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Preston wormed into Haven’s heart with $1,000: Part 4
Our story so far:
Aug. 10: Something stinks at Haven Humane
Aug. 20: Haven Humane Society, hell in a handbasket, Part 2
Aug. 29: Norm Ryan and wife insist he’s innocent, Part 3
Aug. 29: Police case summary re: Norm Ryan
Sept. 23: Norm Ryan goes to court
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Joel Warner, Haven Humane Society’s former director, is hard pressed to say flattering things about Yvonne Preston, the board member he says created such an uncomfortable workplace that he prematurely retired from the animal shelter he was hired to help.
Warner’s negative characterization of Preston agrees with a host of Haven insiders, donors and supporters I spoke with over the last few months who said Haven’s troubles began in earnest the day Preston walked into the Redding animal shelter a little more than two years ago.
Of course, Preston is just one person on Haven’s board, with just one vote. Her fellow board members share leadership responsibility for Haven’s decisions, tone, administrative philosophy and degrees of public transparency.
Two exceptions
As of this report, Ray John, Haven’s new director, and Monty Hight, Haven’s newest board member who joined last month, have not been asked to sign confidentiality statements. Both men say they value transparency and hope for an open relationship between Haven, which receives public monies, and the public. We’ll address that more in an upcoming story.
Enough credit/blame to go around
While Haven board members may not be directly culpable for everything that’s caused the decline in public trust at Haven in the last few years, those things have happened under the board’s watch, even if passively, by going along with the decisions, or by failing to challenge or question them.
Blame and credit falls at the board’s feet, whether we’re talking about:
• Haven’s perplexing refusal to make board minutes public
• A policy that required the majority of board members and employees to swear to secrecy
• An unwillingness to release information about public day-to-day financial records
• The allowance of Haven endorsements of such traditionally unorthodox, un-animal-shelter practices as hog-harnessing contests and/or dog-weight-pulling events
• High Haven staff turnover; by some figures more than 20 Haven people left the shelter within a few months
• A new no-kill direction, sometimes resulting in ill animals crammed in cages, or relaxed pet adoption and fostering standards
Current Haven Humane Society board
Ray John, CEO
Vickie Marler, chair
Yvonne Preston, vice chair
Nadine Bailey, treasurer
Dr. Jean Huang
Wanda Agostini
Stewart Altemus
Melissa Hunt
Heather Evans
Monty Hight
Peggy McDannold
Two takes on Preston
Although the board comprises the above members, Preston seems a key figure at Haven changes during the last couple of years. While one camp of Haven insiders and supporters cast Preston as the scapegoat and manipulative villain, another praises her as the shelter’s brilliant savior.
Some middle ground would be helpful.
Roger Janis, past Haven board member, and Nadine Bailey, present Haven board treasurer and self-described friend of Preston (Bailey’s also a field representative for Sen. Sam Aanested, R-Grass Valley), speak highly of Preston. They say she assumed a stressful leadership position at the animal shelter in the midst of emotional upheaval following Norm Ryan’s resignation and subsequent arrest for allegedly stealing Haven funds.
Janis and Bailey said Preston made some tough, sometimes unpopular-yet-crucial decisions at Haven for the welfare of its animals, supporters and workers.
Although Warner does not share Bailey and Janis’ glowing perception of Preston, he understands how a person could arrive at those conclusions.
It’s with some irony that Warner, 68, recalls the first time he saw Preston, a pretty, 30-something, confident north-state newcomer. She was married to Willie Preston, a field representative for Doug LaMalfa.
Yvonne Preston seemed a good catch as a potential board member.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this now but I’m the one who asked her to come on the board,” Warner said in a phone interview from his home in Washington.
“She said she wanted to volunteer. She said she had lots of connections. She said she had money and was willing to put her money where her mouth was,” Warner said.
“You have to understand, when you’re looking for people on a board, that’s exactly the kind of person you want.”
Preston did put her money where her mouth was. That very day she handed Warner a check for $1,000. That cinched it for Warner.
By July of 2006 Preston was on the board. She soon moved up to vice chair, poised as the shelter’s chair when then-chair Janis announced his impending resignation.
“From there, things started going downhill,” Warner said.
He said Preston soon began finding fault with his suggestions, such as when he located a vacant thrift store space in south Redding after Haven’s store in the downtown Mall failed because it wasn’t making enough money. That’s about the time that Janis, then the board chair, announced he’d soon bow out.
