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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / February 2004No charges for students and teacher who killed a cat - mail your opinions
Warning: graphic article If anyone else would care to send a mail to the journalist who covered the story and tell him how repugnant you think this is, the contact number is in the article. I took them out of this repost for Usenet so the poor guy doesn't get hit by spammers. http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/01/29/news/local/news02.txt [quote] Prosecutor won't file charges in cat killing :Circumstances found not to be malicious By Casey Santee - Journal Writer POCATELLO - Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman said Wednesday no criminal charges will be filed against Marsh Valley High School teacher Gordon Gillman or his students who killed a cat in a classroom Jan. 16. The Bannock County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation into the incident Monday and handed the case over to prosecutors. "Animal cruelty is a serious crime and it is our policy to diligently prosecute animal cruelty cases when the facts of the case support the charge ... The facts of this case do not support charging the involved individuals with animal cruelty," Hiedeman's office stated in a press release. Witnesses were interviewed and the circumstances surrounding the cat's demise were found not to be malicious, Heideman's office concluded. According to the Bannock County Sheriff's report, the cat was a nuisance in the Vo/Ag class for a few weeks before being cornered by four male students the day of the incident. It then ran toward one of the boys and latched onto his right leg with its claws. He shook his leg until it fell off and ran toward the other two boys, one of whom hit it in the head with a broomstick. The cat fell onto its side unconscious and went into convulsions. According to the report, one of the boys then placed his foot on the cat's neck and told Gillman, who saw it twitching on the floor. According to Gillman's statement, his advice to students at that point was "put it out of its misery." The boy then pushed down harder and twisted his foot, killing the cat. The report also states Gillman's statement to police was consistent with those of the students. "(Gillman) did not at any time ... direct any of the kids to chase the cat or kill the cat," the report reads. Much of the controversy surrounding the incident arose from comments made by Marsh Valley resident Debbie Hawthorne. She said one of the boys involved told her Gillman instructed them to "kill the cat and use brooms or stomp it to death." Casey Santee covers courts, law enforcement and health care for the Idaho State Journal. He can be reached at [number removed for usenet], or by e-mail at [email removed for usenet] [/quote]  Signature-- ~kaeli~ If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success? http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace >The Bannock County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation into >the incident Monday and handed the case over to prosecutors. I generally don't read articles posted about animal abuse. I see too much of it in real life and it upsets me to read it when I can't do anything about it anyway. This one snuck up on me and I am so livid I am shaking. Please, please, just this once, let's *all* speak for those who can't speak for themselves. Write/call the school, the sheriff's department, the DA, whatever and be heard. I have the phone numbers & snail mail addresses for the Sheriff's Department, and the phone number for the Marsh Valley High School. Please e-mail me for them, or you can easily get them yourself through information services. A special place in hell, indeed. Sherry Marsh Valley High School Address: 12655 South Old Highway 91 Arimo, ID 83214-1613 Phone Number: (208) 254-3711 > >The Bannock County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation into > >the incident Monday and handed the case over to prosecutors. [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Sherry I nust have missed this one. Could anyone repost the article? SignaturePanther TEK: Staying On Top Of All Your Computer Needs! www.members.cox.net/catprotector/panthertek Cat Galaxy: All Cats, All The Time! www.catgalaxymedia.com > Marsh Valley High School > Address: [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > > > Sherry http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/01/29/news/local/news02.txt That's sick. The boys and teacher involved should have the same thing done to them. Leave it to the courts to defend those who commit acts of cruelty such as this. No doubt the teacher and the boys covered for each other and lied in order to escape the charges. I am disgusted and outraged! No cat is a nuisance and these a.sholes (putting it mildly) should be fried!! SignaturePanther TEK: Staying On Top Of All Your Computer Needs! www.members.cox.net/catprotector/panthertek Cat Galaxy: All Cats, All The Time! www.catgalaxymedia.com > http://www.journalnet.com/articles/2004/01/29/news/local/news02.txt kaeli tiny_one@NOSPAM.comcast.net alerts us to >...the journalist who covered >the story and tell him how repugnant you think this is, the contact >number is in the article.... >http://www.journalnet.com/articles/ I sent off a letter to the reporter and another one to the editor....first, the article doesn't state why they considered the cat a nuisance (obviously, because the cat was there). Next, it didn't say what, if