A LITTLE DIVERSION
Mary Anna Towler’s column, “In the Name of
Security…” (May 17) is a masterfully accurate and complete summation of
the mess we’re in. However, she fails to mention the secret weapon that makes
her point moot and that the Republican Party undoubtedly will unleash to win in
November: the “wedge issue.”
Why face harsh reality when you can fret about abortion and
gay marriage? Americans would rather meddle puritanically in other people’s
business than deal with the nation’s total meltdown at the hands of the Bush
administration.
William R. Wagner,
Hollybrook Road, Henrietta
ANIMAL RIGHTS
In a world filled with pain and suffering — the war in
Iraq, genocide in Darfur, poverty in the City of Rochester — we seem unable
or unwilling to stop any of the misery. There is pain and suffering on a
massive scale that we all have a part in, however. We Americans turn our heads
away and are afraid to look at where our animal food comes from.
We know deep down that it is not a pretty picture. It is
brutal, violent, ugly, bloody. What happens to the chickens, cows, pigs in our
nation’s factory farms is pure evil. The only people who do know what happens
at these farms are the corporations who make millions off of these animals —
and the animal-rights advocates who have chosen not to look away.
Ninety-eight percent of our animal food comes from factory
farming. More than nine billion animals are slaughtered each year in this
country. A corporation can do anything it wants to a factory-farm animal; in
some states, these animals are exempt from virtually all cruelty laws.
When someone like Adam Durand of Compassionate Consumers
decides to commit civil disobedience — sneaking into Wegman’s egg factory
farm — to document and bring to light the pain and suffering of 750,000
chickens — he should be applauded, not vindictively sentenced to six months
in the Wayne County jail for the low-level misdemeanor of trespassing.
When the plight of animals has been brought to a whole new
level — when we acknowledge that they feel pain and fear — we will all
benefit. Think how inconceivable it will be to wage war, to let someone
needlessly die of starvation in Africa, or have homeless people wandering the
streets of Rochester, if we aren’t even harming animals anymore. Then the
selfless acts of people like Adam Durand will be viewed in the proper context.
Andrew Dunning,
Rosedale Street, Rochester
PUNISHMENT WAS SEVERE
Thank you for your May 10 article, “Of Food and
Felonies.” Adam Durand, who sneaked into one of the state’s largest
egg-producing operations, received a six-month jail sentence. This punishment
seems very severe; the district attorney does not seem interested in real
justice.
Mr. Durand deserves to be recognized for his courage to
record numerous animal-cruelty violations at the plant. Consumers have a right
to know about how the eggs they buy are produced. This egg farm supplies eggs
to Wegmans.
William McMullin, Mt.
Morris, Michigan
LILAC SELLOUT
Remember when the Lilac Festival was a nice sunny spring
weekend celebrating the incredible beauty of the Highland Park lilac
collection? There would be a handful of vendors selling hotdogs and popcorn and
lemonade. The County Parks Band performed on the stage set up near the pansy
bed.
I used to live within walking distance of the park and have
attended festivals my whole life. The festival has grown with the times and
with the demand for more entertainment and more variety for concessions. The
weekend has grown into a nice nine-day stretch. Craft shows and area artisans
have been added, and the county developed the land on South Avenue to
accommodate the increase in the festival’s size. Great job!
But I went to the festival this year and was shocked and
appalled. In a tent was a guy hawking kitchen wares. Then there were the new
cars and dealers trying to lure you in.
I walked by a tent, and a guy offered me a free T-shirt. All
I had to do is fill out his credit-card application. This is shameful! I can’t
believe the county has lowered its standards to let debt hawkers into the
festival. There were tables with two other credit-card companies doing the same
thing. These people have no good reason to be at an event like this.
Maggie Brooks, get rid of them. Raise your standards for
these events. Give the festival back to the lilacs and lilac lovers.
Jonathan Dubner,
Chesterfield Drive, Rochester
AN AMPLIFICATION
The May 24 letters column failed to properly identify one of
the writers, Ryan Merkley, who commented on Adam Durand’s trial for trespassing
at the Wegmans egg farm. Merkley is a spokesperson for Compassionate Consumers,
the activist organization of which Durand is a member.
WRITING TO CITY
We welcome and encourage readers’ letters for publication.
Send them to: themail@rochester-citynews.com or The Mail, City Newspaper, 250
North Goodman Street, Rochester 14607.
Our guidelines: We don’t publish anonymous letters — and
we ask that you include your street name and city/town/village. We don’t
publish letters that have been sent to other media — and we don’t publish form letters generated by activist groups. While
we don’t restrict length, letters of under 350 words have a greater chance of being
published. We do edit letters for clarity and brevity. And in general we don’t
publish letters (or longer “op-ed” pieces) from the same writer more often than
about once every two months.
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 6, 2006.