“I knew Yvonne was going to be president, and that it was time to leave,” Warner said. “I figured I’d just go, instead of jumping up and down and upsetting the apple cart,” he said.
Warner resigned in May 2007.
A few months ago, after Warner heard about Haven’s troubles (see links, above), he expressed a willingness to return temporarily to help stabilize the shelter, but under one condition. He said Preston — now the board’s vice-chair — would have to go, something he doubted was possible.
“I don’t think the board would ever go for it,” Warner said.
Pants on fire
On a personal note, twice Preston has given me information that clashed wildly with versions of the same stories by her board chair and current animal shelter director, respectively.
Both incidents took place in late July. First, I asked Preston whether she was still unpaid for her work as interim CEO since Ryan’s departure.
“I’m a volunteer,” she said. “I get no money at all.”
I asked how she managed to work for nothing.
“It’s a great organization and we do a lot of rewarding work,” she said. “I look forward to coming to work every day.”
I got an entirely different answer from Vickie Marler, Haven’s board chair, when I asked if Preston worked as interim CEO for free. Actually, said Marler, Haven’s board decided to pay Yvonne after all, retroactively to when Ryan left. (Wouldn’t disclose the amount.)
“The board felt it fair that she be compensated,” Marler said.
A few days later, Preston was overheard at Haven telling someone she worked as interim CEO for no money, strictly as a volunteer.
Second, Preston claimed she had nothing to do with bringing Ray John, Haven’s current director, to Haven. This conversation happened when I’d called Preston to confirm the appointment of a new director. I’d heard from an insider that the board had already selected John.
“I don’t know anything about this,” Preston said.
“Nothing?” I asked.
“No, nothing” Preston said. “I’m the CEO! I don’t know anything about this!”
The next week John was hired as Haven’s director.
A few days later I spoke with John. (We’ve known each other professionally for years.)
He was forthcoming about how he’d become Haven’s director.
“I was recruited,” he said.
“By whom?” I asked.
“Yvonne Preston,” he said.
Who is Yvonne Preston?
Who is this young, energetic woman who walked into Haven’s lobby, handed over a check for $1,000, joined Haven’s board in July 2006, rose to vice chair, then board chair, then interim CEO, and most recently settled back to vice chair?
Shasta County real estate records show that in July of 2004 Preston — Yvonne D. Meyers — bought a house in Gold Hills for $545,000. (That house has been for sale for nearly a year now, and the last time I checked it was listed at $579,000.)
But earlier, February 2004 news stories reported Preston — then Yvonne Meyers – a Sutter County small-business owner, was the first alternate to the Sutter County Central Committee for Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, and the chair of the Sutter County ‘04 Bush/Cheney campaign, one of 58 Californians to hold one of those special regional appointments.
By January of 2005 she’d married Willie Preston, the former chair of the Lincoln City ‘04 Bush/Cheney campaign, and district director for Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa.
The couple arranged a Washington, D.C., honeymoon where they attended President George Bush’s inauguration and the Democracy Ball.
The backbone’s connected to the rib bone
At 24, Willie Preston was Lincoln’s mayor while he commuted to Chico for his work with Assemblyman Bernie Richter. Willie Preston chairs the Shasta County Taxpayers Association.
It is a small world after all, because Yvonne Preston chose her friend Nadine Bailey, field representative for Aanested, as a Haven Humane Society board member, and Bailey is now Haven’s treasurer. When asked why Preston picked her for the board, Bailey said Preston was especially interested in her fund-raising abilities, which would be much needed when the time came to build a bigger, newer animal shelter.
As an aside, coincidentally, as we reported here last week, the county wants to build its new animal shelter beside Haven Humane Society on Eastside Road in Redding.
For what it’s worth, Aanested and LaMalfa get low marks from PAW PAC, California’s Political Action Committee for Animals.
Fast forward to 2007, when then-46-year-old Norm Ryan of Long Beach moved to Redding with his wife, Cheri, and the couple’s four sons. Ryan was a Long Beach forensic accountant who organized a plan to slash the city’s utility tax. He failed at his attempts to win a Long Beach City Council seat, and likewise, wasn’t selected for a mayoral position he’d wanted. Although he made it onto the board of the Water Replenishment of Southern California, he was not re-elected in 2006.
