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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1990)
Enough is enough Letters, Massengaie pay faulted Reader wants new topic; vegetarian issue is worn out Well, I never thought I would write a letter to the Daily Nebraskan, but an occasional eccentricity will not stain my existence. My letter deals with Matt Larsen’s letter in the Dec. 4 issue of the Daily Nebraskan. He starts off by saying he doesn’t want to beat the vegetarian issue to death. Well, Matt, you did. You bit it in the balls, beat it on the butt and dragged it to death. (Pardon the allit eration.) You say beef tastes better. Now there is a statement worthy of being the focai point of the beef industry. I can imagine a new advertising cam paign. Eat beef. It tastes better. Wow, you caught my attention now. By the way, you never said what it tasted better than. I could infer that beef tastes better than motor oil, which it probably does. But, you see, they aren’t in the same category. I could just as easily say that vegetables taste better because they probably taste better than motor oil also. You say you don’t drool over a bean burger, or a T-bean steak. I guess that implies that you do drool over meat. I advise against drooling over any food. It is bad manners, and especially not a good thing on a date. Farther down in your letter, you talk about lasting the “pain of exploi tation.” Does pain taste like motor oil? I don’t usually taste pain. I usu ally feel it. But I guess something could feel like motor oil, so what’s my point? You state that Fran Thompson should do something with her life instead of writing letters to the Daily Nebraskan. Seems to me, you have been writing a couple yourself. In the last sentence of your letter (and a wonderful last sentence it is) you refer to neo-hippie, eco-freak, beef bashing, granola loser, left-wing lunatic, ‘‘Diet for a New America” people. I would suppose you are in opposition to all of this. That would make you a neo-square, pollutant freak, beef-caressing, granola finder, right-wing lunatic, rDiet for an Old America” person. I’m glad you can find your granola. I don’t care how lovingly you treat your meat. And, I hope in the future, you stereotype people more carefully. In the end, I don’t care if someone eats a cow, or chews on grass. That is their own business. I am rather sick of hearing about the whole issue. I chal lenge someone to bring up a com pletely new topic, which is more en tertaining. I would also like to apologize to Matt Larsen, but this letter was one that finally licked me off. 1 could have just as easily mocked a letter from a vegetarian, but then someone would have called me a granola finder, and that would have ruined my whole day. Mark Weitzenkamp freshman theater Animal producers’ best interests lie in healthy livestock For the past few weeks we have read articles concerning animal rights and welfare and the production of animals for human consumption. As producers and consumers, we would like to provide the readers with the facts about animal agriculture. To producers, animal welfare means “responsible, humane care of farm animals.” First, we wouldn tbc in the business if wc didn’t like animals. Second, keeping our animals healthy, strong and free of stress is in our economic interest. Mistreatment and neglect of animals is counter-produc tive. In order to get the maximum gain and production, animals must be properly cared for. This includes proper feeding and health maintenance and proper care and handling of the ani mals. Conservation and utilization of our natural resources is also a concern of many people. However, ruminants, such as cattle and sheep, have the ability to convert forages and rough ages, unusable by humans as food into high energy quality nutritious food for human consumption. Eighty percent to 85 percent of the nutrients cattle consume are not edibie by humans. Roughly one-half of the entire land of the United States is classified as grazing land. More than 85 percent of this land is not suitable for crop production. Without the livestock there would be no way to harvest food from this land. Ms. Anderson made one very good point in her letter to the editor. The public needs to be informed. How ever, those of us who are going to inform the public need to make a conscious effort to present facts and not emotions. We need to base our knowledge on accurate information, not extreme situations. Nebraska is a livestock state. Our producers are dedicated to their work and take pride in what they produce. Regardless of the business you are in, there will always be one or two who don’t play by the rules. Don’t con demn the entire industry because of these few. We realize there may be a few extreme cases of animal neglect. But we are asking you to understand this is not the norm. Most people in the livestock production industry are both financially and emotionally involved in their business. Nebraska has an Animal Care Coalition comprised of leaders from each major livestock area: cattle, sheep, hogs and poultry. This com mittee also includes state leaders and University of Nebraska-Lincoln fac ulty. As a state, we have set guide lines for producers to follow and are making a conscious effort to increase awareness of the animal rights and welfare issue throughout the state. Animal agriculture has been and still is a major industry in Nebraska. Many other Nebraska businesses are directly or indirectly affected by the livestock industry. No one takes bet ter care of animals and natural re sources than farmers and ranchers. It’s our livelihood. In order to be successful, we must take good care of our animals and use our natural re sources responsibly. Cami lones senior agricultural journalism UNL has enough bureaucrats, more faculty is needed I am writing this letter in protest of Martin Massengale and his proposed salary. To begin with, former NU Presi dent Ronald Roskcns was fired with out any reason given to the public for his dismissal. Is the university trying to hide something? Next the univer sity is disgraced by the NU Board of Regents playing games with the can didates until none of them wanted to even have their names associated with the university. (Is it any wonder?) Finally, Massengale wins by de fault. Now the University of Nebraska wants to pay Massengale a king’s ransom fordoing nothing while every single department of the university is suffering due to lack of personnel and lack of classroom space. What is the reasoning behind this? I am embar rassed to even be a part of this univer sity. Fortunately, 1 am lucky enough to be graduating in May. What about the freshmen, sophomores and jun iors who are still attending? How are they going to afford to attend UNL while Massengale is living like a king? My message to the regents and UNL is this: We have enough bureau crats. How about using that money to hire some faculty that will actually do UNL some good. It’s our money so spend it to benefit us. Amy Vandervort senior elementary education UNL laser show is quite a bargain compared to others While we really like Jim Hanna’s columns, and Wednesday’s (column, DN, Nov. 28) was no exception, we at the Mueller Planetarium would like to make this comment. Having just returned from the ILDA (International Laser Display Association — the laser show companies’ trade association) conference, we can state that we have some of the most inexpensive laser show prices of any location. Most places charge more than we do. In fact, over the Thanksgiving holiday a traveling show made a return visit to the Omaha Music Hall. They charged $12.75 per person and over $14 the day of the show. With movie admis sions and other entertainment prices going up, we think our laser shows are quite a bargain — considering the time and effort that goes into them and the fact that they must support themselves through ticket sales. Otherwise Jim, keep up the good work. Jack Dunn coordinator Mueller Planetarium l Thursday, DECEMBER 6, 4:00-5:00 p.m. 'An Hispanic-American Perspective' Speaker--Dr. Joel Gajardo, Director Hispanic Community Center, Lincoln , Culture Center t - 333 N. 14th , .its PVw s t W9 J ^B iJnri iH SB 3 £.'2 K/w Perfectly Seasoned, Juicy, Delicious daVinci's Pizza ft Hot Hoagies I bbbbwbbbi^b—————WWW and you're rushing call daWit *«j| delivery LARGE „ ! 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