A cause for some concern

Just now, I had occasion to go poke around on Craigslist. This was a direct result of an earlier phone call where someone else complained about having their ad for a horse flagged off. And it occured to me that the statement made by that person was correct: The only remaining ads seem to be the ones under $1500 and for horses under a certain age. Very strange I thought, and as I scrolled through a few days' worth, it also dawned on me that some ads I had seen previously, were gone.

So I got to snooping around the help and flag forums, and stumbled across another poor soul who has been flagged off for reasons unknown. Actually there are several someones, but the most disturbing thing I read was a statement made by a very nice local guy-quoted here:

"(We have been told by the animal control in this area that there are a group of ladies who gang up and try to make trouble for people in the horse business...even if there is absolutely no grounds for it...)"

Um, what?

Now, this opens up a whole messy can of worms, doesn't it? This makes the third or fourth time I have heard something similar-this time, it's in print. Now of course, it could have been taken out of context, but still............

First, which people at animal control are talking like this to people in our tiny community? There are only three officers that have regular contact on horse matters, as a rule. Darla, whose last name I can never recall-nice gal and a genuinely great advocate for horses. Matthew Hardwig, whom I have met several times on MSBACR business, and the other guy whose name also escapes me at the moment. On my end, I can say that I don't always care for how well they respond to complaints, but I have found them to be compassionate and mostly professional.

Talking out of turn by suggesting that other members of the community "gang up" on others for no reason.....well, that is a big deal. It just proves how little control the manager there has, over the daily interactions they have with the public they serve. Statements like that do nothing but serve to splinter the community even further, and can do great harm. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that undermining some members does not help the whole, does it?

Which leads to the $64 question: Which people are being identified as being part of this "gang"? The statement I read does not include names, of course.

A cause for some concern, indeed!