According to one Haven Humane Society board member, Willie Preston and Ryan first met at a San Diego conference a few years ago where they exchanged business cards, an encounter that opened the door to Ryan’s entrance to Redding.
In 2007, at the recommendation of Willie Preston and Rick Bosetti, Redding City Council member, Ryan applied for a job as the city of Redding treasurer. The city rejected Ryan and chose someone else. Later, Bosetti appointed Ryan to a city committee charged with looking at ways to pay for a new police station. Ryan eventually quit, disgruntled and frustrated.
Finally, in the spring of 2007, Ryan applied for and was hired as Haven’s CEO, a decision that nearly everyone at Haven, including board members, eventually came to regret, or at least that’s what they say now.
Ryan lasted almost a year in that position before he resigned. Preston immediately took charge. On June 18, nine days later, Ryan was charged with stealing almost $1,400 from Haven. Specific allegations include: charging a personal trip to San Francisco to his business credit card, and for reimbursing himself for a flight to Chicago. In August he pleaded not guilty in Shasta County Superior Court to five felonies, including embezzlement by a public officer, identity theft and grand theft.
Meanwhile, Ryan goes to court this week on those charges. He maintains his innocence and says the truth will come out during his trial.
To paraphrase one board member’s hypothetical question: “Did we make a mistake when we chose Norm Ryan? No shit, Sherlock.”
Check back for the conclusion of the Haven series, including a message from Ray John, the shelter’s director of almost three months, who’ll talk about Haven’s future.
Also, stay tuned for reports on Ryan in court this week.
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Another example of acquaintance evolving into crony-ism for power and profit? For maneuvers like this to be successful, the perpetrators must shroud themselves in secrecy so there can be no effective oversight, checks, and balances. Even with its strong conservative roots, I hope our community will not condone such betrayal of public trust
Mr. Price, I agree with you. And thanks to Doni for all the information. I am appalled that the people on the board seem to be “going along with” Ms. Preston. She must have a very strong personality, and no one wants to “Buck” her. How do we get a new board? Sounds like cronyism is very strong, and I am disgusted!
It seems that the most important lesson here is “Never Volunteer” for any public service position! It is likely to be a thankless expenditure of your efforts and no matter how noble your intentions, will make you an open target for any and all public ridicule. Facts are irrevelent - personalities and friends are the only governing factors.
Gee this is all like our very own Payton Place (woops I just dated myself.)
And no volunteering is good (where whould hospitals be if it wan’t for the pink ladies.) It is just that in this case, she had a hidden agenda.
Ah Ha!!! Grammy must be a pink lady! (and undoubtedly the result of an immaculate conception)
Could your hidden agenda be that you want to appear as an angel among us, and therefore recieve the adulation of your peers? Your selflessness and willingness to serve are proof of your charity and intent to benefit mankind. Good material for a eulogy.
What hidden agenda? Fame? Fortune? Power? Notariety? Celebrity Status? Political Influence?
Who among us does not ask our friends to join us in activities, civic projects, clubs, etc.? Nothing unusual there.
Was there some financial or personal gain to gleaned? If so, what was it?
Well I can see why Yvonne Preston would lie about recruiting Dr. John. Because she had stepped down from the Board she should not have had any role in recruiting the CEO that replaced her. And yet Dr. John says she did. This means there were no effective checks and balances at Haven. Yvonne Preston would have had complete control. Vicki Marler was (is?) Chair in name only. This is certainly not what Joel Warner signed up for. I’m sure it came as a surprise to Norm Ryan.
It is funny that those who were quick to bash Mr. Ryan in the previous reports are given some real meat on Yvonne Preston - yet they are silent. Maybe advanced age has made me paranoid, but is it possible that the world-class manipulator, that Mrs. Preston appears to be, actually orchestrated that hate mail? Does she and her one friend hide behind fake or fanciful names and try to steer the tone of the discussion? Given what I just read about her, it is not as far fetched as it sounds. - Matt
Is Yvonne Preston holding that dog’s tongue? She looks like she enjoys torturing that animal. How humane!
