Civility broke down Saturday afternoon at a Centerville public forum dealing with high-volume commercial dog breeding operations, or so-called "puppy mills."

During the 80-minute presentation by Iowa Voters for Companion Animals founder Mary LaHay at First Presbyterian Church accusations and contentious remarks were made by both commercial dog breeders and a woman behind a local animal rescue effort.

One point of contention raised by several breeders was LaHay's use of the phrase "puppy mills." A phrase LaHay said she didn't make up but if the breeders don't like, they should work to clean up their operations.

"You use it very freely. And it's a derogatory remark," one unidentified man said. "You call us 'commercial breeders' and then throw a derogatory remark right in our face."

LaHay's presentation in front of 30, with an overwhelming majority involved in commercial dog breeding, contained Powerpoint slides showing photos from kennels where dogs were being kept in allegedly deplorable conditions by what she described as "bad breeders."

"I know that there are good breeders who are doing things by the book and are doing things right and if any of you do it like that, there's nothing to concern you. There's nothing that we're doing that will have any ramifications on you," LaHay said. "But the breeders who aren't doing things right are the ones that we've got to do something about."

Her organization's mission is to change Iowa law to allow the Iowa Department of Agriculture to inspect USDA-licensed dog breeding facilities, something they cannot do now, upon receipt of a complaint. She said a majority of USDA-licensed facilities in Iowa have been cited for violations ranging from undersized cages, surgical procedures performed with rusty equipment, cage mates killing one another, feces-matted and emaciated animals.

"When I found out that Iowa ranks third in the nation for the number of USDA-licensed dog breeders and then found out that so many of those have been cited for violations ... its plainly obvious to me anyway and to a lot of other people that there needs to be more oversight," LaHay said. "More something done. More available to us as Iowans."

Something done was "Puppy Mill Bill" HF486 proposed this year, which was passed by the Iowa Senate but not by the Iowa House, and would have allowed the state to conduct inspections at USDA-licensed dog breeding facilities. Currently, dog breeders in Iowa can seek to be licensed by the state, the USDA or both. The biggest difference between the two are the number of animals, the way they are sold and the type of laws they must abide by.

"And this is the bill where we were asking for the state's inspection of any USDA-licensed facilities upon receipt of a complaint. The same bill had been introduced twice previously," LaHay said. "The bill failed to pass because puppy mills are big business, and the industry has a strong lobby to fight closer oversight."

LaHay said an interim study was then conducted by legislators which recommended giving the Iowa Department of Agriculture the right to inspect USDA-licensed dog breeding facilities, increase fees, enforce payment of sales tax and work to identify unlicensed breeders. She said they are working to get those recommendations introduced in the next legislative session.

Of all of LaHay's slides, the one that brought the most protest and contentious remarks showed a photograph of several dead dogs that had been killed in a fire at a USDA-licensed facility and had been left in the debris for several months. LaHay said the breeder did nothing so her organization called the Iowa Department of Agriculture to do something about it.

The owners of the kennel that burned down in December 2008 where 108 dogs were killed, Mark and Deloris Spire, who live south of Bedford in Taylor County, stood up and confronted LaHay.

"Would you like to speak to the owner of that kennel? Well, here we are," Mark Spire said. "Your information is so far off. You don't even know what you're talking about. You better search your facts first."

Deloris Spire said the insurance companies and investigators kept them from removing the carcasses.

"They would not let us remove them. They would not let us bury them," Deloris Spire said. "Our hands were tied. If you want to go after anybody over this, the insurance companies are at fault."

The Spires contended the photo LaHay showed was taken illegally by someone who did not have permission to be on their property.

"No one came. No one came and asked our permission to take a picture of my little dead dogs," Deloris Spire said. "I think you are at fault because you are showing these pictures without knowing the circumstances."

LaHay confirmed someone turned the Spires into the state veterinarian and defended her use of the photo.

Several times Ann Senior, director of Centerville Area Animal Rescue Effort, berated the breeders as "stupid" and repeatedly interjected her opinion during the presentation while telling others to shut up.

Following the presentation Rob Hurd, northern Midwest field representative for America's Pet Registry and with the Iowa Pet Breeder's Association, standing outside the church, said he also works with the Iowa Federation of Animal Owners and they have no problems addressing substandard facilities.

"We think the state's emphasis should be on finding the kennels and facilities that are not licensed and are violating the current law instead of going after and trying to make more stringent regulations for the kennels that are already licensed and regulated, being inspected," Hurd said. "It seems like they are approaching this from the wrong end of the problem."

Hurd said under the proposed bill that did not pass, anyone could lodge a complaint, whether it was legitimate or not.

"We didn't have any problem with the bill if they would have been cooperative on agreeing with qualifying what a complaint was," Hurd said. "We even went a few steps further. We introduced the idea of having continuous education units for kennels that have citations. So that they have to get more education and be better managers and better animal husbandry people."

Hurd said LaHay's use of some photos and information during her presentation raised red flags.

"She's got inaccurate information. She's using pictures that are derived illegally," Hurd said. "Her figures that she uses from USDA are skewed."

Hurd said LaHay has never visited a USDA-licensed dog breeding kennel.

Inside the now nearly empty room LaHay went beyond just state oversight and said breeders need to be held responsible for the glut of dogs they are dumping on Iowa communities. She said many puppies from high-volume commercial breeders are not healthy and the new owner ends up with unwarranted costs.

"The breeders need to be held accountable and to help contribute to the care of these excessive animals that are coming out of their facilities," LaHay said, citing that millions of animals in the United States are euthanized every year. "And still they’re pumping out puppies."