Dr. Larry Mahr of Oregon – 1988

Dr. Larry Mahr of  Oregon – WVMA President 1988

Larry Mahr, DVM

   Photo:  Courtesy of Dr. Larry Mahr

Personal Information

         I’m a 1966 graduate of Iowa State University, and I have a practice that has been in existence since 1970 in Oregon WI. It’s a general practice, which is about half small animal. The remainder is dairy, equine, small ruminants and some swine.

         I got interested in veterinary medicine pretty early in my life and knew by the time I was in high school what direction I wanted to head.  I grew up on a registered Guernsey farm near Indianola, IA, and had been very much enthralled and interested in working with our own local veterinarians when they came to the farm.

         My wife, Donna, has been very supportive of me all the years through establishing a practice in Oregon, and helping me with the activities I have been involved in.  We have two sons and two daughters. We have a five-doctor practice and a staff of 14 people who are also my day-to-day family.

During His Presidency

         My year of presidency was 1988, and as for changes in the WVMA during my term, there were many. This was the first year we operated under a system with an executive director.  The position was changed to executive director from the executive secretary position.  We all respected so much what Dr. Bill O’Rourke did over his many years and his retirement led us to hiring an executive director and changing our emphasis within the organization to involve a lot more of the membership instead of having so many things already set up and run on a schedule that had been the same for many years.

New Executive Director

         Leslie Schoenfeld was hired as our first Executive Director. She started her work for the WVMA on a part-time basis on September 1, 1987, while she completed a term on another job. She became our full-time director on January 1, 1988.  Leslie brought with her good experience from working with nonprofit groups and from employment in state government.  We also hired an administrative assistant at that time.  This was the first time the WVMA had its own office  staffed full-time with Leslie Schoenfeld (later Grendahl) as Executive Director and Rena Haggerty as the part-time administrative assistant.

         To start that year we located on the capitol square at 30 Mifflin Street in Madison with space for a director’s office,  a meeting space for committees, and some storage space.  It was close to the capitol which fulfilled a goal of the committee in charge of selecting the new office space.  There were important legislative issues at the time needing attention and we wanted to be close to the capitol to efficiently facilitate legislative contact. In October 1988, we moved to 301 N. Broom Street, which has been our location since that time.  We needed to move because the Mifflin Street building was being sold and was not available to us any longer.  The relocation gave us more space and, although it was farther from the Capitol, was still centrally located.

Revitalizing Committees

          With the switch from Dr. O’Rourke to a new executive director, my biggest challenge for that year was setting up and revitalizing the committee structure.  Some standing committees established in the By-laws and recruited by Dr. O’Roarke had not been active.  I went through each committee, personally calling each person to assure their interest in serving and recruited new members where needed with all being willing to serve three year staggered terms.  I was overwhelmed to get such a good response from people to serve as chairs and members of the committees.  I felt it was a challenge for us to get the organization back to being a member led organization with members involved in every aspect of it. So, by the time we had gotten all of the committees together, including starting a couple of new special committees, we had about 105 members involved in committee work.

          One special committee we established was the Banking Committee.  The idea came from Dr. John Dahl that we needed to have the presence of the veterinary profession directly involved in the dairy farming industry by being part of the team making major decisions for dairy farm operations.  Special emphasis was to be placed on working with agriculture lending agencies to assure farm loans were made based on quality animal management practices involving veterinarians and promoting high profitability.   We needed to have a committee of people working to try to make that happen in Wisconsin. We had seen at Nine-States Conference that other states were doing this.  We appointed what I called our “blue ribbon” committee that had some highly recognized Wisconsin dairy practitioners.  Dr. Bob Rowe (Middleton) was chair of the committee with Drs. Howard Kroeger (Evansville), Neil Wesley (Mayville), David Reed (Hazel Green), Darrell Johnson (Weyawega), Andy Johnson (Seymour), Dennis Van Rockle (UW-River Falls), and John Dahl (Madison).  I also served on this committee feeling its work may be the most important involvement our association could have in promoting the health of the veterinary medical profession in Wisconsin.

           We also needed to have a Personnel Committee to review the executive director’s performance, and to make recommendations to the executive board on salaries and benefits provided to her.

          A committee for impaired veterinarians had been established late the year before in Dr. Bill Hilleman’s presidency.  Drug and alcohol abuse by professionals was being recognized, and the AVMA was providing leadership to state associations to encourage aiding affected veterinarians to seek help.  That committee became quite active with a larger membership of dedicated members interested in addressing this serious issue.  It was latter changed to the Health and Wellness committee and further broadened it’s role.

WVMA Newsletter

           The WVMA Bulletin that had been published for many years in Dr. O’Rourke’s WVMA office.   Publishing was moved to Dr. Al Lippert’s office in Markesan WI at the time of Dr. O’Roarke’s retirement.  Dr. Lippert, for a year prior to that time, had been publishing the Badger Veterinarian, a monthly newsletter he put together about veterinarians and veterinary activities in the state.  There was some overlap with our state newsletter.   It was decided at our first executive board meeting of 1988 that we would bring publishing back into the WVMA office as we now had the capabilities there.  Rena Haggerty, the administrative assistant, had experience in doing a monthly newsletter and at that point in time, we changed the WVMA Bulletin to the WVMA Newsletter, which remains its title.

