Ag official charged with starving horses (SC and GA)

[catgirl]

Source: Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A top South Carolina agriculture official and two of his relatives are accused of mistreating dozens of horses here and in Georgia, where authorities described some of the animals as looking like someone "draped a hide over bones."

James Trexler, one of South Carolina's three assistant agriculture commissioners, was charged this week with five counts of ill treatment of animals. Authorities said five horses on his Hopkins property were found without food in stalls filled with manure and mud.

Trexler, who was suspended without pay from the job he's held since 2003, was released from jail Thursday on bond. His mother, Hazelene Trexler, and brother Terry Trexler remained behind bars because they are considered fugitives in Georgia. Both were charged there with 30 counts of animal cruelty, authorities said.

In October, investigators found about 70 Arabian horses, including one already dead, on about 75 acres in Jefferson County, Ga., sheriff's deputy Jimmy Kitchens said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080229/ap_on_re_us/ag_official_charged;_ylt=AosabV9qmNX6a_mLEih0K7as0NUE

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He was hired by someone who took bribes in exchange for protecting cock-fighting rings.

[CottonBear]

1. Horrifying. They should be thrown in jail and treated like they treated the horses.

:grr:

I hate these people. A horse is a huge responsibility. The horse helped humankind to advance our civilization and now we owe them the best treatment and care possible especially since they are domestic animals and totally dependent upon us for their care.

edit: I live in GA. We've had a terrible drought and there is not much grass in the pastures. I supplement my horse's diet with hay and grain twice a day. Each pasture of two-three horses shares a large water trough which is filled twice a day with fresh well water and cleaned each week. They all have blankets and rain sheets and regular farrier, veterinary, equine massage and chiropractice care.

[flvegan]

2. And we wonder about our problems while we hire foxes to guard henhouses.

[CottonBear]

3. The first thing our Democratic president should do is get rid of these people in federal positions

and then work on getting more Democrats elected in the red states so we can clean house there too.

The USDA, OSHA, Mines etc. all have gone to shit with these people running things.

[Peregrine Took]

4. Is there no end to these bastards? n/t

[kestrel91316]

5. Let me guess - Republican?

[CottonBear]

6. Probably because the reports don't mention his party affiliation.

:grr: Here's the fucking bastard's mug shot:

[Ian David]

13. No, if he was Republican, he would have been fucking the horses.

Bizarre Sex Habits of The Extreme Right-Wing
Reported by Ellen - May 6, 2005

Last night, anti-abortion extremist Neal Horsley was a guest on The Alan Colmes Show, a FOX News radio program. The topic was an interesting one - whether or not an internet service provider should allow Horsley to post the names of abortion doctors on his website. Horsley does that as a way of targeting them and one doctor has been killed. In the course of the interview, however, Colmes asked Horsley about his background, including a statement that he had admitted to engaging in homosexual and bestiality sex.

At first, Horsley laughed and said, "Just because it's printed in the media, people jump to believe it."

"Is it true?" Colmes asked.

"Hey, Alan, if you want to accuse me of having sex when I was a fool, I did everything that crossed my mind that looked like I..."

AC: "You had sex with animals?"

NH: "Absolutely. I was a fool. When you grow up on a farm in Georgia, your first girlfriend is a mule."

AC: "I'm not so sure that that is so."

NH: "You didn't grow up on a farm in Georgia, did you?"

AC: "Are you suggesting that everybody who grows up on a farm in Georgia has a mule as a girlfriend?"

NH: It has historically been the case. You people are so far removed from the reality... Welcome to domestic life on the farm..."

More:
http://www.newshounds.us/2005/05/06/bizarre_sex_habits_of_the_extreme_rightwing.php

[panzerfaust]

7. Lies, Kidnapping, Cruelity: MUST be GOP

His brother "Terry Trexler also faces a kidnapping charge. Deputies said he refused to let a Humane Society investigator leave when she came to the pasture this month with a camera to follow up on a tip. At the time, he claimed he was his brother James" (from the above article)

[catgirl]

8. I would love to know details on the kidnapping

And I'd love to know this guys qualifications. This job was obviously
given to him by a friend (who took bribes to protect cock-fighting
rings!).

[robinlynne]

9. This guy gets bail, and Siegelman doesn't?

[doodadem]

10. You see that alot around here

People that think horses should be able to fend for themselves in pastures where the grass is eaten away completely, or nothing but dead dry weeds. Summer is worse. These animals never see a farrier or vet, or even clean water. Why in the world have them?

Hay prices have gone up considerably with the price of gas. I paid $10 a bale for a 100 pound bale of bermuda grass just a few months ago. It's now up to $15 a bale. Same for orchard grass, wheat, etc.

[Ian David]

12. My mom used to have a horse, and when she couldn't afford it, she gave it to a friend...

who already kept horses, and who she thought she could trust. Unfortunately, the friend's husband had a drug problem, and gave the horse to his dealer in lieu of payment. The dealer just turned the horse loose on a field, and let it eat grass.

The poor thing was emaciated, when my mom and her friend snuck onto the drug dealer's property to steal the horse back.

That really should have been written into an episode of Miami Vice.

[MasonJar]

11. That is beyond despicable. I hope they rot in jail and in hell!