A bit personal...

    We realize that we are asking not only our friends and neighbors for help, but complete strangers also. We'd like you to know a lil bit about us. As the owners of OldStyle Kennels, we have been breeding/raising AKC dogs for 40+ years. Being a fully licensed and state inspected kennel, our dogs (and other animals) are a huge part of our family.
    They are all respected members of our family, and having to have them temporarily fostered out during this disaster is heart-wrenching. While we get updates daily on the well-being of our animals, visiting them puts a lot of unnecessary stress on both the dogs and the people. While we miss them, and cannot stop thinking of them, we don't want to put them through any more than they have already endured.


    Over the years, we have bred excellent quality dogs with many very satisfied customers. Some customers were so pleased that they have adopted more than once from us. We have also helped out many people when they needed a place to keep their animal(s) when situations arised that left them without options of keeping them on their own -i.e. they find out that a large breed dog may be too big for a small apartment. We take the time to try to teach our customers of the breed they are interested in, and keep an open line of communication with them if any concerns arise.
    It was not only our home and possessions taken with the tornado, but a risk of losing our business is now on the line. There are now days that we feel we may have been better off if we hadn't survived the tornado, but hate to think of our animals losing our care. We both suffer health problems, and the stress that is accumulating with this tragedy is taking its toll.


    There has been a bit of controversy on the occupants of our property at the time of the tornado. Let us clarify that we [Anne and Rick] were the only people living there. Both our son, Lucky, and our daughter, Brandi, are grown and living on their own. Our grandson and his mother were visiting, but escaped harm by retreating to the basement with Anne. Rick stayed in the upstairs apartment, trying to protect his beloved dogs. Thankfully noone was seriously hurt. Our first priority was to find temporary foster care for our animals. Due to our concern for our oldest bulldog 'Ally', we have brought her back to live in the trailer with us. With the stress of the tornado, and the added stress of being away from us/home, she refused to eat and lost weight rapidly. She is now doing fine. We are hoping we can bring everyone home as soon as possible. Being fostered out on the assumption that it would be very temporary, we hate the idea of burdening these kind-hearted people with the care of our animals. The mastiffs are a very large breed, and can take up a lot of time and energy. Our bulldogs slept with us at night, and we wake up nightly somewhat dazed when we can't find them, only to sadly realize they aren't with us.


    We are doing all we can on our own, but we desperately need help. Our hearts go out to ALL the other victims of the tornado, and sincerely hope they make a fast recovery. We are extremely grateful for the help and donations that have been directed to us. It gives us hope that we can make it through this, but we realize we just can't do this on our own.
    Any donations of time, supplies, or funds will be of a huge help for us. Kind thoughts and prayers are also appreciated in our time of need.


    We can't emphasize enough that our animals need to come home. While they are in great care, many of them were born and raised with us and are utterly confused as they try to adjust to their temporary homes.
    If you can help in ANY way, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Anne and Rick Williams
OldStyle Kennels




letter

    In an effort to address some of the negativity directed towards the Williams family and/or Old Style kennels, Anne's sister has written the following letter she would like to share with everyone:


Hi Everyone,

I am very discouraged to see the number of people that have no clue about what is really happening with the Williams family. I can only assume from what is being said that this is gossip being spread by people who have never dealt with them or have heard something from someone who knew someone that dealt with them.

Let me address some of the issues that people are talking about.

Let?s start first with the quality of the animals sold at Oldstyle Kennels.

Oldstyle Kennels is a state of Illinois licensed kennel. This means that a state inspector appears regularly to inspect the kennel, the grounds and the animals. These are random inspections and Anne never knows when the inspector will appear so she cannot ?clean up? for the inspector.

After every inspection she is given a report card listing the things that need to be fixed and the things that are good. She has never had a bad mark in condition of animals on this report. In fact? she has been told she has some of the healthiest, well cared for animals the inspectors have ever seen. These records are public records with the state. Believe me the inspector does not lie about what is seen on a state licensed property.

Anyone complaining about the condition of the animals that they ?volunteered? to care for should ask themselves? ?What condition should an animal be in after having gone through a tornado?? The fact that these animals were in as good a condition as they were is due to the Williams? decision to not cut and run but stay with the animals to try to keep them safe during the tornado at great risk to themselves. Their refusal to leave their property (even when threatened to be jailed) until all their animals were safe shows their dedication to these animals.

Second, the myth that they were going to sue the church.

The Williams never sought a lawyer, and never intended to sue the church. Red Cross brought a Reverend into their lives. He said he had been in several meetings with the church and other government agencies and he wanted to be their spokesperson as he felt something wasn?t as it should be. He brought a lawyer the Williams? did not ask for this lawyer.

Question for all of you out there? ?How do you know who to trust in a situation like this?? Repeat. The Red Cross brought these people to the Williams.

The Williams would like to let the Poplar Grove Church know that they do understand that helping to repair her home and kennel was probably beyond their capabilities and would like to sincerely thank them and their members for all the assistance they did provide during this disaster.

Let?s talk about the sue happy part of this.

