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Updates and further post

Facts about the September 15th Accident with the Double Deck Trailer 
(Revised 9/25/04)
Prepared by: John Holland, Team Red Horse, Hollandtech @ earthlink.net

Notes on this major revision: 

This version corrects the statement in earlier versions that horse slaughter is illegal in Kentucky.  I tried to confirm this and now am told it was misinformation.  Sorry. I would welcome any references to related law.  I have put what I have found at the end.  If you have ever searched for
state laws you will know how difficult it is.

Channel 5 in Cincinnati is tracking this story and aired a very interesting piece on 9/24/04 (Ref. 14).

I thank all the people providing me information and will gladly put credit at the bottom if you would like.  I am rapidly being overwhelmed on this so until there is major new information, or substantial corrections to be made, I will not be updating it.

I am not a professional reporter but I am trying to make this the most accurate and detailed account it can be.  It no doubt contains errors and omissions.  As the story has developed, some
people assumed I was building a case against the Rameys, and others felt I was an apologist.  I have tried to gather the facts independent of my bias, and I have started putting reference
numbers in some places to help keep sources straight.

In this version I have added my opinion onto the end, and it is clearly marked as my opinion.  It is not my opinion of what should happen to Ramey, but of the broader picture.   I felt it necessary to do this to try to put the whole issue into some perspective. 

I would very much welcome the opportunity to talk to Mr. Ramey and to put him on record clarifying some of the things that are still not known.
==================================================================
The Accident Facts:

The accident occurred Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 15th on Indiana State Rt. 1, just north of Lawrenceburg and one half mile from the Greendale City limits(3)(4).  The vehicle came around a turn and slid off the roadway striking a guardrail, then going over an embankment the vehicle fell over on its side and hit a utility pole breaking the pole.  A small fire was started by the downed wires.

Dearborn police stated that big rigs often used the route to avoid the scales on the I-74, I-275 interstates if they were overweight. According to the Dearborn Journal, a weight ticket from a Northern Indiana weigh station indicates that the weight there was 78,000 pounds.  The limit for the vehicle is 80,000 (possibly 83,000 according to Deputy Holdcraft).  It was also reported that rigs use this stretch of road to avoid going through Ohio (for gas tax purposes).

The reports of the various media outlets varied widely on the number of horses that died at the scene, the number euthanized, and the even the total number.  I therefore called Dr. Nenni to clarify them(10). The following facts are directly from my telephone interviews with Dr.
Nenni.  I told him that I was researching facts and would try to discriminate then as widely as possible so as to reduce misinformation and speculation, and to attempt to minimize the number of people bothering him.  He was extremely responsive and helpful. After our initial conversation he called me back with further information.

According to Dr. Nenni he euthanized 12 horses when he arrived (not the 6 as reported in some references below).  He indicated that the reporter who had said the owner had told him to euthanize any horses that “could not go on” had misunderstood his meaning.  By “going on” he meant horses that had no reasonable chance for survival.  No horses were euthanized that had a reasonably chance of survival, he said. 

One horse was apparently purchased by the property owner in exchange for damages.  Additionally there is a report of a foal whose mother had been killed being left behind with someone owning a mare that had lost its foal.

The Standard Fertilizer Company reported removing 21 dead horses. The remaining horses continued to the Ramey farm but no count of these has been established. 

Therefore the total number of horses that died was 21, and the total number that survived was probably 29, for a grand total of 50. Dr. Nenni stated some of the misestimates of the number killed came from the fact that most of the horses shown laying about the pasture in press photos were not the dead, but rather the survivors who laid down after the stress of the accident.

Dr. Nenni further told me that he did not check Coggins papers (that was not his function there).  He indicated, but that he later established contact with the Kentucky State veterinarian
waiting at the Ramey farm and that he was told they checked all the appropriate paperwork. 

Dr. Nenni said he did check some of the bills of sale and that most of the horses he checked were registered horses including paints and quarter horses.  The Kentucky State veterinarian later told Dr. Nenni that all of the horses came from legal auctions in the North.  

