Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Metro columnist Dan Casey: Readers compliment, take offense with musings
Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
dan.casey
@roanoke.com
981-3423
Dan Casey
Recent columns
- There's a slip twixt cup, lip for Roanoke coffee shop owner
- 82 years of food fit for the King
- At work, on floor, in life: Rick Schmitt had all the right moves
Read Dan's blog
Last week's column about those funny folks at PETA and their unfunny attempt to rain on Roanoke's St. Patrick's Day Parade was tops in the response department here at mailbag central.
One of those who took me to task was Christy Sullenberger of Wirtz. She believes I aimed darts at the wrong target when I called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals "creepy."
"The slaughter of chickens, who along with ducks, turkeys, and other birds, are not protected by the Humane Slaughter Act (1958), is not funny anymore," Sullenberger wrote in e-mail.
"Have a peek into how these animals are processed. PETA's approach is appropriate to reality in respect of other beings."
But Paul Marks of Glastonbury, Conn., had quite a different take. He believes the animal rights organization does far more harm than good.
"Besides distorting the perceptions of American consumers daily and twisting the perceptions of the younger generation about how we feed ourselves (and the world, as well), PETA does untold damage to the cause of medical research," Marks wrote.
A few readers took me to task for writing that Adolf Hitler was a vegan. That was incorrect, and they were right to chide me for it.
At best, the German dictator and perennial candidate for most evil human ever was a vegetarian, but historians still debate how faithfully he eschewed meat.
One of the readers who noted that was Hope Trachtenberg-Fifer of Roanoke. She calls herself a lacto- ovo- vegetarian and "wannabe vegan."
"I happen to be a fan of yours, Dan," a lengthy voice mail message began. "But I think you could have done better than bring up that Hitler stuff in your column. ... Who cares what Hitler did or did not do in his personal life? He was a lousy human being."
Another column that generated big response was my theory of what Del. Morgan Griffith is up to with his entry into the 9th Congressional District race against incumbent Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.
I postulated Griffith is actually setting the stage for a congressional bid in 2012, when his home in Salem almost certainly will fall within the 9th District.
That elicited an e-mail from Bill Pascoe, a Republican activist and analyst from Northern Virginia.
"Normally, I have to go ... well, to my own blog to find analysis of that depth. Seriously, this is brilliant work. A very thoughtful piece."
Thanks, Bill. I would explain my brilliance by noting that even a blind pig stumbles upon an acorn every now and then.
The piece I wrote marking this column's first anniversary brought forth a bunch of kind calls and e-mails.
Perhaps the nicest came from Larry Bly, a talented advertising man, actor and former co-host of the legendary PBS laughfest, "Cookin' Cheap."
"You say a lot of things that people like me (in the media most of my life) cannot say or wouldn't," Bly wrote.
"But mostly I love your writing style and I think you're about the best thing that's happened to the paper since coupons."
Finally, Sunday's column about Griffith's cemetery wedding in 2005 elicited a chuckle from Joyce Crouch of Salem.
She called Monday to tell me a story about a question her 9-year-old grandson asked her last year: What would Griffith think of extended school days for public school students like him?
Crouch relayed the question to Griffith. It wasn't long before the delegate personally answered in a letter to her grandson, Carson Sutphin.
"To me, that was worth $1,000, for somebody like him [Griffith] to take some time out from his busy schedule," Crouch told me. "It kind of put him up on a pedestal for me."
Joyce, judging by Griffith's success in his legislative district, you're not the only one who feels that way.
Keep the feedback coming, folks!
