SAVE HEIDI'S LIFE

Thanksgiving 2015 Heidi

Heidi spent the last six weeks at Animal Control in a small cage - death row.  The behavior specialist there is the source to evaluate any dog to determine whether it is mean, dangerous or even vicious - or not.  That is the state and county law.  An execution cannot be ordered absent this; certainly not by a policeman, a Board, its' lawyer, nor a judge - none having ever seen the dog.

 The HW Board never sought this as it knew what we did: that a positive finding was quite improbable, and that would derail the village CEO, policeman and lawyer from the mission to execute this dog.

  Heidi was evaluated by two behavior specialists, one who kept her a month and trained her past her skittish fear that had her nip on occasion when she felt cornered.  Heidi got better, less fearing.  Their reports, known in detail by the Board, made clear Heidi was loving, loyal, very happy, a fun-loving dog; in no way mean or dangerous.  

After three years of appeals - legal, to reason, to re-home out of the village, only what the police chief demanded in 2012, the Board, headed by the mayor and CEO and its' lawyer who they let! - gag them from all contact with us!, $30+,000, your money, wasted:  on Tuesday, November 24 they executed Heidi.  She is dead.  Jared's 10th Birthday dog was executed for his Thanksgiving today.  

Absent the simple, legal, Constitutional required protection of findings by the proper legal source, that specialist; despite the two specialists who in fact did evaluate Heidi, Heidi, by travesty of any justice, was murdered.  Heidi was - murdered.  

For all those who cared, supported, tried, signed and commented - today is a Thanksgiving with less happiness.  

Love you, thank you, you have helped more than we can say.

B  

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Daily Herald Article

Here is an article published today in the Daily Herald

http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20151027/news/151028971/

The article has several inaccuracies and it seems the reporter did not do much research. I'll remind everyone that Heidi is not vicious and has not been found vicious by any govenment authority.  The circuit court overturned the HW police Chief's 2012  finding in March 2014. 

I guess at this point, your prayers are needed.  To those of you who contacted the village mayor and board, thank you so much.  If anyone else will please do so-- it certainly cannot hurt. 

Please feel free to contact me through this site anytime.  You can also reach me at 847-736-1340.

Your e-mails and calls are still needed!

Thanks to everyone who has already e-mailed or called the Village Board, mayor and chief operating officer Pam Newton (see contact info in announcement below). These individuals need to hear from as many supporters of Heidi as possible. Some, if not all of the Board members feel terrible about what is happening.  They need to be reminded that they can save Heidi!  They can stop the order of her execution, and can allow Heidi to live with an adoptive owner outside of Hawthorn Woods.  

Another person at the Village who should also be contacted is Police Chief Jennifer Paulus.  Ms. Paulus may have influence over Heidi's fate, and we need to make sure she is included in our pleas for Heidi. 

Jennifer Paulus:  jpaulus@vhw.org; 847-438-9050

Thanks and God bless,

Jean Bacardi

Heidi's Final Plea

Yesterday was a very sad, terrible day for Heidi and those who love her. Heidi was taken to Lake County Animal Control and is now awaiting death. The purpose of this post is to ask all of you to act quickly, to make your opinion known to the village mayor, board of trustees, and chief operating officer, in a final, unified attempt to save Heidi's life.

I have listed the e-mails and phone numbers below.  FYI, phone calls to the mayor and board members will result in a voice mail greeting and you will have to leave a message-- but please do so-- as often as possible!!  Flood their mailboxes!! Some of you may be fortunate to actually talk to COO, Pam Newton, if she is in the office Monday.  Please state your name and state that you do not support that the Village is forcing the execution of this 28 lb beagle-mix who HAS NOT been found either vicious or dangerous by ANY authority*.

IMPORTANT: the mayor, COO and most board members will be gathered for the 'Committee of the Whole' meeting at the Barn (Lagoon Ave.) starting at 5:30 pm this Monday, Sept. 28th. Please contact them before this time, so that we have as many pleas as possible before they are all together.  If you want to appear in person to make your plea, please arrive at 5:30 for the opportunity for public to address the board, early in the meeting.  Making the case for Heidi in person will be powerful, especially if lots of you show up! 

Board Members

 Pamela Newton,  pnewton@vhw.org        COO          (847) 847-3535

 *Even the village police chief's finding of vicious was overturned in the 19th District court (the part of the appeal we won). The village never sought any animal authority, veterinarian, animal behaviorist to evaluate Heidi. This helpless animal should not be killed because of several human beings' errors, incompetence and vindictiveness. The village is aware that Heidi can be adopted by a responsible owner outside of Hawthorn Woods and we, the Bacardis, would not have any contact with her in the future. In light of this solution, the only reason the mayor and Board still insist on Heidi's execution is pure spite.  The downtown lawyer, who's firm has made hundreds of thousands of dollars off of us village taxpayers, needs Heidi's head on a platter-- he is ALL IN to kill this poor animal. But we still have hope that the mayor and Board, who have all been elected to serve our village, will ultimately see that killing Heidi is a cruel act of inhumanity, especially if all of you remind them of this fact.

