THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410140221
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
At an age when many young people are more concerned with personal trivia than major world issues, four area teens are taking a stand, and taking on the establishment.
Brock Enright, 18, Kurt Fowler, 16, and Jimmy Rayford, 18, all of Virginia Beach, and Amanda Stephens, 17, of Norfolk, have started a local chapter of the Animal Defense League, a group founded in Syracuse, N.Y., about a year ago. They are taking aim at the fur industry and Mobil Oil, the latter for its alleged failure to take steps to protect birds and bats from entering the smokestacks at its refineries.
A protest group, their first local target was Lowenthal Furriers, across from the Central Library on Virginia Beach Boulevard. They picketed the store last Saturday, passing out animal rights fliers to passersby. It was the first of several planned protests by the group.
The teens proclaimed their initial efforts a success.
``We believe there were no sales that day,'' said Fowler. ``Our purpose is to educate people.''
Hugh Vaughan, president of Lowenthal, disputed those claims. ``Saturday was one of our better days,'' he recalled, adding that ``three customers walked in just to snub their nose at the protesters. The attention they draw creates almost desirable publicity.''
While the effect of the protest may be subject to different interpretations, one thing is certain. Both sides are players in a wider dispute in which each are supported by larger, well-funded organizations with Washington addresses.
The Animal Defense League is allied with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a national animal rights group with a broad agenda including vegetarianism, antivivisection (the use of animals in medical research), and opposition to the use of any products derived from animals, including milk, wool, pearls and silk.
Lowenthal refers calls about the protestors to the Fur Information Council of America (FICA), an industry-funded trade association.
Both sides see it for what it is: a public relations contest for the hearts and minds of the American consumer - and voter. Fowler explained that, while their cause is animal rights and the Animal Defense League takes no stand on issues such as abortion, they do encourage their supporters to participate in the annual AIDS Walk held locally. Karen Handel of the Fur Information Council, in addition to defending the industry and ``freedom of choice,'' cites her group's activities on behalf of breast cancer awareness.
Fowler and Rayford cite statistics showing that the fur industry's sales declined from $1.9 billion in 1989 to $648 million in 1992. Vaughan, whose establishment had been previously targeted some three years ago, notes business has never been interrupted. And Handel reports, industry-wide, fur sales are up 20 percent over the last two years.
Saturday's protest, which involved about 40 people, did spark calls to police. Sgt. S.J. Lewis of Virginia Beach's Third Precinct said ``we had a couple of units go out, based on complaints by passersby. They (the protesters) were young people, running into traffic and passing out leaflets,'' Lewis said. ``I explained to them that they couldn't block the business, the sidewalk or the highway. They were very friendly and cooperative.''
The department did leave one unit stationed on each side of the boulevard until the protesters departed.
Fowler and Rayford have announced plans to hold an organizational meeting at the Kempsville Library at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Additional protests are scheduled today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mobil station on Witchduck Road near Aragona and at Lowenthal Furriers again from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday.
They plan this last one to be a loud one, employing a sound system, ``to let everyone know that we're there,'' Fowler said. ILLUSTRATION: Stickers and pamphlets were passed out by PETA - People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals - at last weekend's protest at
Lowenthal Furriers.
by CNB