After reading multiple articles about this issue, it appears that there has been trouble long before Mr. Ryan joined Haven and lots of trouble after Mr. Ryan left Haven. A board that clearly does not choose to (or is afraid to) make its minutes and financial decisions available to interested parties, an interim CEO (Ms. Preston) who lies to a reporter (!), as well as a massive exodus of employees. What kind of atmosphere have the board and Ms. Preston been fostering here? How many other employees besides Mr. Ryan have been caught up in a web of intrigue and had their lives twisted? Mr. Grant points out that the usual vociferous bunch who vilify Mr. Ryan are uncharacteristically silent on this subject; why is that when a reporter documents falsehoods and opaque business practices they are quiet, yet they do not hesitate to savage Mr. Ryan’s reputation based on alleged accusations? Clearly substantial changes need to be made in Haven’s operations…just as clearly the need for them cannot all be laid at Mr. Ryan’s door.
Isn’t Don Lamalfa retiring from the assembly next month? If Yvonne Preston’s husband is out of a job does that mean they are out of here? Isn’t that just great that she can come up here to Redding and cause all this destruction and then go back to Sutter, like none of this ever happened. I know there is a God, I would just like him to smite the wicked more often and out in the open where we can see it!
Interesting comments from M.Grant, Christy, and Jamie. However, I am still at a loss to determine a motive for manipulation, and/or corruption of the Society! Will one of you explain the benefit and rewards that would precipitate such actions by this individual? What benefits has Ms. Preston gleaned from this situation?
If the situation is of such concern to each of you (hateful, spiteful, controlling, deserving of God’s wrath, etc.) - have you considered volunteering and becoming active/fully participating associates of the Humane Society yourselves? If you have the answers and the will - act on them!
Don’t you biblethumpers know each other on a first name basis? It is DOUG LaMalfa, not DON. It doesn’t matter he is gone in a week anyway … and take your little Willydog, too.
As a qualification for future comments, we should all be required to divulge the price we paid for our houses. Have you ever contributed to Haven Humane (if so how much?). Apparently, we must keep in mind that the higher these numbers appear, the more suspect are our motives. If you live in a nice neighborhood or have your house for sale, your credibility points will receive a further deduction. Now we must consider the employment of your spouse! Careful, depending on the acceptability/prestige of the career, you may have to forfeit more points. Are you old/young - attractive/ugly? Again, be aware that the answers could work against you. Next we should be prepared to reveal the location of our honeymoon and what activities we participated in. Great factual analysis of pertinent facts.
What a bunch of drivel! I give up - you’ve seen the last of the comments from me on this issue.
Jamie and Christy may come from a different place than me, Elmer. If you are looking for rational motivations you need to be looking at both Ms. Preston and Mr. Ryan. What is Ms. Preston’s motivation for manipulation? What would motivate Mr. Ryan to jeopardize his family, career and reputation in order to “steal” a paltry $1380. If Mr. Ryan is innocent then the clear suspect of this “set-up” is Ms. Preston. One of these two is not behaving rationally. You should agree that the downside for theft is much greater than for manipulation. We know from Doni, that Ms. Preston has no problem lying. Mr. Ryan’s deceit is alleged by … Ms. Preston!
What attracted me to this case is the fact that most organizations would simply fire the perpetrator and move on. Not so, Haven. When I say Haven, I mean Yvonne Preston (her absolute control was manifested in the revelation that she recruited Dr. John). Ms. Preston calls on the entire weight of the State over an alleged theft of $1380 and broadcasts this to all potential donors. Since timing is everything she does it right after Mr. Ryan announces that he is looking to run for City Treasurer. If none of this seems suspicious then you are being obtuse, intentional or otherwise.
Since you brought up home sales, let me speak to its potential relevance. Because of the Snoop Dogg story, we know that Mr. Ryan is a renter. We know that Ms. Preston is a homeowner who is desperate to sell (especially since her husband may no longer be employed after next week). Mr. Ryan would be a fool to pay more than Preston paid for her house. Maybe Mr. Ryan angered Ms. Preston because he wasn’t foolish enough. Is this a stretch? Maybe, but it is a more realistic scenario than the pretty little package that Ms. Preston and the City establishment have presented us with. A package that unravels the more we see of it. - Matt
Elmer,
I use to volunteer at Haven. I also use to donate. Does that mean I have a right to my opinion? If you were ever in a volunteer organization you would know that some people go batty with how important they are. Yvonne struck me as that kind of person. The problem is that most people don’t see it until after the damage is done. The workers & volunteers that left chose between kissing her Tush and watching something that they loved be destroyed or walking out the door.