PLEASE HELP HEIDI! Our legal appeal to save her is over. As stated before, your supportive action for Heidi does not imply any support for our family. The village Board has the power to let Heidi live!  Please e-mail and/or call the people above as soon as possible!  HEIDI SAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Update on Heidi- we are still hopeful

Hello Supporters,

It's been a while since I've posted an update, so I thought I would just let you know that Heidi is still alive, still living in a kennel in DuPage County.  Our sweet girl is incredibly healthy despite her circumstances. She's in good spirits when we visit her often. One of our wonderful neighbors also drives down to the kennel once/week and sees her-- we are so grateful for our friends. This is no life for a dog, of course, and we remain hopeful that the Hawthorn Woods Village Board will decide to allow Heidi to live by allowing her to be adopted by a responsible owner outside of the village.

Please spread our message wherever you can-- our only agenda is to keep Heidi alive, for she does not deserve to die. We would be grateful for the Board to do the humane and moral thing and let Heidi live-- far away, instead of force her execution. 

Thank you,

Jean Bacardi

Village Board of Trustees meeting tomorrow night-- April 21st 7:00 pm

Hello Supporters,

Thanks again to all of you who have signed our pettion to save our little beagle mix, Heidi.  Heidi is doing OK, still in a DuPage County kennel, but very healthy and always happy to see us for frequent visits. 

If you are able, please come to the meeting at the Barn (at Lagoon Dr. and Old McHenry Rd) tomorrow, Tuesday, beginning at 7:00 pm.  At these Board meetings, there is always an opportunity at the beginning of the meeting for anyone to stand up and speak briefly, to express their concerns about any village matter.  Any supporters who want to speak, your comments will be appreciated.  Your mere presence is important, whether you choose to speak or not! We will present the Board with the petition signatures.  Note that the HW taxpayers' funds paid to the Chicago law firm to fight for Heidi's death are well over $30,000.  We have documents showing $29,334 through December 2014, and the attorney has since invoiced thousands of dollars in fees not yet published on the vhw.org web site. 

The mayor, Joe Mancino, will probably state that he cannot comment on the matter because it is in litigation. But the fact remains, the mayor nor any Board member has not offered ANY explanation as to why they will not accept our proposal to settle and END the litigation.  The decision to end the litigation is theirs.   We can completely and legally document the transfer and new ownership of Heidi to a reputable rescue organization.  There is no reason for anyone on the Board to think a settlement to re-home Heidi permanently outside of Hawthorn Woods would not be legitimate. 

So please consider attending the meeting at 7:00 pm-- you would be able to leave by 7:30 or earlier, after the public comment period.  And if you can make it, please e-mail me at bb100@att.net to let me know (but ok if you can't e-mail -- just show up!)

Thanks everyone,

Jean Bacardi

847-736-1340 cell

Thank you all for your support of Heidi! Petition Stats below

SAVE HEIDI'S LIFE

Signature Status as of 3/20/15 12:00 pm

321 people have signed this petition. The signatures originated from 270 different IP addresses.

DOCUMENTS SHOWING ATTORNEYS FEES

Please go to these links to view all of the checks paid from Hawthorn Woods account.  If you search for SCHAIN, BURNEY, BANKS & KENNY, you will see the law firm's itemized invoice amounts for the respective years.  The 'Bacardi Litigation' invoices total $20,585 for 2014 and $8,749 for 2013.  So through 12/31/14, total spent to go after us and our dog is $29,334. Note that these invoices DO NOT include any Bacardi case work done under the $5,000/month retainer also paid to Schain et al.  The attorney has written two motions for extension of time SINCE then-- probably several hundred to $1K/per.  As you can see, the tax dollar spigot continues to run.

Village of Hawthorn Woods 2014 Check Register:

http://www.vhw.org/archive.aspx?amid=&type=&adid=856

Village of Hawthorn Woods 2014 Check Register:

http://www.vhw.org/archive.aspx?amid=&type=&adid=791

More interesting facts about the Legal Expenses of Hawthorn Woods:  Total spent on Schain attorneys in 2014 was $152,615.  Schain, Burney et al is the FIFTH largest single expense of the village! Attorney's fees are only behind two banks for debt payoff, healthcare insurance, and the Village of Lake Zurich which handles police dispatch, sewer service and some fuel supply.  

Now, we are not implying that any of the other legal fees are not justified, as we have no information on these cases and expenses.  It's just surprising that a village of 8,000 people would have so much of its budget going to legal fees.

Contact Village Board Members!

Several of Heidi's supporters have indicated they would go to the Board directly to voice their concerns of the tax dollars being spent and the inhumane act of forcing the dog's death. Here are the Board members names and phone numbers.  To e-mail them, please go to this page on the VHW web site: http://vhw.org/index.aspx?nid=134 

Title 

Phone Number 

Joseph Mancino, Mayor                                                                                                

(847) 438-1887

Kelly Corrigan
Trustee

(847) 847-3551

Michael David
Trustee

(847) 847-3549

Dominick DiMaggio
Trustee

(847) 847-3550

Neil Morgan
Trustee

(847) 847-3552

Peter Ponzio
Trustee

(847) 847-3553

Steve Riess
Trustee

(847) 847-3554

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