesnt preclude any of them from still working there with full benefits and high starting wages. HIHS is currently in lawsuit with another rescue organization since 2015 and there is a GAG order on the case because of death threats to members of the other rescue organization. HIHS has a few token volunteers and one rescue organization they work with, but HIHS are known in this community to retaliate against the individuals and organizations who dare mention anything to them. When I was getting ready to leave that day the two front office women took turns insulting me. I tried to ask about one of the dogs that was Bloody(both paws, entire cage covered in blood) I even pointed this out to Bebe Ackerman and asked her what to do before she kicked me out-she said "go notify staff. thats the proper protocol".Whenever I tried to ask them something,they pick up the phone and sit there holding it, looking away, not making:any calls.When I finally said -can I ask you something?The woman who was pregnant YELLED "Im on the PHONE". It got progressivley worse from there. In my opinion, it is NOT Right for an organziation that is PAID to serve the Public and also deals with innocent animals' lives and the families that they are a part of to conduct themselves in this manner. One of the women literally threw the paperwork at me for fostering that one poor dog. When I filled it out and tried to hand it back she got up and walked to the back and turned her back to me.When I tried to hand it to the other girl,she got up and walked to the nearby fridge and brought out a Large icecream cone back to the front desk.She sat licking this suggesstively while looking at me and ignoring my questions with a smirk,saying"are you talking to me" ?When I brought out my phone to try to video tape this surreal scene, she brought out hers saying'I can do that too,you know" . When I mentioned again that it would be so nice if they could fix the Pet of the week sign,the girl yelled "we dont fix his sign or take care of him because no-one wants him" ! Well,yes,obviously, or he wouldnt be at the shelter, hungry emaciated scared and covered in sores. Doesnt the Shelter need to do its Job ? Unbelieveable behaviors. I noticed a few people outside looking at dogs and that poor Nate had aweful bloody poop in his kennel. One of the Volunteers, Who is gone for the summer, emailed me saying to bring my own poop bags and clean out the poop in the kennels because it is very humilitaing for the dogs and demoralizing for people when someone is trying to view them over a pile of poop, since the staff doesnt do it. It really looked Horrific. I quickly went to pick it up before I left and saw that there were no trash cans around. Noone would look at me or help me, so I HAD to ask those girls again - please where is the trash can . the second girl looked at me with a smirk, rolling her eyes-' "are you talking to me Again ?' By then I had the bloody discharge running down my hand , so I threw the bag in the nearest trash receptacle by the front door and left immediately to wash myself out by my car because it seemed that this woman in the office was about to lunge at me. I strongly feel that I am unable to get any services from the shelter. The problem this poses for me is Four-Fold -First I am unable to access basic services such as Spay/Neuter, Licensing, Replacement Tags, 'calls for services to the community,a found dog I try to locate owners of or any other services related to my animals here because of HIHS discrimintaion.They refuse to ineract with me and provide me with the services they are paid to do.They have made it impossible for me to go to that shelter unless I have someone with me and a camera running at all times. -Lack of proper care for shelter animals. There are violations everywhere and no one reports them because of fear.As someone with Chihuahua AKC registered showdogs, large rescue dogs and conducting non-profit work,this becomes a real problem for me. I am unwilling to be bullied by HIHS and let them have their way with these poor animals. I need to be able to go in whenever needed to photograph, check on,walk, socialize and groom animals. The volunteers are the ones who do this. The staff does not. With HIHS combining funds from their 501c3 PLUS their county contract,totaling nearly 3.5 MILLION a year, I feel they should be held accountable for this type of behavior. Further,the organizations' standards for ALL hiring state "reports directly to Shelter Manager and willing to learn and follow HIHS protocols for animal handling and maintaii ing confidentiality" which means you have to sign non-disclosure and be secretive about what is happening with/to our family pets and community's neediest animals and members of the public as well as internal weakness issues within the organization. -Behaviors of Shelter Manager Greg Pinkney,and the staff is incredibly rude and dismissive.When I ask for help or ask any questions,they become verbally abusive or,at best, ignore me. When I asked Greg if he would put up the Chaining Flier at one of the boards at the shelter, he became incredibly rude. This is in violation of their policy of public education and working with the public.At that time, he even refused to give me his name or business card and turned his back to me as well. He did thank me one time for my help there but that was the only time.They do not want any improvement or input from anyone and will violate people's civil rights because they have been able to do so for a long time. -I am very Fearful of retaliation against me and my animals by HIHS. Many people have told me horror stories of their retaliation. I am concerned about Retaliation from HIHS and need Whistleblower protection for myself and my Animals thi i is one reason I would like this on record. I believe the retaliation/discrimination may be stemming from the incident when HIHS-Waimea refused to return my dog to me stating"Get in Line, plenI y of people want this dog" and called the police to remove me from their shelter ! I have since found out that the Keaau Shelter Manager Greg Pinkney runs a "chihuahua Farm" nearby with his partner Gerald and may be the one who ended up with my rare chihuahua,since HIHS would not even answer my attorneys' calls.