Demand Investigation of Belfast City Council

I am an animal rehabilitator & rights activist in support of the Barnes family of Belfast whose support dog for their asthmatic daughter was killed by Belfast CC. I have strong reason to believe the dog died from abuse while in their care and was NOT euthanized as they claim. Animal abuse is serious and should never be tolerated, or allowed to be covered up when at the hands of those whose job it is to regulate animals.

The Barnes family of Belfast had their labrador/bulldog mix dog, Lennox, who served as a support dog for the family's young asthmatic daughter Brooke taken from them with the accusation that the animal was a dangerous pit bull type dog. Lennox was not a pit bull, and was not dangerous as evidenced by this video http://youtu.be/WZz2V0aCXmI of his behavioral assessment by the very people who deemed him "dangerous."
I believe the dog died from abuse while in Belfast City Council custody and was not euthanized humanely as they claimed. There were reports of sores & hair loss to the dog. The family was not permitted to see the dog, neither was the family's veterinarian. They refused to allow the family to have a moment to say goodbye to their pet before the scheduled euthaniasia. They refused to allow the family to have the dog's body for burial after death, or all his ashes, or even his collar. This all points to a coverup of the dog's condition, & true time/manner of death. And if it is not policy to cremate all animals they euthanize, why would they claim to have cremated just this dog?

The Belfast City Council's behavior in this matter is an affront and threat to all people like myself who work for the humane treatment of animals, and to all dog owners who have to fear if their dog might be taken and killed next. It is a heartache to know that an animal that served not just as a family pet but also as a working dog for a disabled child could be treated in this manner by people charged with the protection of public safety.

I want an investigation  by an independent animal welfare organization into the true day, time, and manner of this dog's death, and if it is found he died from abuse while in BelfastCC care, they must be held legally accountable.

Send complaints & calls for investigation to: ombudsman@ni-ombudsman.org.uk Belfast City govt complaints: complaints@belfastcity.gov.uk onine form: http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/AF/an/default.aspx/RenderForm/?F.Name=UHtY4p6ZRSu

Guess what? You're suddenly in a flood zone! Ka-Ching!

Read the entire Flood Preparedness Newsletter cover to cover and if you ask me, this is nothing more than yet another way for everybody and his brother to squeeze more money out of residents in insurance, permits, certificates, fees, etc. Honest to God, you can't get blood from a stone and in this economy, we are all hurting. The last thing we needed was another charade of impending doom designed to poke another hole in our wallets. One year you're not in a flood plain, the next year you are. And isn't it interesting, looking at the map, at just who is in "Zone X!" Amazing how structures either side of a Zone X property are subject to flood while it isn't. And I love the overly general references to "latest data and science" without citing exactly what was used in these determinations. What data? Whose science? Your stated ultimate goal was to "protect property owners and the community from *risks* associated with flooding." What "risks" are you protecting us from (with a newsletter and added costs), and how are you protecting us, specifically. Bull-hockey! By the way, I already paid my flood insurance premium. There was no 15% discount as claimed in the newsletter. In fact, they charged me MORE now because of this sudden discovery, after all these years, that NOW we are in a flood zone.
After the unchecked growth in population, development, traffic congestion, red light cams that cause accidents ( that's why the state of VA just removed all theirs), noise, rising costs for everything , rising police state attitude among law enforcement & preying on local teens because it's easier than pursuing real crime, fear-stricken residents convinced by flashing "report suspicious activity" signs IN their developments to report innocent neighbors for doing everyday things they've done for years....and now this, it's becoming insufferable to live here. What's next? Drones?

Problem Solved; Thanks Mom!

Thank heavens my Mom had a similar machine to loan me while mine is in repair. Saved time with any learning curve. It's a little different but not much. So, onward and upward on my whitework whole cloth! Center medallion stitched with Vanish for trapunto and now starting surrounding designs. I am determined to have this finished in time for my niece's wedding in August!

No Sewing For Me!

Of course now that I have a project with an actual deadline (and a wedding quilt at that), my machine decided to blow up! Sadly I believe it was the motherboard. Will be 2 weeks minimim before I see it again because the repair tech only picks up new repair orders ONE day a week, Tuesdays, and I didn't learn this until.....sigh.....wednesday. So now I wait a week just to have it picked up, then another week to have it repaired.
Not going to make the wedding deadline now.
POUT.

Ugh!

I know Leah Day says you don't need a long arm machine to do quilting but shoving a queen sized quilt for trapunto-ing in my husqvarna viking Designer SE's tiny opening is more than frustrating. I feel like I'm arm wrestling with it. Of course part of the problem if the poofiness of this batting. This is going to be a loooong summer wrestling with this beast!

Experimenting

While waiting for supplies to arrive that I need for my big trapunto quilt, I thought I would experiment with using colored felt. This is yellow felt under batiste. Have not stippled background yet.

Shadow Trapunto Pillow

For those commenting on my other post with the queen sized trapunto wholecloth project I have just begun, here are pics of a shadow trapunto pillow I had just finished for my son before finding Leah Day's free motion project. He has a bad back and needs firm pillows when he sits or drives a car.

Quilt-O-Mania

I have been a needle-arts enthusiast ever since childhood. I quilt, knit, crochet, needlepoint, and do general sewing. This is both a blessing and a curse. So many people I have met wouldn't have a clue how to sew anything. I was blessed with a mother who thought it important that I know how to sew. When people discover you CAN sew, you become the the go-to source for their creative ideas and dreams. I have two nieces getting married late this year and both have asked for quilts which I of course said I would make, not being realistic about the time involved so now my life and my home have become quilt-o-mania central....even losing a whole bedroom in dedication to becoming the new sewing room. I used to be granted one tiny corner of the living room for my sewing machine. That said, here is a picture of just a quarter of the first quilt top (it's folded and pinned to the bottom of a boxspring...from the bed that USED to be assembled in the guest bedroom. No guests for us!).Don't know if you can see the design drawn on it or not. I will spend today making preparations to begin assembling it for the next step: trapunto.