Douglas K. Anning advises companies on their general tax and corporate law needs, navigates private and family foundations through complex IRS requirements and regulations, serves as general advisor and counselor to a number of nonprofit organizations, and consults with health care organizations regarding myriad regulatory requirements (tax-exemption, bond issues, HIPAA, Anti-kickback, Stark Self-Referral, EMTALA, FTC/DOJ Antitrust, JCAHO, and nonprofit governance standards). In addition, Mr. Anning has substantial experience in mergers and acquisitions, transactional matters and structuring joint ventures.
Debora M. Bresch, Esq. is a Legislative Liaison for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Debora drafts and lobbies for the passage of animal-friendly legislation and advises legislators, law enforcement, and members of the public on questions regarding animals and the law. Debora and ASPCA colleague Ledy VanKavage developed a webinar on breed-specific legislation ("Muzzling Dangerous Dogs: Is Canine Profiling Effective?") that they presented last fall courtesy of PetSmart, and Debora authored the ASPCA's amicus brief in Tellings v. Toledo. Debora is also an active member of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on Issues Pertaining to Animals and is involved in animal rescue. She is proudly owned by two bullies, Ellie and Mae.
Bill Bruce is the Director of Animal and Bylaw Services in the City of Calgary, Alberta. Bill Bruce joined the City of Calgary in 1981 in the Traffic Engineering Department where a great deal of his work was focused on traffic safety, regulations and truck and dangerous goods movement and regulation. Bill also served a two year term as assistant to the City Commissioners office before joining Animal and Bylaw Services in 2000.
Bill came into the Animal and Bylaw area with a vision of moving the focus from enforcement to a broader goal of achieving and maintaining compliance to the City’s bylaws, utilizing tools such as clear, understandable bylaws and policies, partnerships, conflict resolution techniques and public education to raise awareness and improve voluntary compliance. The areas of priority have been activities that effect public health and safety, protection of the environment and protection of municipal infrastructure.
Bill believes that the municipality’s bylaws must reflect the standards of the community and that service should be delivered in partnership with communities, business groups, other agencies and city departments. In the Animal Control area the focus has been to reduce the number or aggressive incidents involving dogs, increase the return to owner rates for both dogs and cats and work towards becoming a zero kill municipality.
Bill is a believer in continuous improvement and is committed to improving the quality of life in the community for both people and animals.
Tom and Mary Clements travel the country with their Ultimutts, entertaining crowds with amazing students. Tom recently adopted Mid-America Bully Breed's Fly Girl. Fly Girl, now known as Thumper, is a newest Ultimutts of the Ultimate Canines Show. Tom is a believer in showcasing dogs of all breeds and types in his exciting show. We're excited to see Thumper back home in KC!
Stacey Coleman, with dark circles under her eyes and newly developed occasional bouts of pancreatitis, has driven her husband and dogs (and one of her five cats) to their limits. Rarely home, she still manages to keep way more dogs than anyone should ever have and maintain a sense of humor. With a seemingly endless supply of emails to answer, Stacey spends any time she does have at home on the computer, checking any one of her four email addresses. Having picked up a wayward, bleeding pit bull 8 years ago, Stacey learned these dogs need all the help they can get. As a co-founder and president of Indy Pit Crew, Stacey and her colleagues have taken on City Hall, twice, and won!
John B. Coffman is Legislative Director for the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation—a statewide organization that promotes animal welfare in the Missouri State Capitol. For the past two legislative sessions, Coffman has worked with the Alliance’s legislative team battling a variety of negative proposals, including breed specific legislation, “agricultural protection” proposals that would impede the prosecution of animal cruelty, and bills that would make it difficult for law enforcement to seize horses that have been neglected.
Coffman is an attorney who specializes in advocacy for fair utility rates. He currently serves as general counsel to the Consumer Council of Missouri, a non-profit that works on issues relating to utilities, insurance, and consumer fraud.
Coffman served on the City Council of Columbia, Missouri from 1997-2003. He received his law degree from the University of Missouri–Columbia in 1989. He currently lives with his family (and Sophie, a two-year-old Labrador mix) in Webster Groves, Missouri.
