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 Senator’s local offices on the matter of S373. If that is so, it seems likely that not many have contacted Senator Cornyn’s office, either.  It may be that a lot of you have called the Washington DC office, that’s good. Hopefully all of you are contributing to the USARK letter-writing campaign.  Based on letters we have seen from Senator Cornyn’s 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 don’t keep pythons, anacondas or boas, realize that if we all don’t 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 center—anybody 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! Don’t 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