Saturday, January 20, 2007

WAR Launches Operation: Helter Skelter

Demo #1 - John Guttilla – Partner – Rotenberg, Meril, Solomon, Bertiger & Guttilla

A dozen activists braved the sub-freezing temperatures and blustery winter wind to deliver yet another message to Huntingdon Life Sciences CPA John Guttilla. A contingent of New York Police Department officers were already there when we arrived because of our prior notification of our demonstration. Much to her consternation, the restaurant manager of Maz Mescal Restaurant didn’t have to call them this time since they were already there. I wonder if she realizes how much the police presence raises the profile of our demonstrations?

Once again, this location proves to be in the heart of a dog and cat loving neighborhood. At any given time as many as 3 interested neighbors clustered around to ask questions, some even insisting on making donations to support the campaign. Over and over again, we explained that without John Guttilla and his firm, Huntingdon Life Sciences wouldn’t be able to kill 500 animals every single day. Neighbors promised to make the effort to speak to John in the hopes of convincing him to stop doing business with the puppy killers at HLS.

Demo #2 - Paul Bennett, NYSE Senior Vice President

The next stop was our first to a New York Stock Exchange Executive, Paul Bennett. Paul lives just minutes away from John Guttilla. Once again, our police escort preceded us causing more than one of Paul’s neighbors to ask us if we were all right and to make sure that the police were not being intrusive. We assured them that officers of the 19th precinct know us and know that the only potential for trouble is if someone gets in our faces first.

This was our first opportunity to use our newest flyer detailing the relationship between the NYSE and Huntingdon Life Sciences which trades under the ticker symbol LSR. Paul’s neighbors appear to be Wall Street savvy and had no trouble understanding why we were focused on the NYSE. Many neighbors stopped to take literature and ask questions. We were reminded time and again that this was a neighborhood of animal lovers, who could not condone the killing of innocent animals for product testing. A hedge fund executive came out of Paul’s building and spent about 20 minutes asking detailed questions about LSR and their NYSE listing. No doubt we will return to this sympathetic location very soon.

Demo #3 - Sandra Holleran, Vice President – Bristol-Myers Squibb

Despite the fact that our activist contingent was freezing as the winds drove the temperature down to single digits, we continued on our schedule and traveled to the home of BMS Vice President, Sandra Holleran. Once there we unfurled our large graphic banner and began to distribute our flyers explaining how Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) is a customer of Huntingdon Life Sciences.

We explained to passersby that without BMS contracts HLS could not continue to kill animals. The passionate activists raised their voices high and proud, chanting….”We will never back down, until they stop the killing”. During activist speak-outs we detailed some of the horrors that BMS has been responsible for and distributed lists of their prescription and over-the-counter products.