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Distributed throughout the Greater Rockies
 Since 1993

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Copyright 2009 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.

January 2009 Issue

     Ravalli County (Montana) Deputy District Attorney John Bell has filed a second amended citation of six additional misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty against Craig Heydon and seven additional misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty against Curtis Heydon, a father and son from Georgia.

     The Heydons were originally charged with four counts each of animal cruelty after they took an extended back country trip into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness with four horses during the summer of 2008. On August 1, one of their horses (later named “Able” by his rescuers) was discovered in emaciated and very sore condition collapsed on a trail, and soon after, all four horses were confiscated by authorities. Read the story, “Left for Dead,” at www.rockymountainrider.com.

     The Heydons’ trial is scheduled for January 27–28, 2009, in Hamilton, Montana.

Montana ’s “Able’s Bill” Update

     Montana state senator Rick Laible has submitted a bill that, as of RMR print deadline in mid-December 2008, was still in the drafting process. The bill’s draft number is LC0623, and is also known as “Able’s Bill,” in honor of the horse rescued from the Bitterroot Mountains in August 2008.

     According to Laible, the bill is to be “narrowly focused, and will increase penalties for animal abuse.”

     Wording in an early draft of the bill that would change horses from a legal designation as “livestock” to “companion animals,” was stricken.

     The bill will be out of the draft process before January, 2009, and will be voted on in mid- to late-January 2009.

     It may be tracked through the Montana Legislature website:
leg.mt.gov/css/. Click on “Find a Legislator,” and go to Senator Rick Laible to find the status of the bill and to contact Laible. You may use the same website to contact your own legislator to show support of the bill’s passage into law.

Click here for a link to archived articles about the Heydon Abuse Case published in Rocky Mountain Rider Magazine.

Copyright 2009 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.

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