The Daily Sentinel no doubt will — in fact, it already has — take some heat for reporting on the problems at Roice-Hurst Humane Society. The long-time Mesa County animal shelter has been much in the news for the past few weeks as it has struggled to keep the doors open on the only no-kill shelter in the county.
What the group hadn’t said, and in fact didn’t even know itself until a Daily Sentinel reporter informed board members, was that it was in technical violation of state law and as a result could not continue to legally accept donations. Apparently the group failed to file the proper paperwork with the state.
That has now been corrected. We like to think our reporting played a role in fixing that oversight. Others may disagree. The more important point is that the organization can go on with its fundraising, which has totaled more than $210,000 in recent weeks, and continue with the good work it does with the valley’s stray and unwanted animals.
What we hope is that the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office, which has the power to enforce the state’s laws governing donations to charities, will forgive Roice-Hurst of any past transgressions. Fortunately, the division in the secretary of state’s office charged with enforcing those laws is understaffed and may not get around to dealing with Roice-Hurst. We don’t find that short-staffing problem to be a terrible thing. It’s much like what caused Roice-Hurst to get behind on paperwork itself.
Like most non-profits, Roice-Hurst relies on a lot of volunteers, including board members. They are all well-meaning individuals who sincerely care about Mesa County’s animals. That they forgot to file some paperwork can, and should be, forgiven.
Roice-Hurst is a vital community organization. That a lot of people realize that is evident in the outpouring of support after the group made its financial problems public.
We urge anyone who wants to help to continue to do so. Keeping Roice-Hurst afloat is in the best interest of all of us.
Comments
By Mike Neumann
Jul 31, 2008 1:13 PM | Link to this
Responding to Editor Herzog's piece about readers following the Roist Hurse saga failing to distinguish between "reporting" and editorials, I agree any reasonably intelligent person ought to be able to tell one from the other. However, objective reporting of the facts for ANY news story seems to be a lost art. When I was in college 30 some years ago, we were taught that reporting consisted of the who, when, where, what and how of any given story. I seldom read any news reports now that do not intentionally or subconsciously inject the "journalists" view or, usually mis-informed, bias into the story. What passes for objective reporting these days is pathetic and perhaps why newspapers are a dying breed, from self-inflicted wounds. Too many people are tired of the sometimes subtle but always pervasive editorializing that passes for journalism these days. If the reading public is confused, who is to blame??
By CA
Jul 26, 2008 1:22 AM | Link to this
What if I failed pay my electric bill after three notices, what would happen? Yeah, they would cut me off this is malarky, the people should speak up and find another resource to help our animals maybe say Grand Rivers Humane, CLAWS and Animal Services, these organizations use budgeting to get their work done. Ask RHHS the last time they put together a real budget, oh, sorry never mind they may have this previous quarter. Is that good enough?
By Amy
Jul 24, 2008 8:03 PM | Link to this
Kudo's Daily Sentinel, Kudos!
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