THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230342
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 137 lines
Graffiti artists claiming to be with the underground Animal Liberation Front returned to Central Meat Packing sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, days after causing an estimated $60,000 in damage.
This time, they wrote in red, white and black spray paint: ``Meat is murder'' and ``Anyone who kills animals is a murderer.'' Again they signed the letters ALF, this time fashioned into a triangle.
``You wouldn't believe how bad it is,'' Earl Edmondson, founder of Central Meat, said Wednesday. ``You can see it from the road. They wrote it as big as my sign.''
Edmondson said a refrigeration worker was there until about 9 p.m. Tuesday, so the graffiti must have been done after that. Police had not pinpointed the time of the vandalism.
No additional damage was done to the slaughter house in the most recent incident, said Elizabeth Jones, a Chesapeake Police Department spokeswoman. The vandalism will be featured on the Crime of the Week, she said.
``Why pick Chesapeake out of Norfolk, Virginia Beach and all the other areas?'' asked Lt. K.R. Kumm, in criminal investigations. ``I don't know.''
He said he knew of nothing that would bring Central Meat to the forefront. Detectives still are trying to determine whether the underground group actually is responsible.
``We may never know,'' he said. ``There's nothing that definitely says they did it.''
Little is known about ALF's membership or location, according to a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. But PETA sometimes speaks for the ALF, which contacts PETA anonymously. A PETA fact sheet says PETA has an Activist Defense Fund that helps pay legal fees of individuals accused of liberation-related activities.
In the past 15 months, ALF has claimed responsibility for about a dozen incidents at the packing plant on Kempsville Road.
But over the weekend the campaign escalated when refrigeration equipment was damaged, spoiling meat. Intruders cut freon lines, electrical lines and two natural gas lines, Edmondson and police said.
The group had last vandalized two weeks earlier, after being quiet for nearly a year, Edmondson said. In the incident two weeks ago, they left the message ``ALF is back.''
``We're going to do what we can to eliminate it,'' he said. ``But when you're down and you get hit again before you can yet up, it makes it hard.''
Edmondson's theory is the group will focus its attention on slaughter houses in the area.
Benjamin Brooke, one of the owners of Southern Packing Corp., is watching closely.
``They haven't bothered us,'' he said. ``But I'm not saying what could happen tomorrow. You have to be concerned. You just don't know what these people have in mind.''
Brooke said that unlike Edmondson, he has security around the clock. He has an alarm system but still plans to beef up security with more people.
``We're prepared to prosecute if we have a problem,'' he said. ``If they come on private property with these shenanigans, it's time to take a stand.''
Brooke, 68, said his operation is similar to Central Meat's. His plant slaughters 300 to 400 animals a week and supplies area restaurants with veal, beef and pork.
The company has operated about 65 years, relocating from Norfolk to Chesapeake in 1971, he said.
Smithfield Foods, which slaughters 70,000 pigs a day, has tight security in place.
But slaughterhouses are not the only targets of groups like ALF.
Hugh Vaughan, president of Lowenthal Furriers in Virginia Beach, said ALF signed its name in graffiti in one of four incidents at his store. With it were the words ``If you don't stop, we will stop you.''
The most recent incident was in March, when windows were broken with cinder blocks and what police told him were slingshots that shoot marbles, Vaughan said. A week later, the store received a phone call in which someone shouted expletives, then said ``ALF broke your windows.''
Vaughan said he suspects that might have been a failed break-in attempt for which ALF took credit.
He also said authorities have told him about incidents of vandalism near Easter at two ham stores in Virginia Beach and one in Chesapeake and another at a Virginia Beach McDonald's in which ALF is suspected. That information could not immediately be confirmed.
``I think they are taking advantage of the fact that PETA is moving their headquarters to Norfolk,'' Vaughan said.
Evidence of the anti-meat sentiment also was evident shortly after a Golden Corral restaurant opened in the 100 block of Volvo Parkway in Chesapeake. A restaurant manager confirmed the building was spray-painted about two years ago.
Although faded, the words ``Vegan Power'' are still visible. Vegan refers to vegetarians who eat no meat products.
Edmondson has not cleaned up yet from the incident two weeks ago. But on Wednesday he received two offers of help. MEMO: Anyone with information about the vandalism or activities of ALF
should call Detective D.W. Branch at 547-6251 or Crime Line at 487-1234.
THE ANIMAL LIBERATION FRONT
Who is it?
The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is loose network of radical activists
that uses vandalism to sabotage companies they consider abusive to
animals. They have a home page on the Internet's Worldwide Web but no
main office or central coordination. They have been active in the United
States, Canada and England.
Their short-term aim, according to their home page, is to save as many
animals as possible. The long-term goal is ``to end all animal suffering
by forcing animal abuse companies out of business.''
Those who act according to their mission can be considered members - no
dues requested.
What have they done in Hampton Roads?
The ALF's ``Diary of Actions '95''on their home page lists 49 attacks in
across the nation. Five were in Hampton Roads, according to the list.
Jan. 21: Slogans painted on Lowenthal Furs in Virginia Beach
Jan. 28: ``Unspecified damage'' to Central Meat Packing in Chesapeake
Jan. 30: Cooling system destroyed at Central Meat Packing in Chesapeake
April 11: Windows smashed at Lowenthal Furs
April 27: Windows smashed at Lowenthal Furs ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by MORT FRYMAN, The Virginian-Pilot
Chesapeake police officer Caria Guitar-Johnson dusts the graffiti at
Central Meat Packing for fingerprints.
Besides defacement, no other damage was done. An incident days
earlier, however, caused $60,000 in damage.
Map by CNB