Difficulties and Unexpected Circumstances

         A most sad event during my term was that Leslie Grendahl’s son was killed in a tragic auto accident on June 9.  He was 17 years old. That was such an unfortunate event and a challenge for Leslie to deal with as she started the excitement and labor of directing our association.  Another untimely death was that of past president, Dr. Lawrence (Ike) Davis, from lung cancer.  Many of us attended his funeral in Oconomowoc the last day of the WVMA Convention in Green Bay in October 1988.

         An unexpected and difficult item that came before us as an association that year was the result of the Wisconsin Pesticide law passed as part of the 1987 budget bill. It wasn’t until we got into the year of 1988 that it was discovered veterinarians would need to be licensed and regularly recertified, along with all other people who were applying pesticides for hire. We had many meetings with our Legislative Committee and with the secretary of Agriculture, Howard Richards, attempting to be exempted contending that veterinarians and veterinary technicians were already covered under the veterinary practice act.  It was determined that a legislative change was needed with a one-time test/certification requirement. We introduced a bill, fought the Department of Agriculture and prevailed in the legislature.  Together with the UW School of Veterinary Medicine, we put together a manual and test for veterinarians and veterinary technicians that could also be used to certify new graduates.  In the end the testing requirement hasn’t been a big obstacle but the underlying feeling still existed that it shouldn’t be needed. 

          The pari-mutuel betting bill was passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Thompson. It included pari-mutuel betting for horse, dog, and snowmobile racing. There was quite a bit of interest and discussion about having the WVMA Executive Board support the bill.  There were also many who were against pari-mutuel betting, so the WVMA took a neutral position on it.  We did, however, promote that a veterinarian be appointed to the state racing board, which did eventually happen. There was an opening on that board for a person who had demonstrated interest or background regarding humane treatment of animals and it fit right in with the DVM degree.  We were able to have a veterinarian on the board from the beginning.

          There was also the issue of the introduction of commercially available bovine growth hormone to be used to enhance milk production in dairy cattle. Legislation had been introduced by then State Senator Russ Feingold.  His legislation was to ban the use of BST in Wisconsin or, at a minimum, insure that dairy products produced from animals that received BST be labeled as such.  There was a lot of contact from companies that were doing research and planning to come out with BST products.  They contacted the WVMA wanting to get our support and have us lobby in opposition to the legislation proposed by Senator Feingold.  The Executive Board worked on this and debated it for quite a while.  The final result was that we passed a statement on the position that the WVMA opposes legislation that would put the Wisconsin dairy industry at a competitive disadvantage with other state industries by increasing the cost of milk production.  We did not want to come out in favor of this legislation.  We hoped to cover the main issue at stake, the health of the dairy industry and, consequently, the veterinary profession, and that was what our statement accomplished.

DATCP and the WVMA

          The WVMA was able to reach out and make some friends in fields related to veterinary medicine and also with people who had a stake in how veterinary medicine would be practiced and how it might evolve. We developed a very good working relationship with the Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture, Howard Richards.  Mr. Richards was a hog farmer near Lodi.  He had a major interest in the Wisconsin Animal Health Laboratory and making it function effectively and efficiently.  He was also interested in the appointment of a new state veterinarian and in the Wisconsin Pesticide Laws. Those were some of the issues that we had the opportunity to dialogue with him about on several occasions.  He met with our Executive Committee several times to get our feelings about these issues.  As mentioned, a new state veterinarian needed to be appointed.  Dr. Joan Arnold was retiring from that post, and I think we had been well served by her.  When we had a chance to get Dr. Dennis Carr appointed to that position and to promote his appointment, we did so with a lot of positive interest.  Dr. Carr was a longtime practitioner in Wisconsin and for many years and had been involved with WVMA and AVMA leadership.  We felt that we had a real friend in him and in his appointment.  This proved to be the case as time when on.

More Legislation

          Also in 1988/1889, legislation was passed that called for the appointment of an Animal Health and Disease Research Council and an Animal Health and Disease Research Board.  We promoted people to go on both the Council and Board. Dr. Darrell Johnson was named to the board, as well as Dr. Bernard Easterday, Dr. Dennis Carr, and Dr. Neil Jorgensen from the University of Wisconsin College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

          The Legislative Committee experienced quite a lot of activity.  We were pleased in succeeding in the challenge of getting the state sales tax proposed for professional services off of the budget bill that was scheduled for the winter of 1988.  Dr. Larry Smith was the chairperson of the Legislative Committee. It was one of our first big projects right at the beginning of the year.    We conducted a letter writing campaign to Governor Thompson; Secretary of the Department of Administration, James Klauser; the Joint Committee on Finance; and state senators and representatives. WVMA members sent out a total of 900 letters. When Governor Thompson made his State of the State address, he made the statement, “My proposal dies to expand the sales tax to professional services.”  And then he paused and said, “and that includes to veterinarians.”  They had all experienced one of the biggest outpourings of letter writing for proposed legislation that they had ever seen.  And we were certainly glad that as the budget bill passed it did not include a tax on professional services. 

