about petitions vs. individual letters. Will a petition with hundreds of signatures really count much more than a single letter when they finally tally up the votes? Get it right from the "horse's mouth"!

If it turns out that petitions aren't very helpful (compared to individual letters), maybe shows and herp societies could preprint lots of sheets of paper that are "sort of" form letters - already addressed to the proper agency address, and with lines for the sender's name and address, so they won't forget. Then a blank space for them to write, even if just a sentence or two. For those who don't want to think, we could provide a cheat sheet such as "I am against the Federal government regulating pythons and boas because... then give several short reasons that many people have mentioned. They can write their own, paraphrase our ideas, or copy verbatim if they want to. But it would be in their own handwriting on a separate letter, unlike the petitions. They then hand it back to the show or herp society president, and we mail them for them. Then we could get a maximum of individual letters with a minimum of expense and effort.

Maybe the ad in Reptiles could even have something similar to the "form letter" - individuals could tear it out, fill it out, and mail it in. Maybe Reptiles would kick in some space if some were purchased - who knows?

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