Matt,
You are slipping. You forgot to mention that Yvonne made more than $1380 when she replaced Norm Ryan. Now that is theft!
Jamie - I’m slipping? You didn’t address the Wanderer’s “biblethumper” comment - not that there is anything wrong with a little theology upside the head, from time to time. I didn’t address Yvonne Preston getting paid, because it didn’t seem pertinent to my argument about her motivation. On the other hand, she did lie about it, so I should have referenced it to bolster my argument that between Preston and Ryan, the evidence, so far, is that she is demonstrably deceitful. So, point taken. -Matt
BTW Haven Humane’s website is up now, Jamie. Maybe they read this blog. I didn’t see anything about the Bark & Wine fundraiser. I still think it was dumb not to use their website, their most cost effective marketing tool, to advertise it. - Matt
M. Grant - Mr. Ryan’s “deceit”, as you call it, is not alleged by Ms. Preston, it’s alleged by the People of the State of California. That’s who brings a criminal case. Criminal cases are not brought on behalf of, or at the direction of, a potential witness. And criminal cases are certainly not filed at times which are convenient to that witness. Police and prosecutors aren’t embroiled in the controversies at Haven. They are objective parties who require evidence to file cases, not simply the claims of a single individual.
WYS - There is obviously more to this investigation and charge than has been released to the public. However, since people are forming opinions based on the available information, it is only right and fair that we restrict ourselves to those facts when making our arguments. If you or the DA/Police want to throw more substantiated evidence on the fire, then do so and I will change my opinion based on new facts. But my reading of the police summaries links Mr. Ryan to evidence and actions primarily on Ms. Preston’s say so - and as Doni has illustrated, Yvonne Preston lies.
As to the DA being an objective party - have we not seen the Shasta Co. DA arbitrarily prosecute one party for the same infraction that another party is ignored with? The police are never, ever swayed by a pretty face when deciding who to let off with a warning and who to cite, are they? -Matt
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/jul/26/prosecutor-ryan-was-in-guam/
Why don’t you read that article, M. Grant? It’s from a semi-reputable news outlet, and attributes NO facts to Ms. Preston. Apparently both Southwest Airlines and the United States Customs an Border Protection say Norm Ryan is a big liar.
WYS - Wow, you are really grasping. First, you argue for the veracity of the DA/Police evidence, but once you read the police summaries and realize the validity of my point, you had to switch gears and argue that according to the “Wretched Flashlight”, Mr. Ryan is demonstrably deceitful. Are you aware that newspaper articles are not admissable in court? Do you even wonder why? Would you reference the National Enquirer if it agreed with your position? Pravda?
Don’t even think to compare Doni to the RS - she actually put the police summaries online without a journalistic filter. The only point I will concede to you is that Doni could have misquoted Yvonne Preston all three times that she appears to lie. -Matt
M. Grant, I don’t need a lesson on the law from you. Of course the article is not admissible, but it describes admissible evidence - as in the business records from the airline, and the government. Those things are evidence. And they are admissible in court. I was simply attempting to show you that Ms. Preston is not the source of the overwhelming evidence which shows that Mr. Ryan is a LLPOF. I guess you must think that Southwest Airlines and the United States Government have joined the secret conspiracy to sully the “good name” of Norm Ryan. There is one logical explanation for the evidence the police uncovered - that as the CEO, Norm Ryan thought he could get away with stealing, so he lied and forged documents. Clearly, if he had proof that he had, indeed, gone to Chicago, he or his attorney would have presented that to the police or the DA at the earliest opportunity. That hasn’t happened. Strange…you’d think it would be easy for Mr. Ryan to show that he used his credit card while in The Windy City, or that he made a phone call from his cell phone - I mean, those things leave paper trails, as do entries through Customs Stations. I’m sure the DA would have loved to not get involved in the mudslinging that is going on at Haven. Methinks Mr. Ryan has no such proof, because he was in the Phillippines, just as the evidence the DA discussed shows.
Sorry - said I would’nt do this……………but M.Grant must have a very dull axe. Sure is a lot of grinding going on here.
M. Grant: Do you like or believe anyone? According to you bloggers who may have first hand knowledge of Haven Humane are all liars. They commented on what or who could be the cause(s) of some of the problems. You say Haven can’t do anything right with their website. You say Doni “could have misquoted Yvonne…..” I havent seen you post a constructive comment. Since you and a few others seem to have all the answer to what ails Haven Humane, why don’t you present your solutions to the Board of Directors.
