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r’AUL VARKOK PHOTOGRAPHY
Called to Defend Animals
Humane Society CEO
to Appear at UGA
over a quarter century. Wayne
Pacelle has been fighting for
P ose who cannot defend themselves against
onslaught of societal issues: neglect, abuse
ana starvation that even the most "innocent"
among us have helped to spur on.
Needless to say. Pacelle is a busy man.
t that isn't stopping Pacelle—who has
een serving as the president and CEO of the
nnane Society of the United States for the
past seven years—from visiting the University
Georgia Oct. 19 to bring students and fac-
’y a message tnat is alt too often forgotten
amid the hustle and bustle of everyday human
life.
"People are causing so much cruelty to
animals, and it's not just random acts of cru
elty. but also institutionalized forms of cru
elty, such as industrialized agriculture," says
Pacelle. "If we can create the problem, we can
also turn it around."
The main gist of Pacelle's talk will revolve
around his book, The Bond: Our Kinship with
Animals. Our Call to Defend Them. According
to Pacelle, the book focuses on the important
roles that animals have played in forging our
past, and our modern quandary of professing
a great love for animals, yet putting them
through tremendous grief by exploiting them
commercially.
While it's an exciting opportunity for stu
dents to hear Pacelle speak on the subject of
helping to mitigate this exploitation, it's just
as important to Pacelle to be able to spread
his message to those who may one day carry
the animal rights banner. Speaking to col
lege students in a Southern town as diverse
and open-minded as Athens is an appealing
chance for Pacelle to reach out to people who
are no older than he was when he first became
involved in the animal protection movement.
"UGA is an important thought leader
in Georgia, and I want to reach the future
thought leaders in the state and plant the
seeds of animal protection," Pacelle says.
Among those planning to hear Pacelle
speak are UGA senior Erne Halt and Eric
Griffith, a reference librarian at the university
who helped coordinate Pacelle's visit. Both
Halt and Griffith are heavily involved members
of Speak Out for Species (the tatter serving as
a faculty advisor), the campus animal rights
group that is sponsoring the talk. Both see
themselves as doing their part to help precipi
tate change within the Athens community.
"We try to raise awareness for vegetarian
ism and veganism, and what's happening in
the factory farms, says Hall. "I basically come
and volunteer and try to help out wherever
I can. We usually do a lot of work at the
Humane Society of Athens-Clarke County."
And according to Griffith, Hall's words
regarding the spreading of awareness on a
dietary level ring true: students involved in
Speak Out for Species have gone so far as to
petition UGA to increase the number of vegan
food options in its dining halls, thus
proving that there is a dedicated
group of people in Athens who have
the chance to take Pacelle's words
and run with them.
"Wayne's visit to UGA offers a
great opportunity to inspire people
in our community with a message
of compassion and respect for other
species, and to encourage people to
get engaged actively in animal pro
tection," Griffith says. "For the stu
dents in SOS, it also helps to connect
the work that we do locally with the
larger national movement to create a
more humane world for all animals."
Pacelle is also hoping to connect
the issues that animals face nation
ally with those that can be read
ily identified in the Athens-Clarke
County community. He sees many of
the same problems in cities across
the nation.
"It's not just euthanasia of
healthy and treatable dogs and cats
in our communities or an occasional
random act of cruelty," Pacelle says.
"Animal exploitation is all around
us—in the food chain, in the cos
metics and household products we
buy in the marketplace, at the pet
store down the street. There are moral prob
lems all around us, but that means there are
moral opportunities around us. If we are seri
ous about stopping animal cruelty, we have to
look inward and then focus our attention on
driving change in corporate and political insti
tutions in society."
Hall and Griffith are among those who are
wilting to take extra steps to drive change
toward giving animals the respect and the
rights they say they deserve as living crea
tures. According to Pacelle, that's what the
movement is all about.
"It's more about us than them," he says.
"We have all the power in the relationship
with animals, and how we handle that power
is a test of our humanity."
F. Tyler Elrod
Wayne Pacelle will speak at 1 pm Wednesday. Oct
19 in Room 102 of the UGA Miller Learning Center.
Admission is free and the event is open to the public.
For more information, go to www.uga.edu/sos
r
Wayne Pacelle
TRANSPORTATION TAX: YES OR NO?
You would not think that politicians from
159 counties would be able to set aside their
personal differences and local biases tong
enough to agree on a list of expensive road
projects, but it seems to have happened.
The "regional roundtables" of elected
officials from 1? districts around the state
have now finalized their lists of highway and
transit projects for the 2012 referendums on
whether to impose a one-penny sates tax, the
T SPLOST, to pay for the construction work
over the next 10 years.
"It's been a joy for me, but I'm glad it's
over with," said Douglas County Commissioner
Tom Worthan, after voting with his col
leagues to adopt the project list for
Metro Atlanta.
The pot of money in each dis
trict varies widely, as does the
scope of the projects involved.
