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Kirkwood, NY - New York State Trooper Michael J. Connelly arrested a driver for Arlow Kiehl, Carlton H.Simmons, in the Town of Kirkwood, NY for transporting horses illegally in violation of New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, Section 359-a on Monday, December 7, 1998, just two days before Mr Kiehl's December 9, 1998 trial date. Mr Simmons had 17 horses and an unknown number of hogs on the double deck trailer, with the hogs being transported on the top tier of the double deck trailer, over TOP of the horses. He was charged with transporting horses in a double deck trailer and for not having anti skid material on the floor to prevent the horses from slipping. The horses were being shipped from the New Holland Sales Stables in New Holland, PA to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption overseas.
Cortlandville, NY - Arlow Kiehl was found not guilty in a jury trial on December 9, 1998 of having protrusions hazardous to horses inside his double deck cattle trailer. The jury was shown photographs of a horse with head injuries, but did not believe the the 3" to 4" beams that protrude below the ceiling, that has a height of less than 6,' to be hazardous to horses. The average horse stands 15 hands (60" or 5 ') at the withers. A horses normal head carriage is above their withers. Commercial horse trailers of this same size have only one tier, and start at a minimum height of 7', with most being 8' tall with no beams protruding below the ceiling.
New York State Police Troopers Marc E. Hickey and Kenneth A. Laman, assisted by Trooper Richard Cecce, arrested Arlow Kiehl, Watertown, NY on Monday, August 24, 1998 on I-81 North at 11:45 PM in the Town of Cortlandville. Mr Kiehl was charged with 16 counts of transporting horses illegally in violation of New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, Section 359-a. The 16 horses on Mr Kiehl's double deck trailer were being shipped from the horse auction in New Holland, PA to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption overseas.Schroon Lake, NY - Donald Nickerson, Bainbridge, N.Y., owner of Nickerson Livestock, entered a plea agreement of guilty to 14 counts of the illegal transportation of horses on November 28, 1998 in Schroon N.Y. Town Court. Schroon Town Justice Jean R. Strothenke fined Mr. Nickerson the maximum of $1400.00 for 14 counts of the illegal transport of horses.
Mr. Nickerson faced fines of up to $6400, $100 for each horse transported in violation of the law. This case involved two "legends" in the prosecution of horse slaughter shippers. However, despite the fact that Nickerson's arrest was made by New York State Trooper Thomas Garcia, a veteran of these cases, and the case was heard before the same Town Justice, Strothenke, as fined Frank Carper & Sons, Cranbury, NJ $11,100, in the infamous Horse Popsicle Case in January 1994, ADA Mark Montayne ALLOWED Nickerson to plead to 14 counts instead of the 64 he was charged with by Trooper Garcia. Trooper Garcia , who testified at the PA House Judiciary Committee hearings on PA HB 2127 and who has over 200 arrests involving the illegal transport of horses, arrested Mr. Nickerson on 64 counts of New York State's Agriculture & Markets Law, Section 359-a on August 26, 1998. The arrest came after a 10 month investigation into an incident that took place on October 15, 1997. A driver for Nickerson Livestock was arrested in Essex County, New York on I-87, "The Torture Trail". The trailer lacked two doorways for ingress and egress, not on the same side as required for trailers transporting six or more horses, and the partitions were spaced more than 10 feet apart in a trailer without stalls. The 32 horses were being transported to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption overseas. Some of the horses were shipped from a Pennsylvania auction barn. This stretch of I-87, The Adirondack Northway, was nicknamed The Torture Trail and drew national attention to the torture of slaughterbound horses being shipped through New York state to Canadian slaughterhouses for human consumption overseas after a trailer was stopped with 85 horses on December 12, 1980. State troopers found 5 dead horses inside the trailer and had to destroy several more. Only 57 horses survived. The truck drivers were fined $300.00. As a result the New York State Legislature passed by unanimous vote the strongest horse transport law in the country. In 1996 the Commercial Transportation of Horses To Slaughter Act was passed. For 2 years the USDA did not request funding to draft and implement guidelines. All indications are that the guidelines that the USDA issues will legalize every inhumane practice that was identified in the transportation of horses to slaughter. Sadly the majority of horse publications continue to refer to the act as "The Safe Commercial Transportation of Horses To Slaughter Act" when the words, "safe and "humane" do not exist anywhere in the law. In PA efforts to pass HB 2127, the Horse Transport Bill into law have failed for 1998. Representative Lynch has indicated that he will reintroduce the legislation in January 1999. New York State continues to use its law to crack down on the cruel and inhumane transport of slaughterbound horses from Pennsylvania auctions through New York to Canadian slaughterhouses for human consumption overseas. The simplicity of New York State's law facilitates the prosecution and conviction for illegal shipment of horses, and New York State counties have seen revenue of $6900 this year alone, with over $11,000 in unpaid fines on the books.New Holland, PA-On October 5, 1998 before District Justice Good, New Holland, PA, Timothy W. Ryan, Elizabethtown, KY entered a plea agreement of guilty on one charge of not having a Coggins Test on one of 12 horses brought into Pennsylvania from Kentucky on July 6, 1998. Mr Ryan paid a $100.00 fine, the minimum fine, and $34.50 in court costs.The charges on the other 11 horses were dropped.