According to first hand accounts, some of the injured horses were made to wait 1 to 1 ½ hours. This has been attributed to the fact that most veterinarians were away from the area at
a conference, leaving Dr. Nenni and his staff the only ones at the scene.  Dr. Nenni confirms this and says that his first priority was the horses trapped in the overturned trailer and in doing triage.

Also according to first hand accounts, several people in the area had guns and wanted to shoot the horses but the Sheriff would not allow it and threatened to handcuff anyone with a
gun to the trees!

According to a first hand report, "In a forward compartment there were several horses all believed to be dead (including a 2 month old baby <foal>).  When using the crane to get the trailer up there was a bunch of banging and kicking.  They set it down and went in and found a mule in the middle of a bunch of dead horses without a scratch." <End of first hand report>

The driver and passengers were treated and released.

The surviving horses were moved to a makeshift coral at the residence of Chris and Michelle Belshawl, 19534 Whitaker Lane until they calmed down.  The remaining horses, except for a
buckskin (previously believed to be a roan) that was traded to the property owner in exchange for damages, were then reloaded and continued to their destination which the owner said was
the Ramey Ranch only 160 miles away in Flemingsburg, KY.

Deputy Holdcraft was quoted in a telephone interview as saying that he and most people at the scene urged Ramey not to continue with the horses until they had rested a day or two.  According to at least two reports Ramey said they were his property and he could do as he pleased with them.

A member of our team interviewed one of the state officials who was present at the accident.  According to this official, "Horses on the trailer were for the most part, not nice looking horses [other reports say some were quite nice]. Most of the horses were young, and they traveled on the bottom. [This agrees with Dr. Nenni's account].  The older or taller horses traveled on top. The top of the entire trailer was shorn off. There were four mules." Other reports indicate that one of these was a small burrow.  Dr. Nenni estimated that 20% of the horses were below riding age (2 years).

Note that there is some confusion here, because the above paragraph implies that only 20% of the horses were in the bottom compartment and that these were the smallest.  This implies that over 80% of the weight was in the top compartment. if this were truly the case, the truck would have been incredibly unstable.

At the scene, Jodi Ramey of Flemingsburg Kentucky claimed  to be the owner of the horses.  He was a passenger in the truck and claimed the horses were bought at auction in Minnesota to be sold as trail and riding.  The Ramey's are members of the Kentucky Cattlemen's Assoc.  (Much confusion has come from the fact that both Mr. and Mrs. Ramey are apparently named Jodi.  It was Mr. Ramey referred to in the accounts here.)

Two sources tell me that there was a co-owner (possibly by gentlemen’s agreement), Mr. Larry Browning of Maysville Kentucky. Mr. Browning is said to operate New OK Stockyard in
Maysville. 

According to the State Motor Carrier, Jodi Ramey produced sale papers on three or four of the horses with bills of sale showing they had sold in the $500.00 range.  These were produced from a large envelope, two inches thick, stuffed with papers and no one checked the individual horses nor did anyone look at the other papers in the envelope. 

There was another tractor trailer, also commissioned by Ramey traveling in front of the one that crashed.  It has now been determined that it was also a double decker.  According to the
State Motor Carrier, Jodi Ramey radioed this truck and instructed it not to come back to the scene and help, but rather to keep going to Kentucky.  Dr. Nenni states that Ramey said he had
bought 102 horses in Northern Minnesota and split them between the two trucks. According to Deputy Holdcraft the trucks had been carrying 50 and 52 horses respectively.  He further stated that Ramey determined that the truck involved was the one with 50 horses (not 52 or 53 as previously believed.)

Rusty Ford, the staff assistant to Robert Strout (Executive Director, Office of the Kentucky State Veterinarian) was Contacted by two persons. Mr. Ford indicated in a telephone Conversation that all horse papers (including Coggins tests) were checked at the State line and that the horses were checked both there and at the Ramey farm.

