THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9605310011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 39 lines
It always amazes me how closed-minded and quick to demonize the local media are. A friend of mine called me the other day and told me about an incident which took place recently at the Central Meat Packing Plant in Chesapeake. A group claiming to represent the Animal Liberation Front had vandalized some refrigeration equipment and painted graffiti on the walls. My friend knew I was familiar with the ALF, and I immediately commented on how unlike the group this incident seemed.
Generally the ALF has a reputation for freeing animals used in laboratory experiments and destroying such labs and clinics in the process. It has been condemned by organizations like PETA for giving the animal-rights movement a bad name as well as putting innocent people at risk by setting free contaminated animals from these labs. So a little graffiti doesn't really sound much like ALF work.
I can't believe the kind of rhetoric I've been hearing regarding this incident in the media. On Tony Macrini's morning show on WNIS, a couple of callers actually alluded to the fact that they would have killed the perpetrators if they had caught them. This is exactly the kind of overreaction that is going to end up with people getting hurt.
Can we take a moment and consider who these ``evil'' villians are? My guess is a group of teenagers.
Unfortunately, the nameless, faceless criminals who are responsible for this incident are being portrayed by the local media as a highly organized, brutal group of adults who are plotting to destroy the Chesapeake meat-packing industry. The reality is: If the ALF were here, we'd know it; and it isn't.
Hopefully parents will open some dialogue with their children and explain to them that violent actions by a few sabotage the efforts of many who are working toward the same goal in a reasonable, peaceful manner. The last thing I want to see around here is a couple of 17-year-old kids getting shot by some drunk redneck who has gotten worked up by the media over a little graffiti.
CHRISTINE LASHER
Norfolk, May 24, 1996 by CNB