Chris Cory is a writer, producer, director, actor, and musician. Among his many credits, Chris most recently produced and directed Diva Dog, a documentary about his pit bull, named Coral, who was left paraplegic by a hit-and-run driver on Easter Sunday, 2001. With a disability most dogs would be euthanized for, Coral shows how animals with disabilities can survive and thrive and deserve a chance to do so. Coral’s love of life and indomitable spirit have proved to be inspirational to all so Chris decided her story needed to be shared with the world. Coral is now a spokes dog for disabled animals everywhere!
Jim Crosby, consultant and canine expert, assists in the investigation of serious and fatal dog attacks. These investigations, conducted in collaboration with the University of Florida McKnight Brain Institute are the cutting edge in canine aggression investigation and study.
Jim responds to the scenes of fatal and life-threatening attacks and conducts a full study of the attack itself and the circumstances surrounding the animal, past and present. A full behavioral picture of the incident is developed with full attention to both canine and human factors. Jim also, whenever possible, conducts a hands-on evaluation of the involved animal and assesses behavioral issues as they apply to the attack incident.
Jim also presents training seminars for Animal Control Officers, Police Officers, Prosecuting Attorneys and others establishing procedures and standards for serious and fatal dog bite investigations.
On a related front, Jim additionally brings his experience to the evaluation, assessment and treatment of aggressive or dangerous dogs, particularly in the wake of disasters. Traumatized and stressed dogs can exhibit apparently dangerous behavior that is not representative of their true nature.
Michelle Davis is a co-founding member of KCDA who originally became involved in “doggie politics” with a simple but naïve statement of “Let’s adopt a pit bull!” after watching one too many episodes of Animal Cops. Crafting long term solutions to animal welfare and dog owner issues through the political and legislative arenas is her focus. Presently she serves as Education Chair of Kansas City Dog Advocates. She has been instrumental in organizing community forums in the Kansas City Metro area to educate citizens on how to effectively voice their opposition to breed-specific legislation. Michelle also maintains the Kansas City Dog Advocates Web site. In addition, Michelle has worked with several area rescues, and owns three dogs.
Laura Gonzo has been involved in animal rescue for over ten years and has worked as a volunteer, foster, advocate and public relations director for groups including The Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership (ARPO), The Humane Society of Louisiana, Casa del Toro Bully Breed Rescue and Indy Pit Crew.
Gonzo volunteered at the Humane Society of Louisiana’s Camp Katrina in October 2005 and, although she spent only a short time onsite as a disaster response volunteer, she remained active in assisting the organization from her home in Indianapolis. She helped with publicity, created and marketed t-shirts to raise funds, and continued to help place and transport animal victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Humane Society of Louisiana recognized her efforts by awarding her the Commemorative Key to Camp Katrina.
Gonzo became particularly passionate about the plight of pit bulls after her experiences in Mississippi and has since focused her efforts by working as a volunteer for Casa del Toro Bully Breed Rescue and as a board member for of Indy Pit Crew. She has been active with both groups’ efforts to encourage responsible ownership; reduce pit bull overpopulation through education and free spays and neuters; lobby for effective canine legislation; and combat dog fighting.
In 2007, Gonzo joined Animal Farm Foundation, which supports the efforts of pit bull organizations and initiatives across the country. She recently relocated to North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, four year old son, three active “permanent collection” dogs, a foster dog, and three perpetually aggravated cats.
Midge Grinstead is the Lawrence Humane Society Executive Director, in Lawrence, KS. As Director, Midge has created a shelter environment that strives to work in cooperation with the public to save as many animals as possible. Under Midge’s direction, the Lawrence Humane Society has become a model shelter with the lowest euthanasia rate of any shelter in Kansas and with a ranking among the top 10% of all shelters nationwide for euthanasia rates. Midge accomplishes this in a variety of ways including working hard to get animals reunited with owners, fostered by various rescue organizations, or adopted to a suitable home. At the Lawrence Humane Society, animals are euthanized only if they are incurably ill or if they bite in a malicious manner. Midge and her staff also handle all animal cruelty cases in the county, which average approximately 800 per year.
On top of it all, Midge still makes it a priority to advocate for better laws including working tirelessly to pass a state law that makes animal cruelty a felony, resulting in strict penalties, court-ordered counseling, and prohibits those convicted from owning or being around animals. Most recently Midge has been the voice of reason in several nearby Midwest cities and towns, speaking against breed-specific laws and in favor of dangerous dog ordinance that are behavior-based.
