Tonight, KSL’s excellent program Nightside provided coverage on our lawsuit against Morgan County. Their coverage was in-depth and worth a listen to. You can find a link to the podcast of the program at their site here. The discussion of Fur Free Utah begins at the 9:00 minute mark during the second hour of the program broadcast on 11/4/09. We highly recommend giving it a listen if you missed it.

- Lawsuit claims that Morgan County’s demand that protesters pay for police officers’ time and ordinance requiring protesters to stay 1,000 feet away from a fur farm are unconstitutional

A lawsuit was filed on October 29, 2009 in Federal District Court on behalf of the animal rights organization Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement (SLAAM) and two of its members, Colleen Hatfield and Jeremy Beckham. The lawsuit was filed through counsel Brian Barnard and alleges that Morgan County enacted laws and regulations that infringe on the constitutional rights of members of SLAAM.

SLAAM intends to hold a protest on November 28, 2009 in Morgan County outside fur farms. The county has enacted ordinances specifically intended to curb the rights of SLAAM to protest on November 28. SLAAM has established a website at FurFreeUtah.com outlining plans for the protest. The full complaints against Morgan County and UDOT can also be found on this website.

“Free speech is quickly becoming fee speech,” said Colleen Hatfield, SLAAM director. “First UDOT wants a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy and now Morgan County wants us to pay for their police officers’ time. If we were to let these policy decisions stand, only the rich would have the right to get their message heard in America.” Morgan County Chief Deputy Kevin Edwards indicated to SLAAM that the charge would be $40 per hour per officer. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that Morgan County may not constitutionally prohibit protesters from picketing within 1,000 feet of a fur farm, even if a residence is found on the farm.

With fifteen operating fur farms, Morgan County has more fur farms than any other county in the U.S. Fur farms have long been the target of animal rights organizations due to their controversial animal husbandry practices and killing methods. Animals on fur farms are killed by anal electrocution or suffocation to keep the coat intact. Last year, members of the underground Animal Liberation Front (ALF) released thousands of mink from fur farms in Kaysville and South Jordan.

“SLAAM wants to shed light on the unspeakable and unnecessary animal suffering that is typical on American mink farms,” said Jeremy Beckham, SLAAM member. “The mink farmers want to keep their cruelty hidden from public view – we intend to shed light on it this November 28th.”

Press Release (pdf)
Complaint filed on October 29, 2009
Exhibits to complaint

Please print these off and put them in your local coffee shop, restaurant, library, street lamp…anywhere really!

Poster 1
Poster 2

You can read our full complaint filed in District Court here:

http://www.furfreeutah.com/udotcomplaint.pdf

Animal Rights Organization Files Lawsuit Against Utah Department of Transportation

Lawsuit claims that UDOT’s policy requiring a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy to protest fur farms in Morgan infringes on free speech rights

For Immediate Release
October 22, 2009

A lawsuit was filed on October 21st in Federal District Court on behalf of the animal rights organization Salt Lake Animal Advocacy Movement (SLAAM) and two of its members, Colleen Hatfield and Jeremy Beckham. The lawsuit alleges that the Utah Department Of Transportation (UDOT) has infringed on SLAAM’s right to peaceably assemble by requiring a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy to protest on any state highway. UDOT has told SLAAM director Colleen Hatfield that she and other members of SLAAM will be arrested for trespassing if they do not acquire the policy prior to protesting on a state-maintained highway.

“Free speech is supposed to be free,” said Colleen Hatfield. “When UDOT or any other government agency fixes a price tag on the right to assemble in a public forum, they inevitably exclude voices from the marketplace of ideas and deny people rights guaranteed them in the Constitution.” SLAAM intends to protest outside fur farms and march on State Street in Morgan, Utah on November 28, 2009. State Street is the state maintained Utah Highway 66.

With fifteen operating fur farms, Morgan County has more fur farms than any other county in the U.S. Fur farms have long been the target of animal rights organizations due to their controversial animal husbandry practices and killing methods. Mink on fur farms are housed individually in cages not much larger than a shoebox. During pelting season, farmers must kill the animals without spoiling the coat. This means the animals are killed by anal electrocution or suffocation. SLAAM has established a website at FurFreeUtah.com outlining plans for the protest.

Last year, members of the underground organization Animal Liberation Front (ALF) released thousands of mink from a Kaysville fur farm and hundreds were released from a farm in South Jordan. Although many of the mink were recaptured, many mink that are descendants from the liberation have been spotted recently in Kaysville.

“SLAAM wants to shed light on the unspeakable and unnecessary animal suffering that is so commonplace on mink farms,” said Jeremy Beckham, SLAAM member. “We will defend our rights to speak out on behalf of abused animals in Morgan even if that means we have to take the fight to the courtroom.”

Please download this .pdf file which contains our half-page promotional flyer. Download, cut, and distribute far and wide. The more at Fur Free Weekend the merrier!

ffuflyer.pdf, half-page flyer, 3MB.

For those that have not seen/read the articles that have already been printed related to our scheduled protest in Morgan, be sure to check out the following links:

Protesters plan to target Morgan mink farms, Standard-Examiner, August 13, 2009
Morgan council supports mink ranchers, defines picketing rules, Standard-Examiner, September 25, 2009
Morgan’s attempt to stifle mink protest may backfire, Letter to the Editor by Peter Young in Standard-Examiner, September 25, 2009
OUR VIEW: Mink protest rules stink, Standard-Examiner Op-Ed, October 3, 2009

And surely more to come!

Morgan recently passed a “targeted residential picketing” ordinance that prohibits activists from being within 1,000 feet of a fur farm (if someone’s residence is on that fur farm). We are currently looking at the ordinance and figuring out our next move. But have no fear – there absolutely will be a protest in Morgan and don’t let the county’s efforts to squelch our speech succeed in keeping us from having an event with as many activists as possible. Take a listen/look at the County Council meeting minutes and audio recording. I’ve edited it down to the parts that concern our upcoming event. It’s pretty amazing to hear this fur farming community fret with the legislators over how far they can go in curtailing the rights of activists. They appear very worried that the public may start to look at their cruel practices.

September 22, 2009 Morgan County Council Meeting Audio 

September 22, 2009 Morgan County Council Meeting Minutes

Stay tuned to this news blog for press releases and regular updates as developments or events unfold!