Bikers Against Animal Cruelty
SPCA Dogs Better Off Dead? What is Tom Buzi, Monroe's First Selectman Saying?
Our animals need your help!
Politician Tom Buzi and his henchmen think our dogs are better off dead?? In this Monroe Courier article he
offers no solutions or alternatives, only aggresive attacks from someone who has never even visited us!
Monroe has also blocked our efforts to relocate!
Please let Tom Buzi know that his actions will cost animals their lives!
The Monroe Courier and Editor Bill Bittar have been very fair with us and we appreciate their understanding
and unbiased coverage! Please help us by voicing your support to them.
The Article:
Monroe Courier
Town wins round one against dog kennel
Feb 21, 2008
A row of dogs in cages barked and yipped at a car pulling into the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (SPCA) driveway on a rainy Monday morning. Dogs live in kennels at the Spring Hill Road property as
well as inside the white house there.
Fred Acker, shelter president, says the number of dogs in his rescue operation range from 55 to 75 animals at
any one time. But a Feb. 11 Superior Court decision ruled that the number of dogs should be limited to 29.
“I’m pleased with the judge’s decision,” Town Attorney Fred Martin said Monday afternoon, “and if it goes to
appeal, I think that the decision will be affirmed.”
While discussing the case in his kitchen earlier in the day, Acker said he has a stay allowing him to continue
his operation unimpeded during his appeal.
Should the court’s decision be upheld, Acker said, “It would mean a lot of dogs are going to die.”
The Monroe SPCA takes in dogs from animal shelters in Bridgeport , New York City, Atlanta , Puerto Rico and,
by Acker’s estimate, finds loving homes for about 500 a year.
“Fred’s essential in helping us get our kill rate down,” said Stacey Hall, president of the Southern Hope
Humane Society in Fulton County , Ga. “He saves at least 20 or 30 a month from us, who would otherwise die.”
However, not everyone believes Acker, whose operation runs on adoption fees and financial and vehicle
donations, is doing what is best for the animals.
“That facility does more harm to animals than it helps animals,” First Selectman Thomas Buzi said Tuesday
afternoon. “There’s no way you can have 90 animals crated in a house and tell me you’re helping them.”
Since Acker bought the property in October 1999, his operation has been considered a nuisance to several
neighbors who have complained about traffic, noise of barking dogs and odors coming from the property.
Acker was granted a kennel license because the property was previously used as a kennel. But a
grandfathered use may not be expanded, according to the defendant’s brief filed by the town in the lawsuit.
On Dec. 3, 2004, the Monroe Police Department executed a search and seizure warrant on Acker’s property in
response to a complaint. The police report said officers found 87 dogs and 32 cats on the premises as well as
two unregistered vehicles (one of them an animal transport vehicle), according to the court file. The Planning
& Zoning Commission previously determined Acker’s operation had a 29-dog limit, so the town zoning
enforcement officer filed a cease and desist order due to several violations. Acker appealed to the Zoning
Board of Appeals, which upheld the order on May 18, 2005. Acker then challenged the ZBA decision in court.
No more than 29
Prior to Acker buying the property, 359 Spring Hill Road was used by the Goldman family as a boarding kennel
operation and to raise poodles. Then the couple’s daughter, Anita Henschel, inherited the property and
continued the boarding business, Weeboro Kennels.
The property has a three-story house, a two-story garage, a three-story barn, a cinder block greenhouse, a
utility shed and two kennel buildings in the rear.
In response to persistent complaints by the neighbors, the Planning & Zoning Commission issued a “Position
Statement” that, based on available evidence, the Animal Adoption Network (as the SPCA was named at the
time) was “consistent with the nature, purpose and character of the prior non-conforming use and is not an
illegal expansion of that business,” according to court documents.
But complaints continued to pour in, this time about an alleged expansion of activities. Following two meetings
and a site visit, the Planning & Zoning Commission on May 13, 2004 unanimously adopted findings and an
advisory ruling on issues pertaining to the present and future use of the property. Among the findings, the
commission ruled the maximum number of dogs could be 29 — 25 in the non-conforming kennel and four
personally permitted adult dogs.
Neither the scope nor intensity of the operation could be expanded, no commercial vehicles could be parked
or stored, and if a trailer were to be stored on the premises, at no time could it be occupied by an animal, the
P&Z ruled.
“It was an agreement that was so restrictive it would be impossible to comply with,” Acker said. “I couldn’t sign
it. It was too restrictive. I wouldn’t sign anything I couldn’t adhere to.”
