IN MEMORIAM
Animal lovers hold memorial, share stories outside embattled Hamilton shelter on eve of court appearance for shelter officials >>
HAMILTON >> Steve Clegg used to go to the township animal shelter five to six times a week, often during his one-hour lunch break from work, to walk pit bull mixed breed dogs Apple and Q.
He had grown fond of them. Until one day they “disappeared,” not long after he requested records through the state Sunshine Law on the animal shelter.
Clegg found out later the dogs were euthanized. He believes it was done in “retaliation” for his snooping, but he can’t exactly prove it.
Apple and Q aren’t among the 93 dogs that Mercer County prosecutors alleged were illegally euthanized by members of the Team Yaede administration, which didn’t hold the animals the required seven days before putting them down, over a two-year period starting in 2016.
But Clegg said Apple and Q were still among “thousands” of animals killed – for one reason or another – since the embattled animal shelter was renovated in 2015.
He estimated about 2,000 lost their lives in that period, his claims backed up by records he said he’s obtained from the township.
“The mayor controlled the message. The shelter controlled the animals. And they used the animals to control us,” Clegg told a crowd of more than 20 animals lovers Monday night as they gathered outside of the township animal shelter to share stories and pay tribute to the departed dogs and cats.
The group recited prayers, stood silent through Celine Dion’s “A Song for You” and lit candles forming the word “love.”
A few relayed their experiences at the shelter, each of them taking time to credit one another for their roles in keeping up a public pressure campaign that ultimately culminated in felony charges leveled against health director Jeff Plunkett and former animal shelter supervisor Todd Bencivengo.
The memorial service took place the night before Plunkett’s and Bencivengo’s initial court appearance to answer to charges of official misconduct and animal cruelty, brought by Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo Onofri’s office following a nine-month probe into malfeasance at the shelter.
Animal activist Collene Wronko, who played a big role in the shuttering of the Helmetta animal shelter, urged the crowd to press on with their efforts to ensure the shelter maintains acceptable standards.
“This is the norm not the exception,” she said of the conditions at the shelter.
Animals lovers credited council members for getting to the bottom of the problems.
A bipartisan subcommittee released a devastating report that corroborated many of the issues first brought to public attention in a state inspections report last summer.
Onofri’s office then launched an investigation based on two complaints referred over by the state Attorney General’s Office.
One of those complaints was made by Tammy Duffy, one of the organizers of Monday’s memorial service.
She said the event was relocated three times due to threats and intimidation attempts by people she believes are associated with Republican Mayor Kelly Yaede, who has downplayed and dismissed the problems at the “world-class” shelter.
The memorial service was initially supposed to take place at a park near the Cornell Heights neighborhood, and was then moved to the Mercer County boathouse, before everyone settled on meeting outside the animal shelter.
Even then, animal lovers contended with a police presence.
A black police cruiser, manned by two officers, drove by the crowd of animal supporters, forcing them to move to the side of the road, just minutes into the ceremony. It turned around at the cul-de-sac and drove back past the crowd, without officers uttering a word.
Later on, two other police cruisers were observed driving by.
Terry Peifer, an animal activist who has sued the township for records relating to the shelter, said the police presence was representative of Team Yaede’s alleged culture of intimidation.
Wronko, of Spotswood, who has often been lambasted by those not down with her cause as an outsider poking her head into township business, said she and others won’t be dissuaded by fear tactics. “I’ll go after any shelter in the state,” she said.