Local activists' work is not nearly done

DeKALB - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's signing Thursday of a bill to ban horse slaughter in Illinois doesn't mean the work of local anti-horse-slaughter activists is done. Angela Valianos of Sycamore is one of a group of activists nationwide that has been lobbying vociferously to outlaw the slaughter of horses for human consumption. Likely numbering in the thousands, the activists have used e-mail, Internet message boards and cell phones to keep up on the latest developments in the fight and to flood local, state and federal lawmakers with pleas to end the practice. But even as the last horse slaughterhouse in the United States - the Cavel International plant in DeKalb - will apparently cease operation, Valianos wasn't letting up. She sat in her F