Martin said there was nothing to sign. “There was nothing he could agree to there,” Martin said. “It was a
standard established by the Planning & Zoning Commission in an attempt to establish a bright line for the
conduct of his business and with the neighbors as well.” According to the defendant’s brief, in addition to
police finding 87 dogs and 32 cats on the property, the zoning enforcement officer also cited the SPCA for
storing a tow truck on the property, keeping six dogs in an unregistered trailer and using the greenhouse to
house dogs.
‘We are being harassed’
According to court testimony, several neighbors testified that the previous owner only had between 10 and 15
dogs at one time. The plaintiff, Animal Adoption Network, argued that the town arbitrarily came up with the 29-
animal limit and contended there was no basis for police to execute a search warrant on the property, which
had led to the cease and desist order. Several neighbors complained they could not enjoy their yards
because of smells and noises coming from the property, and one neighbor testified in support of Acker.
The town argued that Acker did in fact intensify and change the use of the property because there is a
significantly higher number of dogs and because the animals are being adopted and not bred. Bridgeport
Superior Court Judge Howard T. Owens Jr. said the court’s ruling could only be based upon whether the ZBA
had sufficient evidence to support its decision, which he determined it had. Acker, who holds adoptions on
Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 p.m., said the town has been overly restrictive, trying to get him to cut
down on the number of days and hours of adoptions too. “I’m being harassed,” he said. “This will have a big
financial impact on adoptions and adoption fees. They know that. They’re trying to cripple us.”Martin
countered, “It is an effort by the town to enforce its zoning regulations.” Most of the complaints have come from
residents living on Shawnee Lane , which runs behind the animal shelter. Acker said the town is paying “a
fortune” in taxpayers” money with all of the litigation. Even with a 29-dog limit, “It will make no difference on
Shawnee Lane ,” he said.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
Here are the phone number address and email addresses:
Voice Complaints To:
Tom Buzi
Monroe Town Hall
7 Fan Hill Road
Monroe , CT 06468
TELEPHONE: (203) 452-2821
FAX: (203) 452-5475
tbuzi@monroect.org
Voice Your Support To:
Bill Bittar
Monroe Courier
1000 Bridgeport Avenue
Shelton, Connecticut 06484
(203) 926-2080
bbittar@hersamacorn.com
Thank you for caring about saving these animals!
Our animals need your help!
Politician Tom Buzi and his henchmen think our dogs are better off dead?? In this Monroe Courier article he
offers no solutions or alternatives, only aggresive attacks from someone who has never even visited us!
Monroe has also blocked our efforts to relocate!
Please let Tom Buzi know that his actions will cost animals their lives!
The Monroe Courier and Editor Bill Bittar have been very fair with us and we appreciate their understanding
and unbiased coverage! Please help us by voicing your support to them.
The Article:
Monroe Courier
Town wins round one against dog kennel
Feb 21, 2008
A row of dogs in cages barked and yipped at a car pulling into the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals (SPCA) driveway on a rainy Monday morning. Dogs live in kennels at the Spring Hill Road property as
well as inside the white house there.
Fred Acker, shelter president, says the number of dogs in his rescue operation range from 55 to 75 animals at
any one time. But a Feb. 11 Superior Court decision ruled that the number of dogs should be limited to 29.
“I’m pleased with the judge’s decision,” Town Attorney Fred Martin said Monday afternoon, “and if it goes to
appeal, I think that the decision will be affirmed.”
While discussing the case in his kitchen earlier in the day, Acker said he has a stay allowing him to continue
his operation unimpeded during his appeal.
Should the court’s decision be upheld, Acker said, “It would mean a lot of dogs are going to die.”
The Monroe SPCA takes in dogs from animal shelters in Bridgeport , New York City, Atlanta , Puerto Rico and,
by Acker’s estimate, finds loving homes for about 500 a year.
“Fred’s essential in helping us get our kill rate down,” said Stacey Hall, president of the Southern Hope
Humane Society in Fulton County , Ga. “He saves at least 20 or 30 a month from us, who would otherwise die.”
However, not everyone believes Acker, whose operation runs on adoption fees and financial and vehicle
donations, is doing what is best for the animals.
“That facility does more harm to animals than it helps animals,” First Selectman Thomas Buzi said Tuesday
afternoon. “There’s no way you can have 90 animals crated in a house and tell me you’re helping them.”
Since Acker bought the property in October 1999, his operation has been considered a nuisance to several
neighbors who have complained about traffic, noise of barking dogs and odors coming from the property.
