Today I am thankful for the Aurora Colorado Shelter Employee telling her friends about a legal case and letting them bash their legal foe in social media with information only an insider could have!
Whoa!!!
This is insane.
Perhaps I need to jump back into politics.
If something upsets me this much, I may as well put a stop to it.
Let me explain how this went down.
I'm friends with numerous animal advocates from across Colorado.
I'm beginning to see the results of this individual's information come across my Facebook feed. I've seen it for several days now.
Apparently, this person friended the dog owner who is suing the city, got a lot of personal information and then ran to Facebook with screenshots to smear the victim.
How in the world is this going to help the city's case?
Does the City Attorney approve?
Probably not.....he seems like he has scruples.
Some of the information this employee and her friend shared is wrong. She claims it's illegal to "fake a service dog."
Yes and no.
I mean, Colorado has a new law on the books stating that private business owners don't have to accept your non-service dog onto their premises. For this reason, they can only inquire as to whether or not the service animal performs a task for you that assists you with a disability.
That's what faking a service dog means. That law is intended to keep healthy pooch owners from bringing their dogs into the food lines at restaurant buffets.
It's not intended to discriminate against dog breeds. That law most certainly does not apply to one's own home.
"Faking a service dog"....seriously.....you've got to be kidding me.
Service dog....well, that phrase is a little weird.
My neighbors' dogs provide a service to me. They make me sneeze. I'm deathly allergic to them. I get so swollen that my wrinkles pop out. That's the best time to smear glycolic acid on them.
Dogs are awesome. Is there anything they can't do?
Wrinkle removal, that's a service. The question is whether or not that service helps me with a disability.
Vanity is not a disability so far as I can tell so I cannot claim any pup to be my service dog. The prohibition against bringing fake service dogs into public spaces helps me breathe easier because it minimizes my exposure to those wonderful allergens.
Getting back to the point, this woman claims the defendant is faking a service dog because it wasn't registered with the city.
Um.....the ADA forbids cities from requiring that service dogs be registered.
I addressed one of the posts.
I shared it to my wall with a message.
That message is
1.) Municipalities cannot force the registration of any service animal. They can only require that the owner follow all licensing and vaccination requirements.
This is, in part, due to HIPPA. As a therapist, I cannot let on that anyone has contacted me, let alone tell anyone why. HIPPA protects individual's private health information. A municipality has absolutely no business inquiring about the reason someone has a service animal.
It would be akin to me running up to a client in a grocery store and saying
"Way to win over your cougarish sex addiction, Mrs. Robinson! Tell me, how is Ben? "
TMI -
It's nobody's business.
Seriously......
Read it and weep:
https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html
This may be the means by which pit bull advocates overturn the breed specific legislation. It cannot exist without violating the ADA.
2.) It's shameful that employees are running around spreading confidential information about an open case. They are harassing the other party.
Aurora can fine employees who behave this way.
I don't like the fines. I'm trying to warn this person.
In this case, the information can cost taxpayers a bundle in the event of a lawsuit. This person needs reigned in. My concern is that if she is taking this to the point of bullying someone online and sharing private information, it is evidence that she's done something wrong.
There needs to be an investigation.
In my experience, this type of bullying only occurs when someone is insecure.
Why would she be insecure?
What did she do wrong?
I guess I could print everything out and put a buzz in someone's ear. Maybe if the staff is confronted, the perpetrator would blush and be found out.
The writing style is feminine. I think it's a woman. My understanding is that it was a female officer that wrongfully took the animal.
My bet is that it's her. It could also be the woman that runs the shelter, too. I'd need to hear both of them talk for awhile to determine whose speaking style best matches what I'm reading.
Geesh!
I never understood how government employees could get away with being so childish. In fact, while cleaning out my basement, I found a 18" stack of papers with court documents filled with lies about me from city employees....
city employees who had never met me....
but would learn about me just a few months later because I threw my hat in the ring.
I can only imagine how much that would hurt if I had a disability that was shunned and had my private life spilled all over Facebook.
I was diagnosed with a disability. I am in denial of it so the Aurora City Attorney's mockery of my fibromyalgia didn't phase me. I had a lot of chest pains. I fainted a lot back then. I only learned recently why. I have another issue that doesn't quite raise to the level of a disability.
