Author: Brian Carnell

Effort to Rebuild Horse Slaughterhouse Attracts Controversy in Illinois

In September, Cavel International finalized plans to rebuild a horse slaughterhouse in DeKalb, Illinois. The slaughterhouse burned down in 2002 in a fire whose cause has never been determined.

The slaughterhouse killed horses both for meat which was exported to Europe, as well as for rendering by-products.

Animal rights groups asked DeKalb to revoke the permit to rebuild the slaughterhouse, but that seemed unlikely. Both of the DeKalb area’s representatives to the Illinois state house, for example, said they would oppose proposed state legislation that would ban horse slaughter in Illinois.

Rep. Brad Burzynski (R) told The DeKalb Chronicle that, “It’s a job issue. It’s an issue of keeping a company viable in this district.” Once rebuilt, the slaughterhouse would create about 40 jobs.

Sources:

Plans finalized to rebuild Illinois slaughterhouse. BloodHorse.Com, September 15, 2003.

Horse-slaughter bill won’t affect Cavel’s decision. Chris Rickert, DeKalb Daily Chronicle, November 1, 2003.

Horse Slaughterhouse, Candelight Vigil. United Animal Nations, September 17, 2003.

Vigil in Protest of Slaughterhouse Rebuilding. Habitat for Horses, September 2003.

EPA Gets Partial Win in PETA/PCRM Lawsuit

In September 2002, a coalition of animal rights groups led by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine sued the Environmental Protection Agency over a voluntary chemical testing program.

The High Production Volume Challenge Program is a voluntary testing program created by the EPA, Environmental Defense and the American Chemical Council to obtain toxicity data on 2,800 common chemicals whose total production/importation exceeds 1 million pounds annually.

The animal rights groups objected to the program because it would mean more animal testing of these chemical compounds.

Chemical & Engineering News reports that on August 25 a federal judge dismissed part of the lawsuit while allowing another part to move forward to trial.

The animal rights groups lost on the point most germane to the animal testing issue. PCRM and the others claimed that the agreement between EPA, Environmental Defense and the American Chemical Council violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The act requires government agencies to accept public input when setting up programs. The lawsuit argued that by simply reaching a deal with Environmental Defense and the American Chemical Council, the EPA had denied animal rights groups the opportunity to make their case against animal testing.

But the judge hearing the case found that the EPA had not violated the Federal Advisory Act.

He did, however, allow the case to go to trial on whether the EPA had violated the Toxic Substances Control Act. As Chemical & Engineering News sums it up,

They [animal rights groups] say that by selecting the chemicals for the program, EPA determined that it needed toxicity data for these compounds. This determination, they contend, required EPA to issue a regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act to force chemical companies to produce the data — rather than set up a voluntary program.

Along with PCRM, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Alternatives Research and Development Foundation, and the American Anti-Vivisection Society were part of the lawsuit. Nice to see activists concerned about health trying to block a voluntary effort between industry and the government to improve toxicity data on commonly used chemicals.

Source:

Voluntary program passes legal hurdle. Cheryl Hogue, Chemical & Engineering News, September 8, 2003.

Only Vote for Three?

Over the past few months, I’ve occasionally posted photographs of anti-war protests held in downtown Kalamazoo every Tuesday and Sunday. Those protests are sponsored by a local group called Kalamazoo Non-violent Opponents of War. The group was formed to protest the war on Iraq but their politics go into a wide range of left wing causes and issues.

For example, their web site endorses three left wing candidates for the seven-seat city commission: Don Cooney, David Juarez and Elizabeth Forest, which certainly helps me figure out better who not to vote for (not that I usually vote anyway, but should I have nothing better to do next Tuesday . . .)

Here’s how the city commission election works around here. There are only seven seats and they are all up for re-election. Anybody registered votes for up to seven of the candidates listed on the ballot, and at the end of the day the top seven candidates win. The person with the most total votes is also the mayor.

What is interesting about KNOW’s endorsement is that they are not only recommending that people vote for these three candidates but they are recommending that people vote only for those three candidates. According to KNOW,

Please note that although you are ABLE to vote for SEVEN candidates, you are NOT OBLIGED TO. If you vote for a full slate of seven candidates, YOU ARE
DILUTING YOUR VOTES FOR DON, DAVID, AND ELIZABETH. Let’s do all we can to re-elect Don Cooney and to insure that he will no longer be so often a lonely dissenter in his votes and his support for the poor and the voiceless, and for the way of peace and non-violence. Our recommendation: VOTE FOR THREE, AND LET IT BE!

Of course there’s nothing inappropriate going on here and KNOW can advocate any sort of voting strategy it likes, but it’s a bit odd to see a group dedicated to a rather radical version of democracy on the other hand tell its members that voting on the other four commission seats is a Bad Idea(TM).

Plus this is exactly the sort of strategy that usually gets criticized in left-liberal publications when it has been used, say, to elect anti-abortion candidates to local office so they can use their position as a platform for their views.

I’m kind of mixed about the election itself. On the one hand, Kalamazoo has had a lot of economic problems and the election of these three would likely signal to businesses that are fleeing the city that they might want to move out even faster. On the other hand I’d like to buy a house in this area and that would further depress home values, so it’s really a wash there.

Fired City Manager Taught Classes With False Credentials

This ClickOnDetroit.Com article had me laughing out loud. Sterling Heights, Michigan, recently fired City Manager Steve Duchane because he had repeatedly lied about has academic credentials — basically he lied about receiving degrees from various institutions.

Interestingly, he also lied about his degrees on his application to Oakland University where he taught a class thre years ago. The topic of that class? Ethics.

Wren’s Nest — Excellent Wiccan News Blog

Like everything else religious, I am equally repulsed and fascinated by all things Wicca. My wife recently pointed me to Wren’s Nest which is basically a blog devoted to highlighting news stories related to Wicca.

For example, I didn’t see anyone else link to this story that the ASPCA a couple years ago finally dropped its nonsensical recommendation that animal shelters not allow adoption of black cats around Halloween, and that shelters around the country are starting to get the message and drop such bans. As the article notes, not only are there no statistics backing up claims that people would adopt black cats just to torture or kill them for God(dess)-knows-what, if you want to find a black cat it’s not that hard to find one on the streets in most parts of the country.