Trooper Burgis of the PA State Police in Lancaster arrested Mr. Ryan at the New Holland Sales Stables, New Holland, PA for not having the required Coggins Tests on the 12 horses he brought into Pennsylvania from Kentucky as required by PA law. The PA State Police were at the New Holland Sales Stables in New Holland, PA responding to complaints regarding the trucks and trailers that transport the horses and the conditions of the horses at the auction. The State Police had officers inside the auction from early morning until late afternoon. Several of PA's neigboring states require horses to have negative Coggins Tests before the horse can be sold. In a 1996 USDA survey, EIA was cited by 24% of horse owners as the horse disease which concerned them the most. The State Police stated that more enforcement efforts are possible. On July 13, 1998, the PA Department of Revenue was on the street outside the horse auction and the hay auction checking the diesel fuel that was being used. There is a difference in the tax on fuel used in farm vehicles on the farm and that of fuel used by vehicles driven over the road.New York State Trooper Thomas Garcia , who testified at the PA House Judiciary Committee hearings on HB 2127 and who has over 200 arrests involving the illegal transport of horses, arrested Donald Nickerson of Nickerson Livestock,Bainbridge, N.Y. on 64 counts of New York State's Agriculture & Markets Law, Section 359-a on August 26, 1998. Mr. Nickerson was arraigned by Essex County, N. Y. Assistant District Attorney Mark Montayne before Schroon Town Justice Jean R. Strothenke in Schroon Town Court on August 26, 1998. Mr Nickerson pled not guilty and was released on his own recognizance to appear in court on September 23, 1998. On October 15, 1997 a driver for Nickerson Livestock was arrested in Essex County, New York on I-87 , "The Torture Trail". The trailer lacked two doorways for ingress and egress, not on the same side as required for trailers transporting six or more horses, and the partitions were spaced more than 10 feet apart. The 32 horses were being transported to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption overseas. Some of the horses were shipped from a Pennsylvania auction barn.
Mr Nickerson faces fines up to $6400, $100 for each horse transported in violation of the law.
Kevin Nickerson, son of Donald Nickerson, was arrested on Monday January 19, 1998 on I-81 in Kirkwood, New York by New York State Trooper Steven Cornell. There were 27 horses and mules on the double deck trailer, the majority of which were purchased at the New Holland Sales Stables in New Holland, PA.
In an apparent attempt to receive the smallest possible fine, the defendants told Broome County, New York Assistant District Attorney Eichan that this was their first offense and they had no knowledge of the law. ADA Eichan learned from New York State Police and former Essex County, New York Assistant District Attorney Debra Whitson, now with the New York State Attorney General's Office, that in fact Nickerson Livestock had another case pending in Essex County, New York and had been the company involved in the infamous "Syracuse 36" case that drew national attention on ESPN in 1995.