It's easy to control.
I was only harassed on the phone, in newspaper forums and in legal documents. Code enforcement had a bit of fun, too.
I couldn't imagine what I'd have done if city employees took away an animal I depended upon for survival and had their friends libel me on social media.
I'm disgusted by what I'm seeing.
I know the tactic. They're trying to wear their opponent down with harassment and slander.
It has to stop.
How much are taxpayers paying these employees to behave like this?
It MUST stop.
I pray the posts aren't being made from the municipal building or the animal shelter.
3.) If none of my friends run for a council seat, I WILL. I have four Facebook friends who ran in the past. If they run, I won't.
At this point, we are letting people who screw up bully their victims to try to silence them.
I hate that game.
It's a humiliating game.
It's an expensive game.
It reminds me of all those phone calls and court documents I used to get from certain city employees telling me that I faked heart attacks, that it was time for me to get a damn job because I had a master's degree, that this vegetarian ate too many cheeseburgers
and so on and so forth....
Lies and games are expensive to the tax payer.
Lucky for them, I'm a hypnotist.
I found the game fun.
It was funny having an eight hour covert hypnosis session with expensive lawyers.
They told me a lot about the wrongdoing at the city.
Other people won't be so amused.
I pray they knock it off.
I only need 100 signatures to take a stab at an at-large seat.
It's only 50 for a council seat.
That's it. I could have that in a matter of hours.
I have until August to decide. I have far too many hats, I won't mind losing one.
Maybe Aurora needs someone on the council unafraid to ruffle feathers.
I wish they'd do it now. I wish they'd speak up.
They know right from wrong.
I'm shocked they won't fight for what is right.
A government making laws should know enough to honor the laws of the land.
It sets a good example.
Sigh....
I don't think it's too early to announce my intentions.
I was hoping it wouldn't come to this.
Nothing has changed in ten years, has it?
I guess I need to finish what I started years ago.
I'm sad. If I hadn't seen those posts today and if that dog had come home, I wouldn't have made this decision.
It's okay. We need to update our housing code to sync with Federal law anyway.
This will help me work on that, too.
I was just hoping they'd prove me wrong.
How disappointing.....
Love ya,
S.
Another Edit:
I had a guy who dated me threaten to ruin my reputation if I ever ran for office again. I wonder if this little dude, with the horrid criminal background will make good on his threat. He's the guy that thought it would be funny to threaten to stalk me and lie to get a restraining order. It upset him that I refused to talk to him after all that.
Sigh.....yes, it's been three years -but- there is always someone connected to him bugging me.
The next few months are going to get interesting.
I've got to do what I've got to do.
The only other way I'm going to stop the nonsense is to find another candidate who has the courage to speak to these issues.
I'm making the phone calls now.
Yeah, no one wants to mess with me.
I have a very scary disability. I don't do well when physically attacked or with weapons pointed at me (which is why the gun toting neighbor freaks me out). Some people with PTSD don't know their strength until someone grabs them and winds up on the ground.
After doing some checking, I actually qualify for a service dog. I'm debating.......the allergy can be worked through with more exposure to dogs.
I'm tempted to go through the process to license a restricted breed just to see if the City of Aurora will ask for proof of a disability. If they do, I'd sue just to put a stop to it.
I'll only do that if I can find a lawyer wanting to get his/her name in the papers.
05/09/2017 - The City of Aurora did NOT let the dog go home. Based on what I see, it appears that they are illegally demanding proof of the disability. It's a violation of the ADA to ask about the disability, let alone want proof. All they can ask is whether or not the dog provides at least one service to help an individual with a disability.
I am thankful for the professor up at Washington State who made me study the ADA and the Child Nutrition Act (CNA) in college. I never thought I'd use the information. He warned us that working in mental health will put us in touch with people who are impoverished due to disabilities.
He was right. I use it ALL the time.
I also use Medicare/Medicaid law quite a bit, too.
Few politicians and government officials understand the law.
That's a shame.
If you make the law or make your living by the law,
you really need to know the law.
Wow.....