Apart from a few exceptions, we don’t see a whole lot of sign-in-hand protesting around these parts. Even on campus. Many people say true protesting is a lost art. Well, it wasn’t lost last Saturday on the group of people protesting in front of Menomonie’s McDonald’s (1515 N. Broadway). About a dozen people gathered to protest the restaurants’ (meaning all American McDonald’s’s) chicken-slaughtering methods. According to protester Katherine Johnson:

• PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and its activists ask that the McDonald’s corporation switch their slaughter methods over to a much more effective and humane method called Controlled Atmosphere Killing (CAP). This method uses inert gasses to put the chickens to sleep quickly, painlessly, and gently before they are sent to slaughter. This method will not only be good for the chickens but will protect  slaughter house workers as well, as many workers are injured in the process of slaughtering chickens due to chickens still being alive when going into slaughter. (Email johnsonkat@my.uwstout.edu or visit http://www.mccruelty.com/ for info.)

Questions of gassing chickens aside, I think it’s good to see protesting. Between the jail thing, the chicken thing, the smoking ban thing, and a few other things – it’s good to live in a community where people stand up for ... you know ... things.