This whole thing with Willy Preston is very interesting…condsidering that Willy is also the campaign manager for Gary Cadd and Preston’s wife is Cadd’s professional blogger ….I wonder what kind of candidate Cadd really is …..or is he all smoke and mirrors…..
Attention MKHPN:
Sorry…………You are not permitted to participate in the discussion until you reveal the price of your home, where you went on your honeymoon and what you did while you were there.
Besides - - isn’t this discussion getting a little far afield in relation to the topic at hand? Smoke? Willy? Mirrors? Gary Cadd? Gee, I wonder if Sara Palin has some responsibility - her husband runs dogs!
This is beginning to sound like the old game where each of us is only 5 relationships away from Kevin Bacon.
700,000 in today’s marke……The Pacific islands…..sight seeing….laid on the beach….enjoyed each others company…..no it is truly absurd…how birds of a feather…..never really liked Kevin
That’s really sneaky, Elmer. You say you have to qualify in order to make a comment, but what you really mean is that you can’t criticize Yvonne unless you do. I notice that you haven’t had to qualify in order to defend her. Are you two close?
I see that the Prestons’ candidate, “The Cadd” went down in flames. No reason to stay in Redding now. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
I notice that several of the last remarks have degenerated into personal comments. The story on Ms. Preston stands alone. Do we know if Ms. Preston engineered the charges against Mr. Ryan? Do we know what the circumstances are surrounding the allegations against Mr. Ryan? No. Presumably the case will be laid out in an orderly fashion and hitherto unknown facts will be revealed. Our judicial system allows for the presumption of innocence; alternative hypotheses posed are just that: alternative. Spewing invective muddies the waters of rational thought. I for one would be interested in hearing about Haven’s controller-weren’t there procedures in place to collect reimbursement?
Thank you Joel Warner for your candid comments and insight into the fall of Haven Humane. Following are a couple of things about Joel that are important. Joel Warner accomplished a lot for the animals and the staff of Haven Humane. Among the many results of his hard work is the truck and trailer used for off site adoptions and emergency rescue operations. He was instrumental in bringing the facility “on line.” Believe me, the list goes on and on. Anyone who had the opportunity to work with him knows how much time, effort and hard work he invested in the facility. He was often the first one there in the morning and the last one to leave at night. Any comments about problems prior to Norm Ryan arriving are unfounded. How appalling that the Board of Directors “allowed” him to leave. He had experience, knowledge, the background and vision to allow Haven to grow and become the premier facility that it could have been. He had an experienced and very, very dedicated staff. The organization was financially sound.
Here we are almost two years later. Instead of Joel choosing to retire and handing over the reins to a successor, Dr. Ray John has inherited a complete fiasco. Having to play catch up for all the damage done is distracting from the facilities mission. I honestly think he can restore Haven Humane to the great facility it was.
By reading the whole series of articles, it still appears to me that there were problems prior to Mr. Ryan. The board apparently has a long history of concealing inner operations and I seem to remember that there was no veterinarian when Mr. Warner left.
Mr. Ryan recruited the present vet. I also believe that there were businesses operating within Haven that were not necessarily benefiting the shelter financially. Eh, Ms. McMillan?
Christy – I am going to guess that your comment “businesses operating within Haven” was directed at the Family Dog Training group. Since no one knows who “Christy” is, I will also guess that perhaps you do not know the inner workings of the facility.
I urge you to learn about the very beginning of the Dog Training program. Specifically, why it was put in place. Under the support of Tom Little, Bob Timone and Joel Warner, the program helped thousands of dogs and their people live in harmony. I personally donated a substantial amount of money in pro bono dog training. I know that the other trainers did also. I beg to differ with you; Haven did “benefit financially.” I am blessed to do something that I love and am passionate about. It is not just a job. I am very fortunate to have worked with dedicated, experienced, knowledgeable and caring professional trainers. If you have read the whole series of articles, you already know about my admiration for the working staff and all that they did to support us.
If your comment was not directed at us, then perhaps I have enlightened you on one of the positive and successful programs that Haven had. There is more to running an animal shelter than just making money. Please read “About Haven Humane” on the website.
If you, like a few other bloggers, are looking for a dirty old bone to gnaw on, you are digging in the wrong yard.