It has been an honor to serve on the Arkansas VMA Board of Trustees since 2004 and I look forward serving as president for the coming year. I’m a 1980 graduate of Oklahoma State and have practiced small animal medicine in Fort Smith since then. My wife, Beverly, and I have 2 daughters, Sarah and Belinda and three wonderful grandchildren, Katelyn, Madison and Parker.
It has been a busy legislative session the past two months with issues relating to our association and animal welfare. The Animal Cruelty Bill was enacted into law making animal cruelty a class D felony on the first offense. The AVMA has praised this bill citing that it brings Arkansas in line with laws in other states regarding penalties for animal cruelty. The Rabies Control Act was amended enabling the State Board of Health to establish reasonable vaccination requirements of dogs and cats against rabies.
House Bill 1406, which imposed a three dollar tax on every visit on veterinary services performed on dogs and cats in order to fund local animal shelters, was withdrawn by the bill sponsor. This was the result of massive opposition by the ArVMA, Arkansas State Board of Health, Arkansas Veterinary Medical Examining Board, Pulaski County Humane Society, Beebe Humane Society and basically anyone who owned a dog or cat. Our lobbyists Bill and Bradley Phillips helped provide us with quick attention to this bill and aided in its withdrawal.
House Bill 2240, “Amending The Veterinary Practice to Allow Municipal Animal Shelters To Provide Veterinary Services to the Public “, was deferred from committee by the sponsor. Again, the overwhelming response in opposition to this bill by the Association, the Examining Board and our lobbyists were vital in persuading the sponsor not to run this bill.
Things are going well with the ASU Beebe Vet Tech Program. There was an on site visit from the AVMA Accreditation Team on March 4th.
I’d like to thank everyone who attended the Winter Meeting in Hot Springs. We had a great turnout and superb speakers. We tried out a new format this year starting the meeting Friday morning and adjourning at noon on Sunday. The addition of desk style seating made for more comfortable lectures and we also hosted the first Past Presidents Breakfast. Mr. Bill Phillips, our lobbyist, was the guest speaker.
We had praises from several of our speakers and guests for the efficient organization of the meeting, which was due to the hard work by our Executive Director, Maggie Milligan. Speakers also praised our members for their warm hospitality.
Our awards ceremony honored two members of the association. Awards went to the 2008 Veterinarian of the Year, Dr. Lyndon Tate and to Dr. Jim Achorn who was presented with a Service Recognition Award. They were recognized for their extraordinary dedication and devotion for service to the improvement of our association and our profession. Congratulations to these two fine gentlemen!
A new service our association office is setting up is an internet list serve to provide faster and increased communication between association members. Be sure to check the association website, arkvetmed.org, whenever possible to keep abreast of this and the latest news of the association.
Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the summer meeting in Branson, August 7-9, when we return to the Chateau on the Lake.
To all of the members of this great association, remember, this is YOUR association. Our mission is to be the voice of this profession in this great state. It’s here to protect the integrity of the veterinarian by upholding the high standards set forth in our Practice Act and to be the standard bearers of animal welfare. Without your support we cannot exist!
Until Next Time,
David Blount
President