The Hermitage has finally removed from its homepage the Board's extraordinarily self-serving and misleading thank you letter, full of praise for all of Mary Jo Spring's hard work and for placing them in such a grand financial situation.

I think a very different thank you is in order. I would like to thank, with great sadness and deep affection, all of the Hermitage cats who gave up their lives, in involuntary fulfillment of Ms. Spring's quest to reduce costs by getting rid of the sanctuary cats.

And as for the quality of the Hermitage's financial situation: Mr. Heidenheim, Mr. Tulowitzski and Mr. Zak, unless you have learned how to spin straw into gold, you need to follow Mary Jo Spring's example and resign. Now.

Tucson Weeky's report on Mary Jo Spring's departure, entitled Resignation Blues, from The Skinny section.

Want to know another reason why the Hermitage isn't making their Form 990's for 2008 available? Because as of this afternoon, they had not yet even filed them with the IRS, but had asked for an extension. This is the same organization whose Executive Director stated on the witness stand that Paula LaRue was a poor business manager because she was late paying a bill. I'll make a follow-up call in 10 days, and let you know whether they met the extension deadline.