any, steps were taken to humanely remove the cat. As for the actual event...add the first two (above) plus a question as to why the teacher had no clue that a cornered cat (who was not a pet of someone in the classroom) would not obviously defend him/herself..AND why the teacher had S-T-U-D-E-N-T-S, rather than (duh) animal care professionals or adults who had a clue removing the cat! Regarding the report of the incident where a teacher allowed students to kill a cat while she looked on.... Please read the story (link provided in original post) and write a letter to the reporter AND the editor of the paper. If possible, also write in protest to the idiots who allowed everyone involved - students AND the teacher - to go free. According to the article: 1) Cat was considered a pest for weeks, yet nothing was done for humane removal of the cat. No animal control or feline care personnel were called. I ask: Did the teacher suffer from a mental or physical ailment which prevented her from calling for humane removal? 2) Teacher allowed students - (boys who were unable to have the wisdom/knowledge or mental wherewithall to know which way was up, what was humane or correct) to run wildly around the room - thrashing about - scaring the cat silly - forcing the cat to defend him/herself. When cat defended him/herself, 1-2 of the boys whacked the cat on the head with a broom...WHILE THE TEACHER LOOKED ON!. I ask: If the teacher did NOT suffer from any physical or mental ailment which prevented her from stepping in to stop the infliction of pain & murder of the cat, did this teacher want the cat to suffer in such an inhumane fashion? I also ask, since these two boys demonstrated deviant behavior that is one of the early signs of psycopathic behavior, why were they NOT detained for arrest and/or mental evaluation? 3) Article says "According to the report, one of the boys then placed his foot on the cat's neck and told Gillman, (the teacher) who saw it twitching on the floor." Boy continued to apply pressure - killing the cat. It was claimed that the teacher instructed to put the cat out of "its" misery! I ask again: Did the teacher have a stroke or become a quadrapalegic during the minutes - whether 3-5-10-15-20+ minutes of this horrific incident? If not, then why did she not open her mouth? walk over to yank the broom out of the boys' hands (boys who expect and should receive guidance from a supposed mature thinking adult with a brain)? Why did she not scream aloud or yell S-T-O-P when viewing the cat on the floor and a student stepping on the cat's neck? Why wasn't there a background check to see if she - indeed - abused animals in the past? >Warning: graphic article > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >criminal charges will be filed against Marsh Valley High School teacher >Gordon Gillman or his students who killed a cat in a classroom Jan. 16. Gillman, Gordon 12258 S Dempsey Creek Rd Lava Hot Springs, ID 83246-1531 (208) 776-5623 >The Bannock County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation into >the incident Monday and handed the case over to prosecutors. [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > >-- I hope she dies some awful way very soon and the students, too. I'll be calling that pathetic excuse for a school, possibly harrassing them. f.ckers. Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) Well, I've written my letter. The superintendent of the school system got an electronic copy. I couldn't locate a valid email address for the high school principal, who is named Gary Yearsley. This is the email address I located for Mr. Cox, the superintendent of the Marsh Valley school district: gcox@marshnet.sd21.k12.id.us Have at 'em Judy judith.a.kirk@wmich.edu (Judy) writes >Well, I've written my letter. The superintendent of the school system >got an electronic copy...This is the >email address I located for Mr. >Cox, the superintendent of the Marsh >Valley school district: >gcox@marshnet.sd21.k12.id.us Thanks...This is outrageous. I'm going to write again. << I couldn't locate a valid email address for the high school principal, who is named Gary Yearsley. This is the email address I located for Mr. Cox, the superintendent of the Marsh Valley school district: gcox@marshnet.sd21.k12.id.us >> Cool, thanks for the info. Candace (take the litter out before replying by e-mail) See my cats: http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace "One does not meet oneself until one catches the reflection from an eye other than human." (Loren Eisely) > Warning: graphic article > [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart > http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace I'm glad to see the number of people who are going to take the time to contact authorities about this terrible incident. However, I noticed that several of you are going to complain about "her" (the teacher). The original article identifies the teacher as "Gordon Gillman." This isn't the most important element (the cruelty to that cat is the important point), but it would be better to make it clear that you know who was actually involved -- and also to avoid stereotyping all teachers as "her." MaryL Amazingly, I did not receive a response to my letter of protest - from either the writer or the editor of the newspaper. Nice! > Amazingly, I did not receive a response to my letter of protest - from either > the writer or the editor of the newspaper. Nice! They're probably busy handling letters from local residents. Unless you're a celebrity or otherwise nationally