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Ms. Patricia Fiore, Compliance Support
The American Kennel Club
5580 Centerview Dr., Suite 300
Raleigh NC 27606-3390

August 31^st 2002

Dear Ms. Fiore,

On June 27th you responded to a letter from me to Mr. Slay. My letter reminded Mr. Slay that he had written to me, asking for proof that Karen Hallum/Tripp/Piazza was actively involved in the breeding, showing or selling of AKC dogs since her suspension. I reminded him that I had provided information about her personal phone calls to a show secretary regarding changes she wished to make to her entries, and I even included the name and phone number of the show secretary for verification purposes. I provided information about Hallum’s purchase of a male Akita puppy from Cindy Smith in Georgia, who Hallum asked to register the puppy in her daughter’s name since Hallum herself was suspended. I have provided information about her ‘purchase’ of an AKC Akita puppy from Mr. James Leon Robison in California to whom she wrote a worthless check for $700 and then re-sold the puppy (without registering it in her name) for the sum of $2,000. I sent a copy of an ad from AKITA WORLD which Hallum placed and paid for, showing her in a win photo at a show. I told Mr. Slay that she personally had contacted and written a check to Bruce Schultz to show ‘her’ dog. When Mr. Schultz learned of her status with AKC, he declined to show for her the second day. All these issues are verifiable, and all show her direct involvement in AKC activities, and my letter asked Mr. Slay what else he needed to prove that Hallum was buying, selling, and showing AKC dogs.

Your response was as if to someone else’s letter. You made an irrelevant comment about dogs not having been transferred out of Hallum’s name since her suspension. Who said any were? You said her suspension did not affect the AKC privileges of her daughter. Ms. Fiore, did you even read my letter that you were supposedly responding to? Should I remind you that in 1999, when Eileen White of Bend, OR wrote to you repeatedly, begging for help because Hallum had sold her an Akita puppy, stolen it back from her and re-registered the dog in her own name, forging Mrs. White’s signature on the registration certificate, that YOU responded to her by saying it was a civil matter? When presented with testimony from owners and breeders of dogs Hallum was falsifying pedigrees and ownership papers on, you said that since Hallum refused to respond to AKC’s letters, you could not get her side of the story so could not pursue it. You continued to blindly tolerate outrageous abuse of AKC rules and regulations perpetrated by Hallum, abuses which affect all of us in this breed.

Finally, in total frustration, I faxed a letter outlining the situation to Mr. Slay, Mr. Sprung, Mr. Cheaure and various other AKC officials, along with a copy of a DOG NEWS article I had written on the subject. I included details of Hallum’s arrest and conviction for theft of dogs and their subsequent resale to research labs… including the courthouse, date of conviction, conviction number and the name of the prison where she spent two years. I got a fax back immediately, followed by two over-nighted letters the next day. I was told the Compliance Department’s position that Hallum’s forgeries, falsified pedigrees, conviction and prison term were a ‘civil matter’ needed to be reviewed. Shortly thereafter, Hallum was suspended for ten years. Since that time, she has continued to do the exact same things with the exception of doing them in her own name; she now uses her daughter’s name. You have received letters from exhibitors complaining of Hallum’s verbal and physical abuse at shows this year. You have received copies of restraining orders issued against her to protect other exhibitors. You have been provided all the information I personally reviewed in this letter. Still you do nothing but excuse and support her activities with your weak, irrelevant and vague responses to complaints about her violations.

Personally Ms. Fiore, I don’t think AKC needs the bad publicity this situation could generate. Hallum is a convicted felon with numerous arrests and convictions for fraud relative to AKC registered dogs - among other things. In March of 1988 she was arrested for forging AKC documents that misrepresented her pet quality, dysplastic Rottweilers as well known, multi-titled Rottweilers (that actually lived in Florida and whose real owner had never even heard of Hallum/Tripp/Piazza), and selling them for several thousands of dollars because of the false identities. I don’t know what AKC did about it, but the Modesto police arrested her for fraud. She was convicted in May of 1988. In 1991 Hallum was arrested and convicted of theft of family pets, and forgery of ownership documents when she sold those pets to research labs in California, Nevada and Arizona. In 1999, at an AKC Specialty show in Pleasanton CA where Hallum had entered her, I helped local police repossess from Hallum and return to Mrs. White her stolen Akita bitch. That’s just part of her record in California; she has a similar record in Oregon.

I won’t delude myself that you would be interested, but I’m going to enclose copies of the arrest warrants and various other police paperwork for no other reason than to support my own voracity. I’m also going to tell you that if AKC doesn’t do something to uphold the suspension they (eventually) placed against Hallum, I will once again go to the press, including DOG NEWS, the internet, animal rights groups and any other resource available to me. It’s my opinion that your lack of interest in this vile person, your lack of commitment to uphold your own suspension, your willingness to foul the AKC pedigree database, and your total and continued apathy toward this disgrace to the sport of purebred dogs, is reflective of exactly what is wrong with AKC today. I care too much about my breed, and about dogs in general, to let this be ignored any longer.

On top of everything else, it’s an outrage and a disgrace that legitimate owners/exhibitors in good standing with AKC are afraid to go to shows because of Hallum’s belligerent menacing; individuals whose fears have been upheld and validated by the courts in the form of restraining orders against Hallum. I promise you that, with or without your help, I will pursue this wherever, and for however long necessary, to reach a just conclusion.

Sincerely,
Katie Asling

cc: Mr. Ronald Menaker Mr. James Crowley ^{Hon. David Merriam Mr. Dennis Sprung Mr. Robert Slay Mr. Alfred Cheaure Ms. Patti Strand Dr. Sophia Kaluzniacki Mr. Steven Gladstone Dr. Carmen Battaglia Ms. Nina Schaefer Mr. Robert L. Kelly Dr. Thomas M. Davies Mr. Walter F. Goodman Dr. J. Charles Garvin Ms. Patricia Scully Mr. Kenneth A. Marden Dr. Asa Mays}

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