In a letter to Gail Vacca, Rusty Ford wrote:

“Also, I can attest that we had a Livestock Inspector visit the Ramey's farm following these animal's arrival and determined that there was no evidence of disease among this group of horses.  Mr. Ramey is a licensed livestock dealer - thus our inspectors have frequent interaction with him - with his record indicating he is in good standing with the Kentucky Department of
Agriculture's Division of Animal Health.”

Although the reports from the State Veterinarian implies the horses were in good health, there are conflicting reports that some of the horses were injured badly enough that they may never be sound.  The discrepancy may come from the fact that the State veterinarian was concerned primarily with communicable disease, and the wording above does not say the horses were
in good health, but that they showed no evidence of disease.


Reporter Briant Hemmert of Channel 5 News out of Cincinnati visited the Ramey farm but was stonewalled. 

The driver was reported as Kristopher Ramey in early reports, and as Kelly Ramey later(14).  It was reported he was sited for not having a log book but it now appears he had not logged the trip(14)(15) and was charged with making improper entries.  It is reported, but I have not confirmed, that he could not have gone through the scales without at least having a log book.

There was a second passenger in the truck. Unconfirmed third person information indicates that the two passengers mightnot have had the proper paperwork required, and that JodiRamey’s claim to be the co-driver was not accepted(15). 

The tractor trailer was reported to be owned by the Fleming Meat Packing Co. of Flemingsburg KY. The packing company (slaughter house) is listed as being "Multi-species".  A friend of the Ramey’s says that the Ramey cattle operations do business with the packing company.

Fleming County Packing Co.
233 Railroad St.
Flemingsburg, KY 41041
(606) 845-1011

There is not yet any established relationship between the Rameys and the meat packing company other than their tractorwas pulling the trailer and the fact that the Ramey cattle
business sold cattle to the packing company (private email from acquaintance of Ramey’s).

Horse slaughter is NOT illegal in Kentucky so if the Fleming County Packing Company was the intended destination of any of these horses it would not have been against state law. None
of the horses were wearing the tags required for slaughter bound horses. 

Several people(8) have confirmed that the Rameys do buy horses regularly at Sugar Creek and other auctions, and at least one person confirms having bought a saddle horse from them. 
According to one source “Jodi and his dad buy horses from up north and hauls them to the auctions all the way down to Tennessee.  He goes non-stop through the auctions buying
riding horses cheap then re-sells them. I have know Jodi for a long time, didn't know that that the tractor/trailer his dad drove was hauling horses though.  I have only seen Jodi pull through the auctions with a big gooseneck stock trailer.”

It has not been established whether the Rameys resell to slaughterhouses like Cavel in DeKalb Illinois.  It has, however, been reported that Ramey took horses North on hisway to Minnesota on this trip.  If true, the destination of these horses is unknown.  Since accounts indicated 
that Ramey took advantage of the cheap horse prices in the North to sell in the South, it is not clear why he would take horses North for sale.

The reason the trucks were taking the back route that is commonly used to avoid the scales is also not clear.  The State Motor Carrier said that most of the horses were small and that it was therefore unlikely that the trailer was overloaded, and a weigh ticket confirms this according to
multiple sources.

According to Channel 5 (14), Indiana authorities said Ramey Trucking owned the trailer. Police said rules were broken that day, and the driver may have been able to prevent the accident. "The guy driving the truck had not logged any of the trip," said Beverley Ochs, of Indiana Law Enforcement.


"They had put the smaller (horses) on the bottom and the taller ones on the top," Ochs said. "I think that's what also probably attributed to it. Once they took to going over the hill, everything heavier on top helped in to roll." 

The safety history of the Ramey operations is now coming to light.  In 2003 the Ramey Trucking Company had a similar accident, and Channel 5 now confirms this to be the same Ramey
family.

