AR-News: (VA-US) Slaughterville Asked to Change Name to Veggieville

[Alexandra Arbogast]

http://www.goveg.com/feat/slaughterville.html
Slaughterville Asked to Change Name to Veggieville
In the 1800s, when Jim Slaughter opened his grocery store in rural
Oklahoma, just south of Norman on a bend in the road that was to become
Highway 77, he had no idea that more than 100 years later, his name
would be used to define the area. In 1970, local residents, determined
to keep the area rural and alarmed at the prospect of being incorporated
into the rapidly-growing city of Norman, preserved their independent
status by incorporating their own town. 
They named the town Slaughterville because the name was already included
as Slaughter's Corner on many maps of the state, and the founders felt
that an easy-to-recognize name would help to identify the town.
According to the current town manager, Slaughterville has struggled ever
since to overcome "the stigma of an unusual name." 

Not only is Slaughterville an unusual name, it is also a name that calls
to mind the violence of the meat industry and serial killers. 

Slaughterhouses are among the most violent places on Earth. According to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture and former slaughterhouse workers,
cattle routinely have their limbs hacked off and their skin ripped from
their bodies while fully conscious-they are literally dismembered while
alive. Pigs are routinely drowned in tanks of scalding-hot water
designed for hair removal. And chickens have it worst of all: Their
frail legs are snapped into metal shackles, their throats are slit open,
and they are scalded to death in feather-removal tanks, and they, too,
are often fully conscious throughout the process. 

PETA is sure that the good people of Slaughterville are a kind and
compassionate bunch, and we hope that they will not be afraid to change
their town's name to reflect their compassion. 

That's why we're asking the town of Slaughterville to change its name to
Veggieville <slaughtervilleLetter.pdf> . We'll even throw in $20,000
worth of healthy veggie burgers for the local school district to
celebrate the change. Veggie burgers, which are friendly to humans and
animals, are high in protein, high in fiber, low in fat, and contain
zero cholesterol or animal suffering-a great way to feed Veggieville's
kids! 

And there's no chance of getting mad cow disease from a veggie burger. 

Click here <slaughtervilleLetter.pdf>  to read PETA's letter to Marsha
Blair, Slaughterville Municipal Clerk. 



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