Category: default || By jt3y

As the Mon-Yough area's leading online source of misinformation, I feel compelled to mention the ongoing, vocal protest against Ferree Kennels, the city-based animal control company that's under fire for what activists say is cruelty.

What started as one or two people protesting owner Ken Ferree's use of carbon monoxide to put down stray cats has turned into war, with animal-rights activists (you'll pardon the expression) "dogging" Ferree at local council meetings and trying to get his contracts canceled.

On Sunday two dozen demonstrators picketed his kennel on Lysle Boulevard and on Monday speakers urged West Elizabeth council to rethink its decision to authorize Ferree to trap and kill strays.

Besides the carbon monoxide, protesters are also upset that he's killing cats without collars the same day he catches them.

In Tuesday's Daily News, reporter Stacy Lee quotes Ferree as saying the activists are "radicals" and that they're conducting a "vendetta" against him that includes insults and slurs.

I've noted before that Ferree doesn't make a strong case for himself. He says that using carbon monoxide to euthanize animals is not against the law, but testifying before city council last year, he called it "an approved method that's used by people who commit suicide."

That's not exactly the image you should want your business to project, unless you're Jack Kevorkian.

And according to the News, Ferree was put on probation in April 2007 by Forward Township supervisors after a heated dispute with a resident there.

This all makes it difficult to sympathize with Ferree and also helps me understand why the so-called "radicals" are able to generate such outrage.

The Mon Valley needs more businesses, and I don't want Ferree to lose his. I don't think he's a sicko, and I don't think calling him "Hitler" and "fat bastard" is appropriate. On the other hand, if he wants to hang onto his contracts, he'd better "put on a happy face" and be nicer to taxpayers. A little kindness and humility would go a long way toward ending this controversy.

And nobody asked me, but maybe Ferree should modify his business practices. Perhaps all kitties go to heaven, but he doesn't have to send them there so quickly.

. . .

In Other News: Several outlets report that Chesterfield's Restaurant on Route 30 in North Huntingdon Township is being sold. (Here's Chuck Mortimer's story in the Tribune-Review.) The property is being leveled to make way for a Starbucks and a Walgreen's.

Owner Barbara Braun and her late husband, Jack, founded Chesterfield's at the former Ben Gross' Supper Club 24 years ago. I've never been a big fan of Chesterfield's, but I'm in the minority; a lot of people love it.

I don't think we need another chain drug store, and if we do, why doesn't someone redevelop the Norwin Shopping Center across the street? But I wish Mrs. Braun the best of luck --- after more than 20 years, she deserves the right to do with her property as she wishes.

. . .

U.S.S. McKeesport: Multiple Alert Readers sent links to Chris Briem's blog Null Space, which on Monday mentioned what I thought was an urban legend:

June 5th is the anniversary of the date when the cruiser USS Pittsburgh had its bow ripped off by Typhoon Cobra in the South Pacific. The ship would not sink and would make it back to port sans bow. The bow itself actually did not sink and was dubbed the USS McKeesport. The Navy probably didn't appreciate the irony of how improbable cooperation was between the City of Pittsburgh and one of its suburbs.

I've heard that story too --- that sailors dubbed the smaller portion "U.S.S. McKeesport" --- and I'd like to see confirmation if anyone has it. The real S.S. McKeesport was a merchant marine vessel that provided emergency supplies to refugees after the German occupation of France in 1940, and was later used by the Red Cross.

S.S. McKeesport was torpedoed and sunk by a Nazi U-boat in April 1943; one crewman died of exposure to the icy waters of the North Atlantic, but 68 others on board were saved. The ship is honored each year with a wreath-laying ceremony at the McKees Point Marina.

I realize the truth is not funny, but it has the virtue of being more interesting, I think.

. . .

‘Suburb’ My Ass: Pardon my French, but the real thing wrong with the story of the "U.S.S. McKeesport" is that McKeesport is not a suburb of Pittsburgh, dammit!

Or have we lost that battle?