Here is the report from the 2003 accident:

<<Thirty cows died when the tractor-trailer carrying them crashed Saturday morning on the ramp from northbound Interstate 75 to westbound Interstate 275. Erlanger police closed the ramp for about 81/2 hours after Oakley Cooper, 27, of Flemingsburg, lost control of a tractor-trailer owned by Ramey Trucking of Flemingsburg at 2:25 a.m. Police said the trailer broke lose from the truck and flipped onto its right side, skidding for more than 350 feet and striking a light pole. >> <End of information about similar accident>

Also according to Channel 5(14): An inspection report from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration shows that out of 10 inspections over the last two years, the Ramey's have had vehicles put out of service four times.  Out of 31 driver inspections, three drivers were prohibited from driving.
---------------------------------------------------------

Where were the horses going and where did they end up?

The Rameys have chosen not to be public in this issue,  so I have only hearsay and I am reporting it as such. Even so, those of us who have been on discussion groups learn to look for consistency in divining the truth and I find most of the accounts on both sides believable.

In addition to people I have contacted and can reference, a huge number of other posts have been made.  I do not include them unless I have permission, but it is only fair to say that the Rameys have a significant number of people who claim to know them and feel they are decent horse
dealers (in addition to the two people who personally told me this).  There are a smaller number who claim to know them who feel very negatively about them and their operations. 

Interestingly, whether these reports are supportive or not they seem to be describing the same operations!  I should mention that almost every letter I have received in support of the Rameys, and almost every post has made a point of disapproving of the way they hauled the horses
involved in this accident.  Likewise, some people have apparently witnessed animals under Ramey’s care that were clearly in need of worming and other treatment. It appears that the condition of any given animal may be predominantly a function of how it was when it was
bought because Ramey does not appear to keep stock for any amount of time.

One of the most extensive collections of posts by people claiming to know the Rameys is on the ChronoOfHorse.com. The picture that emerges is pretty clear.  The Rameys have been in the horse trading business virtually all their lives.  In the world they come from horses are
livestock and are to be traded as quickly as possible to turn a profit.  In some cases this may be good for an individual horse, and in some cases it may be bad.


They clearly are not traditional “Killer Buyers” who frequent large auctions and take the whole load of horses straight to slaughter.  They have refined their techniques over decades, and in driving their costs down have resorted to measures like the double deck trailers.

The Rameys have clearly been successful at this business and have a large flow of horses.  The answer to where horses go appears to be that they go to a wide variety of outlets.  Some are high quality horses probably sold directly to people in that market, many go to auctions and still others appear to end up in slaughter.  I have now seen five posts by people claiming that this is the case, and some of these are from supporters of the Rameys, saying that it is best for the horses involved. One person quoted Ramey as saying “If I can’t turn a profit on a horse one way I will do it another” when asked if he sold horses to slaughter. (again all hearsay)

Was the Fleming Packing Company the intended destination of any of these horses?  I have reports of people calling the plant before the accident and a few days afterward. The plant appears to have closed immediately following the accident.  The ownership of the plant and its relationship with the Rameys is still not known, nor is the reason for the apparent closing.

The horses involved in the accident have been reported in several posts.  One person claimed to be working with the injured horses at the Ramey farm and that most were coming along nicely.  According to this person one mare had deep cuts but was healing, but most the remaining
injuries were superficial.  This does not agree with another unconfirmed report from a veterinarian who reportedly said that several of the horses would never be sound again.  Again, this may be two people looking at the same animals through different eyes.

I have three reports that say several of the foals were auctioned at the Maysville auction a few days after the accident.  This would seem to agree with the report concerning Mr. Browning’s possible half ownership in the horses.

--------------------------------------------------------

Perspective (editorial and opinion)

This whole controversy appears to be a microcosm of the changing way people view horses and the way horses will be treated in the future.  The movement to stop horse slaughter has grown to the point where there is little doubt that it will be outlawed at the federal levelin the near future. 