Case: You have a 15 year old child. On Halloween, the child is riding a horse down the road only blocks away from home and is hit by a car. The horse is split in two and killed on impact but its body pins the child to the car and is the only reason the child survives at all. The driver of the car is also a teenager, who had just had their driver?s license for 2 weeks. The driver was coming from a party in the area and heading home. The child?s leg is mangled and doctors fight for months to try to save the leg. She had to have two fingers rebuilt and had brain damage as well. The doctors eventually are able to save the leg as well, but they need to use skin grafts from the buttocks and other areas to fill in wherever the leg needs skin. You have no insurance (check the congressional debates about uninsured/underinsured individuals in the US and the difficulty in getting private health insurance). Would you sue the person that hit the child or just chalk it up to fate? The Williams made no recovery in the lawsuit because the horse didn?t have warning lights. Even though the Rules of the Road state that if you approach a horse on the road, slow down and proceed with caution, this never was brought out in court. Question never asked by the official: ?Why was the driver on North Boone School Road instead of Route 173 which would have taken the driver directly home?? Luckily for the other three children riding with the Williams girl, she was the only one that was hurt. This accident happened in October of 1998.

Another case to consider. You have a disagreement with one of your children?s girlfriend/boyfriend. This person gets together with a neighbor and steals seven of your animals (which happen to be quality breeding animals) along with their puppies. They refuse to give the animals back. The police tell you the only way to retrieve your animals is to go to court civilly. ?Would you sue to get your animals back?? The outcome: The animals are moved from state to state and hidden. During this time, the persons responsible for the animals (those being sued) sell the puppies and make a bundle. The parent animals are bred but not fed because these persons do not believe in feeding animals. The animals not sold (ie, the parent animals) end up in Wisconsin with Animal Control totally emaciated and unable to go on. They are put down by the state because of the deplorable condition they are in after several months of treatment at these persons hands. The information was sent to Oldstyle Kennels because these animals were micro-chipped. Unfortunately, the police did not use microchips to identify the true owner and get the dogs back before they had to go through hell at the hands of dog nappers. The court case was found in favor of the Williams eventually. There was never a recovery as the persons who were sued filed bankruptcy. It didn?t matter anyway. The recovery would have been a mere $2,500 less than half the legal fees involved. The money was not the reason for the law suit. It was the animals which ended up dead anyway. Remember what I said about the Williams? feelings for their animals. This case happened in 2002.

Keep this case in mind when listening to the ?Happy Camper? lady. After ?volunteering? to house and care for some of the animals from the tornado and sell the puppies at a deeply discounted rate to get money to rebuild the kennel they live in, she had just sold all the puppies and her eyes wide with dollar signs, decided she would keep the parents because ?they were in bad condition?. The state had checked the dogs just a few days before the tornado. ?How did they get in such bad condition in such a short time?? They weren?t, other than the cuts and bruises that come from surviving a tornado. She had the animals for a week when she made this claim. Question: ?Why did this come up after she sold all the puppies and kept a large portion of the money as donations??

Final case: Your house is damaged in a storm. You had just changed insurance companies (less than 30 days). The insurance does not want to cover the damage because you happened to have a business on your property which makes the policy null and void. The agent that sold you the policy knew the business was there but felt it wouldn?t be an issue as they were insuring the house. After years in court, the insurance company wins and you are left to rebuild with nothing. No other insurance company will give you a policy until the house is rebuilt. You are slowly rebuilding but in the interim, your daughter needs medical care paid for (see above case), your neighbors steal your animals (see case above), your husband is in a car wreck that leaves him crippled, you become ill, your grandchild needs a home (see below) and yet you carry on and see your house ready to move into in weeks. Then a tornado comes again. ?What would you do??

Admittedly, Rick has a drinking problem and a loud mouth when he drinks. However, everyone has a family member with problems. Governor Blagojevich has Mel (his father-in-law), President Jimmy Carter had Billy (his brother), the Williams family has Rick.

Here are some additional things you don?t know about the Williams. They have lifelong friends that are forever in their debt because of the charitable things they have done for them. Example: A 16 year old girl is pregnant and scared. She wants to keep her baby but doesn?t know if she will be able to without help. Anne having been a very young mother herself (14) understands the dilemma and steps in. Anne purchased ALL the baby furniture, clothes and things she needed (including formula and diapers) until she was able to go to work and support her child. This child is now a teenager, on the high honor roll at school and the mother is married and giving back to the community. I think this was a worthy cause.

There is a family with 4 children. They are not too well to do. They wish to have a home of their own. Anne assists them with the down payment and helps them get the home they desire. The mother gets liver disease and needs a transplant. Financially they are floundering. Anne gives financial help and makes sure the children have a Christmas. These children are now grown. I would call this charitable.

There are several families that have requested a pet for special children. Anne has honored those requests in many instances and these people contact her regularly to let her know how their beloved pet is doing.

There is a gentleman that needed a dog replaced because his dog had died (not a dog from Oldstyle Kennels). Anne gave a dog to this man (which is now his seeing eye dog) and he visits the kennel regularly to share ice cream sandwiches with the mastiffs he so loves.

Anne has a granddaughter in Iowa. Her mother is bi-polar. Anne had not seen the child in years. She called one day crying because they had nowhere to live. Anne purchased a house for them (even though she did not get along with the mother) and completely furnished it. As it was an older house and needed repair, Anne had a crew of carpenters come in from Missouri and repair the building so that child and mother could live without incident in the home. Granddaughter or not, I believe this is charitable.

Wondering why it took her 10 years to put her own home back together? Look at the timelines above. I hope I have put the record straight. No matter what is being said ?through the grapevine?, do you really think ANYONE deserves to be homeless. The Williams have never killed anyone. They have not robbed anyone. If anything they may be guilty of having a loud mouth. I would say, based on the emails received here, that they are not the only ones.

My question to everyone is this? ?If you are saying bad things about these people, have you ever met them?? ?Have you sat down with them to see who they are?? ?Were you personally involved or are you just going on what some else told you?? and finally ?Would you want to be treated this way if you were in their shoes??