well-known, don't expect them to spend time responding to you. And by the way, how long did you wait for a response? Maybe the response is just a delayed. True, I didn't wait a week. > Warning: graphic article > > If anyone else would care to send a mail to the journalist who covered > the story and tell him how repugnant you think this is, the contact > number is in the article. I took them out of this repost for Usenet so > the poor guy doesn't get hit by spammers. (article deleted) I'm speechless. I'm having nasty thoughts about everybody directly involved with this - including the kids, who are getting away scot-free under the "kids will be kids" cop-out clause. Better yet, is there some way we can get this going for at least something beyond Idaho, IE onto a national newswire or something? For crying out loud, this is simply inexcusable. SignatureDennis Carr - ke6isf@spamcop.net | I may be out of my mind, http://www.dennis.furtopia.org | But I have more fun that way. ------------------------------------+------------------------------- One thing that always gets me about articles like this is that the cat is considered a "nuisance" and is therefore killed. I realize that dogs and other animals are the targets of cruelty as well, but there are way too many people (generally males, sorry but it's true) that think that killing a dog is abominable, but killing a cat is okay. I do wonder though what the animal cruelty laws are in this state. It would seem to me that if you lived in a county that had an animal control department of some kind that you would be required to contact them before taking action yourself. Granted, I live in a city, but we had cats living in the warehouse of our business and removing them was as simple as going to an animal shelter and BORROWING (with a small deposit) an animal trap. You caught the cat, returned it to the shelter with the trap and got your deposit back. Actually, we didn't mind the cats initially because we figured they would be rodent control, but then, being feral cats, they weren't interested in the litter boxes we left out for them and the warehouse got pretty stinky, pretty fast. I was always worried one would get run over by a forklift anyway. I didn't mind taking care of trapping them. I know at least one of them got adopted, because I was going to adopt him myself. One day he was there and the next day when I came to get him they said someone else did :) BTW, depending on how far you want to take this, I would complain all the way up the chain of command. It doesn't end at the principal. He's just the teacher's boss. Write to the superintendant. He's the principal's boss. Paula > Warning: graphic article > [quoted text clipped - 63 lines] > > -- Well this teacher and his students deserve the same fate as they gave this cat. This was disgusting and it seems to me that courts are doing nothing and letting these criminals off scott free and saying it is ok. I have to wonder if the superintendant of that school system shares the same view. There is no doubt that the teacher and his students covered for each other. They are probably now walking the streets as hated individuals. I found what they did deplorable and upsetting and it is sad that courts are willing to support what they did. SignaturePanther TEK: Staying On Top Of All Your Computer Needs! www.members.cox.net/catprotector/panthertek Cat Galaxy: All Cats, All The Time! www.catgalaxymedia.com > One thing that always gets me about articles like this is that the cat > is considered a "nuisance" and is therefore killed. I realize that [quoted text clipped - 92 lines] > > > > -- (snip) > Granted, I live in a city, but we had cats living in the warehouse of > our business and removing them was as simple as going to an animal > shelter and BORROWING (with a small deposit) an animal trap. You > caught the cat, returned it to the shelter with the trap and got your > deposit back. Do you thibnk you should be congratulated for letting the shelter do the dirty work of killing feral cats for you? > Actually, we didn't mind the cats initially because we figured they > would be rodent control, but then, being feral cats, they weren't > interested in the litter boxes we left out for them Did you try putting soil, gravel or other familiar materials in the litter boxes? > and the warehouse got pretty stinky, > pretty fast. Don't you clean your warehouse on a regular basis anyway? Must cats die because they need to defecate? > I was always worried one would get run over by a > forklift anyway. Yeah, there's a chance the cats could have died from being run over. A lethal injection, however, is a much more certain death. > I didn't mind taking care of trapping them. Great. You don't mind killing cats. > I know at least one of them got adopted, Then it wasn't a feral cat. Public shelters don't offer feral cats for adoption. > because I was going to adopt him myself. Then why the hell did you have him impounded in the first place? > One day he was there and the next day when I came to get him > they said someone else did :) More likely they euthanized him without the mandatory holding period. They couldn't admit it because it is a violation of federal law. > BTW, depending on how far you want to take this, I would complain all > the way up the chain of command. It doesn't end at the principal. > He's just the teacher's boss. Write to the superintendant. He's the > principal's boss. Why should a cat-killer like you take issue with other cat-killers? (snip)
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