Mr. Kevin Nickerson, agent for Nickerson Livestock, Bainbridge, New York was convicted after trial on April 1, 1998 in Kirkwood, N.Y. Town Court. Mr. Nickerson was fined and paid the maximum of $3000.00 for 30 counts of illegal transport of horses.
The arraignment today of Donald Nickerson and the arrest of Arlow Kiehl on Monday August 24, 1998 in Cortlandville, N.Y. bring the number of charges in recent months by the New York State Police against these two repeat offenders to over 200 in the past year. New York State has the strongest horse transport law in the country. Since 1981 it has been illegal to transport horses in a double deck trailer and requires other safety features in trailers transporting 6 or more horses.
New York State Police Troopers Marc E. Hickey and Kenneth A. Laman, assisted by Trooper Richard Cecce, arrested Arlow Kiehl, Watertown, NY on Monday, August 24, 1998 on I-81 North at 11:45 PM in the Town of Cortlandville. Mr Kiehl was charged with 16 counts of transporting horses illegally in violation of New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, Section 359-a.
The 16 horses on Mr Kiehl's double deck trailer were being shipped from the horse auction in New Holland, PA to a Canadian slaughterhouse for human consumption overseas. Some of the horses on the trailer had visible injuries. Cortlandville is approximately 50 miles North of the Pennsylvania and New York border. According to a news story published June 25, 1998 by the Williamsport Sun Gazette,
" Kiehl uses a double deck trailer and said he will continue to do so, despite the fact that he has been arrested several times recently in New York State, hauling horses from the New Holland (PA) and Middleburg (PA) auctions."
Mr Kiehl pled guilty in Preble Town Court on June 23, 1998 to 26 counts of illegally transporting horses in violation of New York Agriculture and Markets Law, Section 359 a and was fined $2000.00. Mr. Kiehl also pled guilty to 17 counts of the illegal transport of horses on June 9, 1998 in Barker, N.Y. Town Court and paid a $500 fine.
Due to Mr Kiehl's previous convictions of New York State's Agriculture and Markets Law, Section 359-a, the charges are misdemeanors. Mr Kiehl faces up to a year in jail and fines totalling $8000.00, $500 for each horse transported illegally. Trial is scheduled for December 9, 1998.
On July 22, 1998 New York Governor Pataki signed into law Senate Bill 6332 introduced in March 1998 by Senator Kuhl, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. The bill raises the fines for violating New York State's Agriculture and Markets law, Section 359-a, the illegal transport of horses. The fines were raised from $100 to $250 for a first violation and from $500 to $1000 for a second conviction. The fines are PER horse, PER violation. The new fines take effect on November 1, 1998.
On June 25, 1998 the PA House Judiciary Committee held hearings on HB 2127 introduced by Rep. Jim Lynch (R) Warren County in Gettysburg, PA. The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote the bill out of Committee with the amendments that the Equine Placement Network is calling for before they can fully support the bill. Due to the lack of legislative days left this session, the bill will be reintroduced in the next session.
The PA House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Thomas Gannon unanimously voted out of committee HB 2127, The Horse Transport Bill, aimed at ending the cruel and inhumane methods used to transport horses to slaughter for human consumption.
Being that enforcement of this legislation is best accomplished at the point of loading, it is imperative that Pennsylvania enact legislation that will ensure that all horses, no matter what their final destination, are transported using vehicles and methods that meet equine industry standards. Blind, sick, and injured horses should not be forced to endure more suffering so their owner can put a few dollars in their pocket. Irresponsible breeders should not profit from their lack of responsibility by sending a pregnant mare, or foal to slaughter.
As Pennsylvania lawmakers decide whether to pass HB 2127, the Horse Transport Bill, and the USDA writes guidelines for the Commercial Transport of Horses to Slaughter Act, New York State continues to use its law to crack down on the cruel and inhumane transport of slaughterbound horses from Pennsylvania auctions through New York to Canadian slaughterhouses for human consumption overseas. The simplicity of New York State's law facilitates the prosecution and conviction for illegal shipment of horses, and New York State counties have seen revenue of $5500 this year alone, with over $11,000 in unpaid fines on the books.