In Metro Atlanta, they propose
to spend more than $6.1 bil
lion on transportation projects,
with more than half of the money
dedicated to bus and rail transit
facilities. In districts outside Atlanta
such as the Northeast Georgia region
that includes Clarke, Barrow, Oglethorpe and
Jackson counties; the amount involved is
about $630 miltion, and the money would be
spent primarily on road or bridge projects.
If the tax is approved by the voters next
year, it will represent one of the largest com
mitments of public funds for infrastructure
ever seen in this state. It's probably the best
opportunity Georgians wilt have to deal with
traffic congestion and road improvements.
We now spend less money on highways
than every other state except Tennessee, but
that ranking would change if voters in some
or all of the districts passed the T-SPL0ST.
"We are in the bottom tier of investment,"
says Todd Long, planning director of the state
Department of Transportation. "This will put
us in the top tier."
Now that the political disagreements have
been resolved over which projects will be
funded, the hard work begins: convincing vot
ers, in the middle of an economic downturn,
to approve a sates tax increase. The date for
the tax referendums is now set for July 31,
which coincides with the Republican and
Democratic primary elections. That choice of
dates could be the one hurdle that supporters
of the transportation tax are not able to clear.
There is already strong opposition developing
to the T-SPL0ST among Tea Party organizations
and other anti-tax groups around the state.
Holding the referendum at the same time as a
low-turnout primary election in the middle of
the summer could possibly make it easier for
the anti-tax activists to defeat it.
Even if the July 31 date is not
changed, business organizations like
the Georgia Chamber of Commerce
will spend an estimated $6 mil
lion to $10 million to urge
approval of the tax.
"If you move it to November,
the prospects for passing it
increase by about 1 percent, the
data shows," Atlanta Mayor Kasim
Reed says. "We're not going to quit if
we have a July election."
Polls that have been conducted on the
T-SPL0ST issue show only tepid support for it.
The district that appears to have the best shot
at passing the tax is Metro Atlanta, where
drivers have to deal with some of the worst
traffic congestion in the country.
"We are losing business relocations in all
of our counties because of traffic," Reed con
tends. "There's nobody who can look at the
traffic in Atlanta and tell you we don't need
to fix it."
The politicians make a valid argument for
a tax increase to pay for better transportation
facilities. It's not clear if their constituents
wilt agree with that argument.
"It's up to the public," says Norcross Mayor
Bucky Johnson, who chaired the Metro Atlanta
roundtable. "It's in their hands."
Tom Crawford !crawford@gareport com
SUDDENLY—
THE OCCUPATION!
IF YOU'RE INVISIBLE, WHY ARC YOUR
FLAWS SO READILY APPARENT?
SHOULDN'T YOU BE AT A
DRUM CIRCLE, OR SOMETHING?
THIS MMIIH WtILI
X HADN'T BEEN
HURT SINCE
WAS
CRITICAL
DOM T THEY
UNDERSTAND
[that *€ nA*
feelings
TOO?
by TOM TOMORROW
FEAR NOT, HARD-WORKING
CREATORS' IT IS X - -TOUR HL a8LE
SERVANT!
INVISIBLE-HAND-
OF-THE-FREE-
MARKET-MAN?
YOU'RE THE
ONLY ONE W
CAN
NOT TO MEN
TION THE
BESMIRCHED
HONOR Of
CAR KALIS*
tTSELf!
THEY'RE STILL DOWN THERE--AND
THEY'RE STILL SAYING MEAN
THINGS About US'
SO. HERE'S MY PLAN...WITH THE
HELP Of CERTAIN COMPLIANT CON
SERVATIVE PUNDITS, WELL PAINT
THE PROTESTERS AS MILQUE
TOASTS WITH SMALL IDEAS--
--WHILE PORTRAYING AUSTERITY
HAWKS WHO WANT TO CUT SOCIAL
SECURITY AS THE TRUE VISIONARIES.'
SORRY, DID YOU JUST
USE THE WORD
"MILQUETOASTS'*?
\ ^
NEXT'. AN UNANTICIPATED DEVELOPMENT?
WHAT ARE
THEY LAUGH
ING AT?
a.:
I-I
DON'T
KMOW...
MEANWHILE, WE LL PROMOTE STORIES
Of POVERTY-STRICKEN DEBT-RIDDLED
AMERICANS WITH NO HEALTH IN
SURANCE WHO ARE NAPPY TO
MAKE DO WITH LESS--
:s=ran ix- .
--so THAT WEALTH PRODUCERS SUCH
CAN BE REWARDED
WELL, IT ALL SOUNDS PERFECTLY
CONVINCING TO ME!
HOW COULD
RAIL TO BE
SUADED BY SUCH
COMPELLING AR
GUMENTS?
JOVE,
HAND —
6 FLAGP0LE.COM OCTOBER 19. 2011
1*M IO11 ...www.thlsmodemwoHd.cofn..,twitter com/lomtomorrow