Tio Hardiman grew up in Chicago’s Henry Horner projects and the Avalon Park community. He attended Hirsch High School. Later on Tio received his GED, Associates Degree, Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts and Master’s in Inner City Studies from Northeastern University.
In 1995 Tio Hardiman established X-Man Productions a non-for profit organization, which provides positive entertainment for thousands of patrons in the Chicagoland area. X-Man Productions under Tio’s directorship has produced comedy shows, stage plays, motivational speaking events, and concerts. Tio has been quoted in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Defender, Herald News, and interviewed with several news stations. In addition, Tio hosted his own cable talk show.
During that same year Tio started working for The Chicago Alliance for Neighborhood Safety, where he organized over 50 block clubs and facilitated problem solving sessions for crime ridden communities. Tio was promoted to lead trainer. In 1997 Tio worked for Bethel New Life and Mayor Daley’s CAPS Program. Tio tasks included working with Chicago Police Officials, community residents, elected officials, and clergy members to help reduce crime in Chicago. Also, Tio had an opportunity to meet with First Lady Laura Bush on two occasions.
In 1999-Present, Tio joined The Chicago Project for Violence Prevention to work with Dr. Gary Slutkin a world-renowned epidemiologist working to reduce the homicide rate in Chicago. Tio continues to display a wealth of knowledge regarding his work assignments. The neighborhoods in which Tio works in have experienced 40%-60% reductions in shootings since the implementation of CeaseFire. Tio predicted in the Chicago Tribune in 2004 that there would be 150 less homicides. In 2004, there were 151 less homicides.
Year 2006, Tio joined forces with Best Friends Animal Society and the United States Humane Society to help combat dog fighting and change the mindset of people who fight dogs in Chicago.
The neighborhoods in which Tio works in include; West Garfield Park, Englewood, Maywood, Logan Square, East St. Louis, Rockford, Aurora, Roseland, Rogers Park, and many others. Cities such as Los Angeles, Baltimore, New Orleans, Raleigh NC, South Bend, Indiana, Pittsburg and New Jersey have all shown interest in CeaseFire. Other countries such as Jamaica, Brazil and Ireland have contacted CeaseFire. Tio has presented at several conferences across the United States. Tio served as a consultant for The National Institute for Justice.
Tio has established relationships with Congressmen, Cardinals, State Officials, Hundreds of clergy leaders, entertainers, gang leaders, business people, mayors, and countless other dignitaries. On the other hand Tio has spoken at workshops or forums for Federal, County, City, and other agencies. Tio has received various awards for his outstanding dedication to help Chicago reduce crime.
Donna Herzig is Vice President of the Louisville Kennel Club. She has bred and shown Bearded Collies for over 25 years and English Springer Spaniels for 12 years. Donna owned and exhibited the #1 dog in the country in 1992 and the 1993 Westminster Best in Show Winner, Ch. Salilyn's Condor. Donna is a leading lobbyist involved in the lawsuit fighting the new animal control ordinances in Louisville, KY.
Susan Hunter (Ph.D., Ohio State 1984) is an Associate Professor at the University of West Virginia. Dr Hunter's teaching and research fields are contemporary political theory, public policy evaluation, and environmental and energy policy. Her current research focuses on the politics of civic engagement; an ongoing study investigates citizen and government attitudes regarding dogs and canine legislation. She has published articles in Policy Studies Journal, Political Research Quarterly, Policy Studies Review, International Studies Quarterly and PS: Political Science and Politics, among others. Susan has been actively involved in Boston Terrier and Rottweiler rescue for many years.
Kim Krohn has a Bachelor’s Degrees in Chemistry and Biology from the university formerly known as Central Missouri State University in Warrensburg, Missouri and worked primarily as an environmental chemist for 14 years with other work experience in petroleum, metallurgy, and explosives.
Kim and husband, Russ, have owned dogs all of their lives. Russ’ family owned a Dachshund and Kim’s family owned a Brittany. Kim disliked vacuuming dog hair and her mother told her, “When you grow up you can get whatever kind of dog you want”. Didn’t mom turn out to be a liar! The Krohns got their first ADBA registered American Pit Bull Terrier in 1982 when they lived in Independence, MO.
