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
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