Let The Backstepping Begin

Linda Lugo & Co. have felt the severe wrath of Salisbury News this morning and are now back stepping, somewhat.

The HS is now claiming that even though their letter clearly spells out the HS will NOT take in ANY more animals starting September 1, 2010 from the City of Salisbury, they believe the letter meant to state that they want to start discussing when the City will come and pick up their animals September 1, 2010. Sorry Linda, the letter speaks for itself and you tried to bully the City and it backfired.

The City of Salisbury is desperately looking around for other options to place lost and found animals. Remember Folks, the City is looking for options, so in my honest opinion these other locations will not be anything like the set up the Humane Society provides at this time. The animals will more than likely not be walked, like they should. You know the drill.

Linda Lugo, (as some of you have argued) is not the person who is all loving and caring about animals. If she were, she would have NEVER done this "last minute bully tactic" at the animals expense. Sure, she's being bullied right back by Salisbury News because that's exactly what she and the Board deserve.

It should be noted also that the City pays the HS quarterly, meaning you, (the taxpayers) have paid for the HS services until the END of September. Why Linda is trying to cheat the taxpayers, (also taxpayers of Wicomico County) is something the City's legal department needs to investigate. As a City taxpayer myself, I'm outraged that the HS takes my money and excludes us from their services, even though they're getting paid TWICE.

The ANIMALS do NOT deserve this treatment. IF Linda Lugo and the Humane Society Board had contacted the City well in advance, IF they had returned phone calls made immediately after Linda's first letter was sent out and didn't run and hide by claiming she was on vacation, none of this would have come about publicly.

There are several wrongs here. One, the City/County need to renegotiate a 40 year old contract. Next, The City/County should fulfill their end of their contractual agreement, period. Next, the HS needs to immediately back down and fulfill their end of the agreement at least until the end of September as they have been paid to do. Remember, the HS cashed the City's check, therefore they must provide the service they have been paid for.

Unfortunately, (for the animals sake) spite will come into play and those animals being cared for by the HS may not be taken care of as well as the County animals, if you know what I mean. We've already witnessed just what Linda Lugo and the Board are capable of. Don't feed me all that junk about how wonderful and special these people are, I won't buy it.

I personally think something will be resolved by the end of the day today but the key issue here is leadership and accountability. I agree with on of the earlier comments, the Board needs to go as well. This pompous attitude of being autonomous is just ridiculous and NOW is the time for our County Executive and City Mayor to take thye bull by the horns and demand financial accountability with ALL of the money taxpayers are spending in that facility and new contractual agreements with new terms in place.

As for the personal attacks against Linda Lugo, STOP IT! They will not get published from this point forward. That's an entirely different issue and while I agree there's a problem there, it's not an area we need to go right now. This is about the animals. Please remember that.