Kim and Russ are board members and registered state lobbyists the Missouri Federation of Animal Owners (MoFed) and have been involved with MoFed since its inception in the early 1990s. They have actively fought Breed Specific Legislation (BSL) since the mid-1980s and were personally involved with Hearn et al V the City of Kansas, an unsuccessful challenge to BSL in 1987. Kim and Russ have extensive knowledge about the history of BSL in the KCMO metropolitan area. Kim has been a board member of the Endangered Breeds Association (EBA) for over 15 years. EBA is a national organization founded to fight breed discrimination before BSL was even a concept (1980).
The Krohns are also members of Sho-Me State American Pit Bull Terrier Club, the Greater Kansas City Dog Training Club (GKCDTC), Agility Ability of Greater Kansas City, and Triune Agility Club of Greater Lawrence (KS). Kim and Russ have instructed obedience classes for over 15 years with GKCDTC as well as serving as the club’s Legislative Liaison to the American Kennel Club since the early 90s. They are members of two national breed clubs, the Staffordshire Terrier Club of America and the Miniature Bull Terrier Club of America (MBTCA). Kim writes a column for A Little Bull, the newsletter for the MBTCA and was recently asked to serve as the Legislative Liaison for the MBTCA.
The Krohns have owned American Pit Bull Terriers/American Staffordshire Terriers since 1982. Kim also owned a Miniature Bull Terrier. The Krohns currently live in Blue Springs, MO with three APBTs/AmStaffs and a Catahoula Leopard Dog. The Catahoula was a rescue from a veterinary clinic as a puppy and was supposed to be “pit bull”, proving that even alleged “experts” make mistakes with breed identification. Kim and Russ have owned registered dogs as well as rescues and have shown in conformation, obedience, tracking, and agility. They’ve earned too many titles to count and have had some of the top ranked terriers in the country with both the AKC and the United Kennel Club (UKC).
Casey Martinez has been a long-time advocate for animals in the Kansas City Metro Area. She has worked in animal rescue for thirteen years including serving as the Finance Officer for Animals' Resource Fund and acting as a liaison between local animal shelters and rescue groups. Casey is also a vital member of Kansas City Dog Advocates.
Casey’s contributions to Kansas City Dog Advocates are vast and include serving as an acting board member of Kansas City Dog Advocates as the Finance Officer, co-developing a presentation detailing the case against breed-specific legislation, creating a presentation that displays the difficulties inherent in identifying dogs by breed, addressing public officials about the pit falls of breed specific legislation, and organizing members of the community to speak out on dog-related issues.
Casey is well-versed on the subject of breed-specific legislation, having put hundreds of hours into researching the subject. She has been instrumental in preventing a majority of the metro area cities from passing breed-specific legislation.
Russ Mead is General Counsel for Best Friends Animal Society, the nations largest no-kill animal sanctuary for companion animals. This past year has lobbied state legislatures for felony animal cruelty laws, anti-tethering, orders of protection for pets in domestic disputes, and emergency pet evacuation bills. He and the Best Friends team successfully convinced Cedar City to vote down a proposed pit bull ban and adopt a model ordinance to help reduce numbers of aggressive dogs that end up in shelters. Russ is a hands-on rescuer who was on the ground in Katrina and worked on the nation’s largest hoarding rescue of 1,400 animals. He is frequently interviewed by television, radio and print media on animal welfare issues.
Kathy Mills and her American Pit Bull Terrier mix named Stewart “NOTSO” Little, are an impressive team! Stewart was rescued off the streets in near death conditions when he was 2 months old. Stewart showed an interest in playing Frisbee© immediately after recovering with a clean bill of health. He started competing in Disc Dog competitions when he was a year old. A couple years later, they broke a long distance record in 2004 and have placed in the top ten in numerous competitions. When not competing, Stewart and Kathy like to show off his talents at various rescue organization events, pet expos, fairs and recently a theme park trying to promote positive press for the breed.
Gina Pettrow and her service dog-in-training Chloe received national attention last February when they were told to leave a Huntington Beach Wal-Mart because of Chloe’s breed. Chloe is an American Pit Bull Terrier and for many that is synonymous with dangerous. But the truth is that Chloe has been involved in various forms of training throughout her life and was a model dog during the shopping trip to Wal-Mart when she and her owner were asked to leave. Taking their story of discrimination public, Gina and Chloe have tried to turn their experience into a positive by educating the public and the entire Wal-Mart Corporation about the rights of service dogs and their handlers. Together Gina and Chloe also serve as ambassadors for pit bulls in general, dispelling the myth that pit bulls are inherently dangerous and not suitable for service work.
