Colorado Central:
Last fall, I think it was November, or maybe December, you ran a short bit about Tim Ricard in Park County being arrested for 138 counts of animal cruelty. At the time I contacted you regarding the report and you said I should get back to you when the case was resolved. I represented Mr. Ricard in this case.
On May 27th, after a two day trial, a jury found Tim not guilty. The verdict came back in only 45 minutes. Talking about the case after it was over, the jurors said that they found the Park County Animal Control officer's testimony to be "not credible" and felt that the case never should have been brought to trial. Among others, former Chaffee County Commissioner Frank McMurry testified for the accused.
Unfortunately for Tim, his livestock (sheep and rabbits) were confiscated and put down, sold, or adopted out long before the case came to trial. He is now suing the county for restitution.
Please understand that I am as horrified by animal cruelty as many others. But, this was not a case of animal cruelty. Basically it seemed that Park County was distressed because Mr. Ricard chooses an alternative lifestyle where he and his wife live off the grid and raise animals for their family's food and for their wool. Park County (and the State Vet's office) wanted them to keep the animals to pet standards and to have a pet-rearing license. All but a few of the animals were in good health, and those few that were not had normal problems found in any livestock operation.
I am pleased and grateful that a Park County jury had the common sense to find Mr. Ricard not guilty. I hope that people will remember that a jury of his peers found him not guilty and not just remember that he was arrested for animal cruelty.
In response to Hal Walter's Garden article [in the July edition]. I have a lot of lamb's quarter(s) growing in my "yard" but do not want to eat it. Not only does it make me itch if I touch it (I suppose I am allergic to it) but I also notice that neither my horses nor the local rabbits, deer, gophers, etc. ever touch it. They seem so eager to eat other stuff that I TRY to grow - why won't they eat that? About dandelions - they are really only good to eat when they are new. The horses love them then, but are not interested by the time they bloom and start to fluff.
Sweet peas grow wild when there is enough rain, I haven't noticed that the wildlife eat them - does that mean I could grow peas and the four-leggeds would leave them for me? Meanwhile I am having an extended war with the gophers over some apple trees I am trying to start. I have managed to keep the deer away, but no matter how many gophers I gas, more seem to appear. Does anybody have any hints on how to keep gophers away? They are gophers. not prairie dogs.
I am always glad to find Colorado Central in my box and read it faithfully from "The Monthly Magazine for People who" to Hal Walter's column, a perennial favorite. Keep up the good work.
Suzanne MacDonald
Buena Vista