01/10/10 TEXAS INITIATIVE CONTACT OUR SENATORS!!
A message from Dave and Tracy Barker
Dear Fellow Texans,
Last week Tracy and I met with a member of the staff of Senator Hutchison. He was very interested to hear about Senate Bill S373, the so-called anti-python bill (actually, pythons, anacondas and boas). We gave him a lot of printed information and he listened to what we had to say for over an hour. I feel that he will well represent our interests to the Senator.
However, he gave us this good advice. Politics is a numbers game. Our representatives only know what we tell them, and right now we Texans have not told the local offices of Senator Hutchison anything. We were told that we are the first and only people to talk with any of our Senators local offices on the matter of S373. If that is so, it seems likely that not many have contacted Senator Cornyns office, either. It may be that a lot of you have called the Washington DC office, thats good. Hopefully all of you are contributing to the USARK letter-writing campaign. Based on letters we have seen from Senator Cornyns office, he has taken a position to oppose S373.
Senator Hutchison has not yet taken a position on S373. It is particularly important to call her offices and let her know that we Texans, her constituents, do not favor S373. So we all need to pick up the phone and make a quick call to the closest local office of each of our Senators. Please tell the staff who answers the phone that you oppose S373 and you want the Senator to oppose this ill-advised, Democrat-sponsored bill. If you have a business, if you breed snakes, If you are a vendor or a participant at reptile shows, if you have made an investment in snakes, you need to stress that this bill will hurt Texans and hurt the Texas economy.
Even if you just like these animals, and you feel that Americans should have the right to possess animals, then you oppose S373 and you need to let your Senators know. The point that Tracy and I feel is most important is that S373 is an inappropriate national law for what is a local problem in a small area of South Florida. Any monies generated by S373 will go only to Florida, Texas will not benefit in any way and Texans who choose to keep and breed snakes will be damaged. And please realize that as soon as S373 is voted on in the Senate, then we all face another bill, S669. This law will ban almost all herps from American homes. If passed, even in a modified form, you can bet that most exotic snakes and ALL VENOMOUS SNAKES will be banned.
Even if you personally dont keep pythons, anacondas or boas, realize that if we all dont beat S373 now, we will probably not beat S669. Please call and tell your Senators what you think is bad about S373 and ask them to oppose it. The phone numbers for those offices are listed below. A call takes only a few minutes.
One more thing, please send letters to the USARK campaign, and that means two letters from you, and also letters that you print out that are signed by your mom, your dad, your co-workers, your friends, members of your PTA, your nature centeranybody and everybody you can think of. Go to www.kill-s373.com for instructions and sample letters. We have to get them in the mail this week. We need a lot of letters! Dont fail.
Thanks Dave and Tracy
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
LOCAL OFFICES
Austin, Texas
512-916-5834
Dallas, Texas
214-361-3500
Houston, Texas
713-653-3456
San Antonio, Texas
210-340-2885
Abilene, Texas
325-676-2839
Harlingen, Texas 956-425-2253
Senator John Cornyn
LOCAL OFFICES
Dallas, TX
972-239-1310
San Antonio, TX
210-224-7485
Tyler, TX
903-593-0902
Austin, TX
512-469-6034
Lubbock, TX
806-472-7533
Harlingen, TX
956-423-0162
Houston, TX
713-572-3337