Alliance of Wild Horse Advocates

RECOMMENDED ACTION NOTEBOOK

Actions For the Week of March 7 through 13
WEEK OF NATIONAL CAPITOL HILL DAY FOR HORSES!

A reminder:

Monday, March 7th is National Capitol Hill Day for Horses. Get involved with your local activities if you can. This event should produce some renewed interest in horse issues so please participate in these action items. It is the consistency of our participation that will get the job done.

Goals for This Week:

1. Write letters to your local newspapers.

   You don't have to have a large paper in your area to be effective. In fact more Americans read the smaller community based newspapers than the major ones. Your local papers are usually interested in community activities and interests, so give them a chance to help spread the word. The following tips are provided by Patti Roth who has worked for several local papers over the years.

   Write a letter to the editor of your local community newspaper.

   Local newspapers love to hear from their readers. They like to get story ideas and news tips, hear about photo opportunities and receive letters to the editor. The main criteria? You must live in the community that the publication covers.

   Before you make contact, take a moment and pick up your local paper. Understand that most weeklies and monthlies run tight ships with small, hardworking staffs. This week, go to the editorial page and read the "letters" policy, including word count. You have a very good chance of seeing your letter in print. Local papers take pride in being the voice of the community and usually run every letter that they receive, as long as it meets their editorial policy.

   If you submit a letter via email, be sure to provide a daytime phone number so that the Editor can authenticate your submission.

   Localize your letter by personalizing it. At the end of your letter, refer readers to the www.aowha.org site for more information.

   Write about your experience writing or visiting your legislators (locally or nationally) for the National Capitol Hill Day for Horses. State that you have adopted a wild horse (or have worked with wild horses or have friends with wild horses, as the case may be) and what these animals mean to you.

   In your own words, say why you support HR297. Educate your community, encourage them to write their legislators.

   Let your voice be heard locally. It's a great way to get your concerns in print for others to read. After all, we who live in small towns and cities across the country comprise a mighty, collective voice.

   Be sure to proof read your letter before sending it. Make sure it would make sense to a non-horse person and that the spelling and grammar is correct. (For papers that use submission forms, you can write your letter using your word processor, check it, then copy and paste it into the submission box.)

   You can find statistical information about your state to use in your letter here.

   You can find a sample letter to the editor to get ideas for your letter here.

2. Prepare for next week's activities

   Next week we want to send news stories about our horses and burros to local community newspapers. Most local papers like visual enhancements and will print an interesting photograph of you and your "wild mustang" doing something that would attract reader attention to the story.

   A good quality 35mm or high resolution digital photo is usually acceptable. Make sure the resolution is of good quality since printing photos in the paper degrades picture quality and papers usually avoid images that would turn out fuzzy or too dark.

   Next Monday we will provide tips on getting your horse's or burro's story in the paper.