Acker was granted a kennel license because the property was previously used as a kennel. But a
grandfathered use may not be expanded, according to the defendant’s brief filed by the town in the lawsuit.
On Dec. 3, 2004, the Monroe Police Department executed a search and seizure warrant on Acker’s property in
response to a complaint. The police report said officers found 87 dogs and 32 cats on the premises as well as
two unregistered vehicles (one of them an animal transport vehicle), according to the court file. The Planning
& Zoning Commission previously determined Acker’s operation had a 29-dog limit, so the town zoning
enforcement officer filed a cease and desist order due to several violations. Acker appealed to the Zoning
Board of Appeals, which upheld the order on May 18, 2005. Acker then challenged the ZBA decision in court.
No more than 29
Prior to Acker buying the property, 359 Spring Hill Road was used by the Goldman family as a boarding kennel
operation and to raise poodles. Then the couple’s daughter, Anita Henschel, inherited the property and
continued the boarding business, Weeboro Kennels.
The property has a three-story house, a two-story garage, a three-story barn, a cinder block greenhouse, a
utility shed and two kennel buildings in the rear.
In response to persistent complaints by the neighbors, the Planning & Zoning Commission issued a “Position
Statement” that, based on available evidence, the Animal Adoption Network (as the SPCA was named at the
time) was “consistent with the nature, purpose and character of the prior non-conforming use and is not an
illegal expansion of that business,” according to court documents.
But complaints continued to pour in, this time about an alleged expansion of activities. Following two meetings
and a site visit, the Planning & Zoning Commission on May 13, 2004 unanimously adopted findings and an
advisory ruling on issues pertaining to the present and future use of the property. Among the findings, the
commission ruled the maximum number of dogs could be 29 — 25 in the non-conforming kennel and four
personally permitted adult dogs.
Neither the scope nor intensity of the operation could be expanded, no commercial vehicles could be parked
or stored, and if a trailer were to be stored on the premises, at no time could it be occupied by an animal, the
P&Z ruled.
“It was an agreement that was so restrictive it would be impossible to comply with,” Acker said. “I couldn’t sign
it. It was too restrictive. I wouldn’t sign anything I couldn’t adhere to.”
Martin said there was nothing to sign. “There was nothing he could agree to there,” Martin said. “It was a
standard established by the Planning & Zoning Commission in an attempt to establish a bright line for the
conduct of his business and with the neighbors as well.” According to the defendant’s brief, in addition to
police finding 87 dogs and 32 cats on the property, the zoning enforcement officer also cited the SPCA for
storing a tow truck on the property, keeping six dogs in an unregistered trailer and using the greenhouse to
house dogs.
‘We are being harassed’
According to court testimony, several neighbors testified that the previous owner only had between 10 and 15
dogs at one time. The plaintiff, Animal Adoption Network, argued that the town arbitrarily came up with the 29-
animal limit and contended there was no basis for police to execute a search warrant on the property, which
had led to the cease and desist order. Several neighbors complained they could not enjoy their yards
because of smells and noises coming from the property, and one neighbor testified in support of Acker.
The town argued that Acker did in fact intensify and change the use of the property because there is a
significantly higher number of dogs and because the animals are being adopted and not bred. Bridgeport
Superior Court Judge Howard T. Owens Jr. said the court’s ruling could only be based upon whether the ZBA
had sufficient evidence to support its decision, which he determined it had. Acker, who holds adoptions on
Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 3 p.m., said the town has been overly restrictive, trying to get him to cut
down on the number of days and hours of adoptions too. “I’m being harassed,” he said. “This will have a big
financial impact on adoptions and adoption fees. They know that. They’re trying to cripple us.”Martin
countered, “It is an effort by the town to enforce its zoning regulations.” Most of the complaints have come from
residents living on Shawnee Lane , which runs behind the animal shelter. Acker said the town is paying “a
fortune” in taxpayers” money with all of the litigation. Even with a 29-dog limit, “It will make no difference on
Shawnee Lane ,” he said.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
Here are the phone number address and email addresses:
Voice Complaints To:
Tom Buzi
Monroe Town Hall
7 Fan Hill Road
Monroe , CT 06468
TELEPHONE: (203) 452-2821
FAX: (203) 452-5475
tbuzi@monroect.org
Voice Your Support To:
Bill Bittar
Monroe Courier
1000 Bridgeport Avenue
Shelton, Connecticut 06484
(203) 926-2080
bbittar@hersamacorn.com
Thank you for caring about saving these animals!