UW-School of Veterinary Medicine

          The UW School of Veterinary Medicine graduated its first class in 1987. The ambulatory program for large animal field service training for forth year students was getting started at that point in time.  We felt good about that relationship.  The Executive Board passed a motion to have two students from the School of Veterinary Medicine as ex-officio members of the board.  They serve in that capacity today.

Scholarship to a Veterinary Student

          The William J. O’Rourke Scholarship Fund was established in honor of the many years of service to the WVMA by Dr. O’Rourke.   This provides a $1,000 scholarship to a UW School of Veterinary Medicine junior or senior student who had been involved in organized veterinary medicine.  That scholarship was to be awarded annually for 10 consecutive years.   

Continuing Education

             We had the WVMA’s first client relations seminar arranged by the Public Relations and Marketing Committee (now the Public Education and Marketing Committee).  That was held in March 1988 and was very well attended.  This is now called the Winter Retreat.

         We did not have a summer meeting for the WVMA in 1988.  A few years prior to that the School of Veterinary Medicine started its summer postgraduate conference.  The third one was held in 1988. We promoted it as a midyear get together for Wisconsin veterinarians, and encouraged all to attend. 

National Veterinary Issues

          We were still looking and working with drug availability and clarifying what drugs could be utilized by veterinarians in practice.  There had been some court cases stating that veterinarians could use any product at any point as long as they would cover the residue and efficacy issues.  The Food and Drug Administration was opposing that and working toward more strict regulation and that did eventually happened.

           Another nationwide concern was animal welfare and rights issues. The veterinary profession was starting to recognize the difference between animal welfare and animal rights and was coming down on the side of animal welfare as something we needed to watch closely and support. 

          One of the challenges I had as the WVMA president was representing the association on the Wisconsin Agribusiness Council.  At one meeting they had a forum with a panel of speakers on the topic of animal rights and animal welfare.  I represented the WVMA and it was challenging, as there were many people from the press present, and a lot of people who were animal rights advocates.  It was an interesting time and I was able to at least present our position on the issue.

  

Annual Meeting

           Dr. Bill Kuhn of Wausau chaired the convention committee.  The format was changed and we did not have our usual annual meeting banquet with a dinner and dance as had been done traditionally for many years.  We held our annual meeting at noon on Saturday.   That evening was an Octoberfest with a lot of food, and a country western band. Everyone seemed to enjoy that format which was a little more casual and was well attended.  Keynote speaker for that was Dr. Tom Jaden, Assistant Director of the Winnebago Mental Health Institute who talked on stress management and managing your own mental health at work and at home.

           Besides the change in format some other firsts happened.  We had the first reception for UW School of Veterinary Medicine alumni. It was so small it took place in Leslie’s suite. We also had the first special seminars for the privileged membership of the association (now Life Members). All of those activities have progressed since then and are still a part of our association’s events.

           We met at the Embassy Suites in Green Bay.  This was the second year there.  For me, the annual meeting highlights were:  Having Dr. Sam Strom, the AVMA President; Dr. Oscar Hildebrandt’s selection as Veterinarian of the Year; and the Meritorious Service Awards presented to Dr. Howard Krueger, Dr. Bill Bogenschultz, Dr. Fred Born, and Dr. Marion Szatalowitz.  I’ll always remember personally making the Meritorious Service Award presentations to these five veterinarians as I looked up to them for their influence on our association’s success and the time they had devoted to it.

Final Thoughts  (October, 1997)

            I was privileged to have served the WVMA as president at the time I did.  It was a time of the beginning of big change for the association, turning to a new chapter.  Because of that change, our association has done a lot of things and has become more involved on a national level.  We began providing a lot more membership services, and hopefully, that has been a good thing.  I hope the membership has felt that the effort invested at that time was well spent.  We were working in uncharted waters.  We were working for the first time with a full-time executive director who could devote full time to association work and had the skills to direct us in reaching out into areas we had not been before.  I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to serve during this time, and it has been good to see the presidents that came after me take our beginnings and really make things happen. 

Added Thoughts at the Centennial Year  (January, 2015)

           As I look back on my forty-six years of WVMA membership and involvement I feel very fortunate and proud to be a past president and to have participated in the evolution of our association into what it is today as we commemorate its centennial year.

          The time and dedication of so many from the beginning in 1915 has assured success and stature for the WVMA and our profession in Wisconsin that is beyond expectations for many of us today, not to mention the veterinarian pioneers of the early 1900’s.   In more recent years the recognition of Wisconsin’s leadership and innovation in veterinary medicine has extended nationally and internationally.  Our close association with UW School of Veterinary Medicine since its inception has been invaluable. 

           The strength of our association has always been in its membership and the time and expertise dedicated by so many to make its efforts relevant and successful.  The countless hours of board and committee work by members has been augmented by very capable, innovative and dedicated executive directors and office personnel whose work has been enormous and to which we are indebted.