At the present time only one man stands between HR-857(The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act) and law, and that is Rep. Bob Good latté the chairman of the House
Agriculture Committee.  He is the Dutch boy with his finger in the dike for the slaughter industry and sooner or later he will have to pull it out.  (It is the goal of our Team Red Horse to make this sooner


rather than later).  This in itself will probably not affect the Rameys greatly, but there are things
happening that will.

The world of the Rameys and the auctions is on collision course with the internet.  Countless
thousands of horses are now being posted and sold over groups and message boards without ever going to auction. I have watched just one of these groups (PMU Rescue) as it has placed hundreds of horses this year.  Boards like this become “virtual auctions”.  We ourselves adopted three this way in the past year. 

There are huge advantages to this new model of horse-trading. The stress on these animals and their exposure to disease and injury is greatly reduced. Since there is no dealer like the Ramey family making a cut, and since the horses are only transported once, there's a built in efficiency.

Just as important is the fact that the horses have abettor chance of finding a good home because if someone's looking for a horse of a specific color or breed, they do not need to be at the right place at the right time and neither does the horse.

A final advantage to the new model is that it allows people to team up in adopting one or more horses, and to support each other with any problems that occur.

We have become fast friends with others on the PMURescue site and I watched in amazement this week as they rescued a group of foals destined for slaughter.  These foals will never see the inside of a double deck truck or the harsh reality of an auction.  Best of all they will never go down a chute and find themselves in a metal box covered in blood with a man preparing to kill them for no reason they can understand.

For those who ask “what will happen to all the unwanted horses if slaughter is stopped”, this new model is a largepart of the answer.  There are even adopters on these groups who adopt only old horses and injured or lame ones.

Another problem looms for the auction/dealer business as well.  This year was a banner year because of the fact that Wythe scaled back its PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) herds from about 50,000 to 15,000.  Thus an estimated 35,000 mares have been streaming into the auctions and
onto the rescue sites.  This is a one time windfall, but will mean that the unwanted foals that these mares produced each year will no longer be finding their way into the auctions.

One pattern that emerges in the case of Rameys is that they seem to have been resorting to less humane transportation and handling in recent months.  This, combined with the apparent shoddy maintenance(14) of their vehicles would indicate that they have had to decrease their costs.  This
might well be the result of the forces I mentioned above.

Could this have led them into new channels for their horses in order to cut corners even further?  Could this explain their relationship with the Fleming Packing Company?  Could the recent surge in beef prices(19) have affected this?  Until they go on record or the records emerge we will
not know.

For operations like the Rameys and for auction markets, the internet will continue to erode their profitability if they continue in the old traditions.  Likewise, the internet is the main reason that horse slaughter is under such pressure.  Times are changing and with any luck it
will mean a better future for the horses. 

In more ways than one, Ramey appears to be like a man from a darker past suddenly finding himself standing on theinternet highway, blinded by the lights.

(end of opinion)

==============================================================
Reference Data:

The veterinarian at the horse trailer accident site was:

Dr. John Nenni
(And a second veterinarian)
Bright Vet Clinic

The person who will determine if charges are filed is:

Sally Blankenship

Dearborn County Courthouse
215 W. High St
Lawrenceburg, IN 47025
sallyblankenship@justice.com   

(812) 537-8884 phone
(812) 537-4295 fax - corrected from earlier post

Law Enforcement Jurisdiction:
Dearborn County Sheriff
1-800-543-1149.
301 W. High St
Lawrenceburg, Indiana 47025

The investigating officer was:
Dearborn County Sheriff
Deputy Allen Holdcraft assisted Deputy William Wagner

Also responding to the scene were:
Greendale EMS
Greendale Fire Dept.
Greendale Police Dept.
Indiana Department of Transportation
Indiana State Police DOT Enforcement
Miller York Fire Dept.

Dr. Robert Strout is Executive Director, Office of Kentucky
State Veterinarian.

