Published 12 December 2014. Updated Tuesday, 6 January 2015.
On Thursday, December 11, 2014, I filed my anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss a meritless lawsuit challenging my right to express my OPINION that tethering ponies, butt to nose, to a metal carousel, forcing them to walk in circles on concrete for 3.5 hours is abusive.
Santa Monica Main Street farmers market animal vendors Tawni Angel and Jason Nester are suing me, while they lobby the Santa Monica City Council to reverse its decision of September 9th. The Council voted to give preference to non-animal children’s activity vendors when the contract expires in May, 2015.
Nester and Angel repeatedly argue that because market managers and animal control officers insisted there was no animal abuse, I should have remained silent in what I and 1,450 other people viewed as cruel and abusive treatment that relegates animals to mere subjects over which humans have complete dominion. If the Plaintiffs’ denial of First Amendment rights was applied to historical events and our citizenry not allowed to challenge the word of a person with a title or uniform, we would never have outlawed or ended human slavery, denial of voting rights to women and people of color, sweatshops, and child labor. Instead, we would be a nation of good soldiers taking orders, ignoring or abandoning our moral compass.
To ponies, to alpacas, to animals everywhere who are tightly tethered or penned, unable to turn around or seek water on their own, their freedom severely restricted, I am fighting back — and not just for them or for me but for protesters everywhere who under the First Amendment have the right to speak out, to assemble, and to petition their government for redress of grievances.
California law protects against what are called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. SLAPPs are lawsuits filed to silence protesters by burdening them with the costs and stress of a lawsuit. To learn more, visit the California Anti-SLAPP Project.
Many thanks to my wonderful lawyer Jim Frieden who never stops, to my loving husband Buddy Gottlieb for his endless support, to my co-defendant Danielle Charney, to the ever-supportive Suzanne Robertson and husband Barry, to Santa Monica City Council Members Ted Winterer and Gleam Davis for their leadership on this issue, to those who submitted declarations and showed up, to those who signed my Move On petition calling for an end to institutional exploitation, and to those who quietly support me/us every step of the way as they roll up their sleeves and do the hard case work in the middle of the night.
Our Anti-SLAPP hearing is scheduled in Superior Court in Santa Monica on January 9th.
Click HERE to read my Declaration submitted to the court.
CLICK HERE to read Plaintiff Tawni Angel’s Declaration.
CLICK HERE to read Marcy Winograd’s brief reply to the Plaintiff‘s opposition to Winograd’s Anti-SLAPP motion calling for dismissal of the case on First Amendment grounds.
CLICK HERE to read Marcy Winograd’s Reply Declaration to Tawni Angel.
You can sign my petition here to end animal cruelty at the Main Street Farmers Market in Santa Monica.
Marcy Winograd
Eugene Pummill says
February 26, 2015 at 11:54 amI signed Marcy’s petition before I read the pony owner’s petition to the court. After studying that document, I realised that adding my name to her cause was a mistake. The pony’s are well-cared for and treated. The underlying issue seems to be that Marcy objects to pony rides in a carousel, and perhaps that is a valid point and concern. But the solution for that is not to force out a lawful family business. Instead she should seek a law or ordinance that prohibits pony carousel rides.
Greg Johnson says
January 12, 2015 at 4:56 pmTo casually ruin an honest and hard working family business over an absolutely false claim of “Animal Cruelty” is disgusting and a prime example of an ego driven politician putting selfish personal agenda ahead of the needs and wants of the community she purports to be helping. My daughter has been a frequent lover and rider of the horses in question and I’ve been around horses all my life. These ones look very content and well looked after. Perhaps Ms Winograd would do better to try “helping” the thousands of homeless people who roam Santa Monica in need of housing, food and medical assistance and leave the kids and real working families alone. ps. which school do you teach at so I can be sure not to send my kids there?
Ed Hunsaker says
December 20, 2014 at 1:18 pmYou did the right thing, Marcy. With the support of your terrific and ever-steady husband, Buddy, and all of us who support you in this cause, we look forward to a conclusion that is favorable to the respect we seek among our cohabitants — animals, and all of our natural environment — for which we are the stewards.
Marian Kaplan says
January 7, 2015 at 10:11 pmI am sincerely shocked that this “entertainment” still exists. Please be sure to include me in any future
petitions.
Greg says
January 13, 2015 at 5:59 pmI hate to tell you this but what an utterly privileged and delusional life you must lead if a harmless petting zoo for children shocks you… you should travel sometime, see the real world.
Elizabeth says
May 13, 2015 at 10:39 pmGreg, it’s quite pathetic that you consider ponies tethered by their foreheads to steel bars, forced to trod for several hours in tight circles within a very tight space inside a boisterously busy farmers mkt harmless…this after being transported in a trailer reported by an inspector to have remained tainted with feces. Ugh. Harmless?
You with your cavalier, self-centered sense that the world revolves around you must be heartbroken that Ringling Bros are doing away with elephants made to perform ridiculous feats to entertain your privileged prodigy. You parents and your photo ops at any cost. Ugh.