Chloe has impressive credentials: She is currently being trained through the Orange County HUGS Service & Therapy Dog Group as a General Service Dog & Breed Ambassador. She is also learning Mobility Assistance and Home evaluations. Chloe is a certified Therapy Dog and helps visit people in the hospitals. Chloe passed the Service Dog evaluation at 5 months, an achievement that is typically been given to dogs 1 year and older - with a glowing review that she was the best evaluation the facilitator had ever had!
Gina is an animal lover, trainer, Vice President of OC HUGS Service and Therapy Dogs, and a pit bull advocate.
Brent Toellner is the Legislative Chair of Kansas City Dog Advocates and writer of the KCDog Blog. Brent has worked with several area rescues, and owns three dogs.
Ledy VanKavage, Esq. is the Senior Director of Legislation & Legal Training, ASPCA. Ledy VanKavage began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for the Illinois Appellate Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois followed by work at Green, Hennings, and Henry in St. Louis. Ledy joined the ASPCA in 1999 as a Midwest Government Affairs and Public Policy Associate. Ledy has worked extensively in the humane movement including organizing the Madison County Coalition Against Pound Seizure, founding the Madison County Humane Society, co-founding the Illinois Federation of Humane Societies, co-founding Operation SPOT (Stop Pet Overpopulation Today) in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. She is a Vice-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section Animal Law Committee, and Chair of the Animal Law Committee’s Dangerous Dog Subcommittee. Ledy also serves on the Animal Farm Foundation Board. She has been interviewed on the subject of dangerous dog by the New York Times, MSNBC, NPR’s Justice Talking, the Chicago Tribune, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Ledy currently resides in Collinsville, Illinois with her husband Cliff and three adopted brindle pit bulls, Clarence Darrow, Che, and Bella.
Shannon Wells is the Executive Chair of Kansas City Dog Advocates. Shannon first became involved in Kansas City Dog Advocates a year-and-a-half ago when she learned that her city of residence was considering banning certain dog breeds. Though her own dogs were not among the breeds affected, Shannon has been outspoken at city council meetings across the metro, speaking out against breed specific legislation.
Shannon’s accomplishments as a member of Kansas City Dog Advocates include: organizing community forums to educate and organize citizens to speak out against breed-specific laws, addressing numerous city councils in the Kansas City Metro-area regarding laws that affect dogs and responsible dog owners, coordinating low-cost basic obedience class for low-income pet owners, promoting low-cost spay & neuter services, and collaborating with other humane groups in the community.
Andrew (Roo) Yori and Wallace are quite a pair! Wallace is a rescued American Pit Bull Terrier. He was found as a stray and turned into the humane society. Roo and his wife Clara took Wallace, a high drive bully, into their care to attempt to give him a chance for a good home. After Wallace and Roo won the "Keeping it Fun" Award at the Skyhoundz North Central Regionals, a Frisbee dog competition, Roo and Clara realized that Wallace was meant to join their family. Roo and Clara's mission now is to use Wallace's story to inspire other bully owners to get out there and show off their fellow breed ambassadors, and to educate as many people as we can about these wonderful dogs.
Since taking on this mission, Wallace has earned the respect of people from all over the world, and competes right along side the best disc dogs on the planet. His second year (2006) in the disc dog sport was unreal. He placed 2nd in Pairs Freestyle in the Skyhoundz World Finals. He finished 7th in the UFO World Cup Series. He finished 4th in the Ashley Whippet Invitational World Championships, and 1st in the Flying Disc Dog Open Western Leg Pro Division the first time competing in that organization. The AWI and FDDO finishes combined at the Cynosport World Games crowned Wallace the 2006 Cynosport Flying Disc World Champion.
Abby York co-founded Kansas City Dog Advocates in 2005. She has volunteered with several animal welfare groups including No More Homeless Pets-Kansas City, Pit Bull Alliance, and Mid-America Bully Breed Rescue. Abby has a PhD in public policy from Indiana University; she is an assistant professor at Arizona State University. She uses her expertise in public policy to advocate for better canine legislation, but more importantly teaches other rescuers and dog owners about their rights and responsibilities as dog advocates.