Hi Mark,
You are probably right about Jim not remembering you- nothing personal I'm sure- but we meet a lot of herpers and while we typically enjoy talking to them we just can't remember everyone.

Regarding Jim and Tim- I'll just say this about your comments: Given unlimited resources and time, we probably would go to legislative meetings in other states. However, taking care of the 1300 animals here takes precedence, and we simply don't have the money, time, or energy to take on every stupid law that gets pushed. We have, however, commented on several laws by letter- particularly one in OH when Tim did make some off the wall comments. Either Jim, myself, or both of us attended all the meetings when KY passed the laws here- and I will tell you there were VERY few other herpers at the meetings, and none other when it was actually passed. Also, I'm not sure if you have attended such meetings yourself, but you can not tell a non-herper that venomous snakes are not dangerous. They are! What we have advocated in the past, and do to this day, is to advocate responsible ownership. KY was not interested in a permit system even though we offered to train their employees for free and to help them out- they were going for a basic ban and that is what they did, though public comment did result in constrictors not being regulated.

The only other thing I will say is that your comment that Jim is not a fighter is about 100% opposite of what he is. I have never seen anyone fight as hard as he does on a daily basis. I'm sorry he doesn't feel the need to constantly fight for people to keep hots-- but in the grand scheme of things its just not that important. Now, trying to find new treatments for disease? That's what we fight for here.

I appreciate your response- especially the fact that you used complete sentences! It seems that is lacking in many forum conversations. I imagine we will still have to agree to disagree, but hey, that's what makes it interesting.

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