Rusty Ford is staff assistant to Dr. Strout.
E.S. Rusty Ford
Staff Assistant
Equine Programs Manager
502/564-3956
Rusty.ford@ky.gov

Source documents
1)http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/3733772/detail.html
2)http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/3738255/detail.html
3)http://www.dearborncounty.org/sheriff/documents/horsecrash.pdf
4)http://www.dearborncounty.org/sheriff/pressrelease4.htm
5)http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/09/15/horses_late.html
6)http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=5224
7)http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2004/09/17ky/B04-rbrf0917-3370.html
8)Personal email from two acquaintances
9)Email accounts from persons at the scene
10)Three telephone interviews with Dr. Nenni by John Holland
11)Telephone interview with State Motor Carrier at scene by Anne Russek
12)Dearborn Journal article by Chandra Mattingly.
13)http://www.equineprotectionnetwork.com/legislation/mnlaw.htm
14)http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/3757890/detail.html
15)Conversations between Deputy Holdcraft and third party.
16) http://www.kyagr.com/state_vet/ah/programs/equineprogs/anemia2.htm
17) Letter from Rusty Ford to Gail Vacca
18) http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/approved_markets/active_markets.html
19) http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/business/9509420.htm


Pertinent Law

(I am not a lawyer either!) DOT Violation – Log Book The driver has been charged with violations of this requirement.  Unfortunately the lack of an accurate log book makes it difficult to recreate the route of the truck.

There are also regulations pertaining to passengers in such tractors that may have been violated.

Minnesota Statutes 1996

Although the accident occurred in Indiana, the owner stated he was coming from auctions in Minnesota.  Minnesota regulates the transport of horses(13).  Both the clearance and divider provisions of the following section may have been violated, especially in the upper compartment.  The strength of the floor is also a possible issue in that the upper deck was reported to have collapsed in on the horses below (third person reports).  It is not known if the floor collapse happened before or after the trailer overturned.

346.38 Equines
Subd. 8. Transportation. A vehicle used to transport an equine must have a floor capable of supporting the animal's weight safely. Floors must be of nonskid construction or of nonskid material sufficient to provide the animal with traction while in transport. A minimum of 12 inches must be allowed between the withers of the largest equine and the structure above the animal while it is in a natural standing position. Sturdy partitions must be provided at a minimum of
approximately every ten feet inside the vehicle. Interior compartments of transporting vehicles must be of smooth construction with no protruding or sharp objects and must provide ventilation. Food and water must be provided in sufficient quantities to minimize stress and maintain hydration.

Kentucky Law regarding horse meat Despite reports to the contrary, I cannot find any
Kentucky law prohibiting the slaughter of horses or the sale of horse meat.  In fact, the reference below would seem to indicate that the horse meat can now be sold without being marked as horse meat under Kentucky law.

I am including this simply because of the fact that the tractor involved was reported as being owned by the Fleming Packing Co.(slaughter house).

217.837Repealed, 1972.
Abstract: 217.837 Repealed, 1972. Catchline at repeal: Horse meat
not to be sold without label -Place of preparation may be regulated.

History: Repealed 1972 Ky. Acts ch. 110, sec. 1. -Created 1968 Ky.
Acts ch. 205, sec. 12.
http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/krs/217-00/837.pdf
I have not researched USDA or other Federal law that might apply.

Report Date(9/23/04)

Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 05:30:04 -0000
From: "hollandtechserv" <hollandtech@earthlink.net>
Subject: Accident fact sheet - Massive update coming

Hi Folks,

I have worked all day (14 hours) on updating the fact sheet.  Information is pouring in to me from all over and it is getting incredible. I am only putting out that which I can confirm or which comes from multiple sources or media. Even much that has been printed in the media has turned out to be wrong.

This update will address the issues asked in recent posts on several groups. I have referenced the law in Minnesota.  It does not outlaw double deckers for horses, but puts restrictions on them.

I was wrong about Kentucky law prohibiting horse slaughter. It now appears that they even repealed the
law that required it to be clearly marked as horse meat!

This story is clearly like an iceberg. I just keep finding out more and more.

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