Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer
July 25, 2005 Meeting Minutes - Fort Worth
  

ACT – FW July 25, 2005 General Meeting Minutes

There were 15 members present.

Board members present approved the minutes of the last meeting as the first order of business.

Recap of events
The circus events were discussed briefly. It was noted a higher than usual participation with leafletters and demonstrators for each performance and a number of new comers who are now involved with ACT FW. The last day drew more than 20 activists at the demo and more than 30 for the elephant walk. It was noted that 4 circus related articles were in the Star Telegram last week and letters to the editor were urged. It was suggested that police easement restrictions be checked for next years walk.

ACT Dallas meeting update included mention of the upcoming American Heart Assoc walk 9/24. The coordinator for this event is striving for maximum participation and will keep us updated. Car pools for this event will be organized and background information will be available on NTARN and ACT yahoo groups.

Alliances with other groups
The importance of aligning with other groups whose interests’ overlaps with ACT was stressed. One example being the Fort Worth Vegetarian Society past and future joint events and a possible joint fundraising opportunity in December.

A Dallas member reported a recent meeting with the Texas Campaign for the Environment and the Green Party which will strengthen potential joint participation of events in the future.

Calendar
8/6 – KFC Demo TBA

8/29 – ACT FW meeting

9/9 – Dr. Scott Coats – FW Botanic Gardens

9/18 – Gay Pride parade - Dallas

9/24 – AHA walk

10/18 – LSVN Chili cook off – Austin

Campaign updates
Legislative – Letter of the month was presented on Resolution 33 concerning the Canadian seal hunt. It was noted to continue the present format for this campaign update segment and include emailing this out to all members on a monthly basis.

Seal – A national day of action against Red Lobster is being scheduled by HarpSeals.org for July 30. The group decided it was too soon after the circus and before the next KFC demos to participate.

Iam’s – The coordinator distributed Central Market Customer Comment cards for members and their friends/family to fill out requesting they no longer carry Iam’s pet food. Currently it is the only brand they sell. In addition, prewritten letters to Iam’s and P & G executives were distributed for members to sign and send. The relevance of this campaign was discussed and it was agreed to continue.

Planning Session
This being the main area of discussion several ideas for new local campaigns/activities were suggested. The first idea was an organic vegan food outreach campaign involving possible community organic garden project and coop. The main focus would be providing free vegan food, literature and recipes in front of businesses that draw a crowd.

The second suggestion was for a Trap-Neuter-Release program at local area feral cat colonies. The group decided that there were other rescue groups currently devoted to this project.

The third suggestion was a campaign against Beltex horse slaughter plant involving antics and videotaping of the horses being unloaded from the trucks.

A final local campaign suggestion was the Fort Worth Zoo elephant breeding program as was described in the Star Telegram commentary in Sunday’s paper. Another suggestion relating to this campaign was for fundraising for elephant conservation efforts to counter the editorials claim of AR activists not ever doing anything in this area.

The new ideas were added to the Event Template listing all previously suggested or ongoing campaigns and activities and were passed around for people to volunteer as a specific campaign coordinator or project team member. This is a work in progress and needs further input from ACT Dallas members. Further solicitation from members not present at meeting will be done if necessary.

Once completed, the information will be distributed and campaign coordinators will begin working with their project team members and/or co-coordinators on their specific campaigns. Campaign updates will be a regular segment of the monthly meetings allowing input and suggestions from all members.