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Flap over stuffed birds divides town - Children scared
Boston Globe ^ | February 2, 2004 | Meredith Goldstein

Posted on 02/02/2004 12:52:56 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

Edited on 04/13/2004 2:11:30 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

In Rowley, those who have gathered at Town Hall for the past few weeks haven't been yelling about affordable housing and taxes.

They've been arguing about birds. Stuffed birds.

No one in Rowley ever imagined that the collection of 400 mounted birds at Town Hall, a gift to the community from the late taxidermist Charles A. Houghton in the 1920s, would become the town's most divisive issue.


(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: taxidermy
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1 posted on 02/02/2004 12:52:57 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Preserving wildlife for future generations.
2 posted on 02/02/2004 1:00:50 AM PST by longtermmemmory (Vote!)
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To: longtermmemmory
Really, we're getting tired of this because we've had important issues to deal with in this town," said Selectman chairman A.J. Paglia. "This is really embarrassing."

Bump!

3 posted on 02/02/2004 1:08:45 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

Just show 'em a picture of Nancy Pelosi, then. That oughtta get the concept across, certainly. :)

4 posted on 02/02/2004 1:10:04 AM PST by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle ("The Clintons have damaged our country. They have done it together, in unison." -- Peggy Noonan)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Will this article bring the PETA people flocking to Rowley? Will the city council tell them to stuff it if they make a flap?
5 posted on 02/02/2004 1:16:04 AM PST by pt17
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To: KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
LOL
6 posted on 02/02/2004 1:32:31 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: pt17
Will this article bring the PETA people flocking to Rowley? Will the city council tell them to stuff it if they make a flap?

I hardly think so - they save all their energy and money to harass people in Bush country.

7 posted on 02/02/2004 1:33:51 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; All
9-11 happened 4 years ahead of "schedule"...WINTER COMES AGAIN!!!

The FOURTH TURNING wasn't expected until 2005...hence, the lingering "Culture Wars"!!!

8 posted on 02/02/2004 2:40:33 AM PST by Lael (http://fourthturning.com)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

Especially at the library...
By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with -- and so on, and so on, hour after hour.

9 posted on 02/02/2004 3:10:42 AM PST by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1
Nobody reads Mark Twain anymore..

And that is really a shame..
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are characters of American Legend, and should be required reading in every school in the Nation..

10 posted on 02/02/2004 3:34:17 AM PST by Drammach
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

The children there must not be very bright.

11 posted on 02/02/2004 3:43:57 AM PST by Amelia
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To: Lael
The writers of The Fourth Turning were giving an estimate not an exact date. Great book! Of course I read it without a stuffed bird watching me which may have made a difference.
12 posted on 02/02/2004 3:45:47 AM PST by foolscap
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

So is most of life. I guess his point is we should not even try. I remember going to see the stuffed animals at the museum with my grandfather. It sort of creped me out. I got into all sorts of deep thought about life and death etc etc. I have lived to tell the tale without obvious psychological damage....well except for the fact that I am a closet ax murderer but that's for another thread

13 posted on 02/02/2004 3:54:43 AM PST by foolscap
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
There is a stunning amount of idiocy in this article. How can anybody live in an environment like the Great Soviet Socialist State of Massachusetts?

They've been arguing about birds. Stuffed birds.

Oak, so I guess if you live further west in this country, stuffed animals become less weird and more commonplace - and for a kid, pretty cool.

The second floor of Town Hall, where the birds reside behind glass cases, has up until recently been off-limits to the public because of handicapped accessibility problems.

That statement blew my mind...then settled in as the epitome of the liberal mindset. The sentence translates - if the tiny minority in the area can't see them, then NO ONE CAN!! Even if the one person who can't make it up the d***ed stairs is Old Mrs. McDonald and she hates birds so wouldn't want to see the bloody things....the other six thousand of you can't see them either!! You all share or we the government will take it away!

they voted against displaying the birds, saying the collection is "stagnant"

Hello! They're DEAD...of course they're bloody stagnant. You could string them up with some bits of string and make cheerful mobile out of them I suppose....

Library director Julie Bernier also pointed out the occasional scare to children.

Since when? Kids see something like that and it's, "coooooool, look Mom, look Dad, ooooo, what is it, can I see it?"

Of course, those are the kids that aren't taught to be afraid of everything.

"It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

Only if you're a moron.

It's stuffed. End of problem.

"It doesn't move. It's kind of, just, there," Gray said, of the lantern.

Bright comment - he said lightly...what do these people expect? Dancing lights and muppets?

the birds be encased in a study room they had named the "Salt Marsh Room," toward the rear of the building.....The birds will go in the lobby near the coffee break area, partly because the display case that fits the lobby space has already been paid for out of the town's community preservation funds.

Yep...stuffed birds in a case from "preservation" funds.

Of course, they could do the completely obvious that I've seen some local libraries do. Scatter them in displays throughout the entire library and have a sign under each one with the bird's name, habitat, what it eats, etc.

But that would make the library a place of learning...

14 posted on 02/02/2004 4:08:25 AM PST by Ophiucus
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To: foolscap
Norman?

Is that you?....;)


15 posted on 02/02/2004 4:18:30 AM PST by Salamander
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

It is?

16 posted on 02/02/2004 8:05:17 AM PST by lepton
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
From the article: "It's taxidermy," Bernier said. "That's hard to explain to a child."

It is hard, ... for a liberal.

For conservatives who do not engage in the moral equivalency of killing an animal versus killing a human, it is pretty easy. "Kill the bird. Remove anything that will rot. Then fix it up to look like it was alive."

Liberals can't explain to their children where hamburgers come from without having to somehow justify the fact that humans eat animals, just like evil lions and tigers do.

No.. wait ... Maybe I got that wrong. Lions and tigers are allowed to eat other animals but humans can't because ... because ... oh my, this is hard! It is no wonder that the children of liberals grow up so ignorant.

17 posted on 02/02/2004 3:32:18 PM PST by William Tell
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: seamole; bimmer
I advised a friend and fellow FReeper on how to repeal a three percent green belt tax in Rowley. I got some advice from Freeper, Bimmer on how town politics , town meetings, work, and laid out a campaign.

In Rowley you need 10 signatures to put a vote on the town warrant, 100 signatures to vote on a change to the town charter.

This is democracy at its best, vote up or down at the town meeting, my FReind lost his nads because of the net working involved.

The toothless old guy at the local Shell station might be related to half the town and agree with you, but if you don't approach him, he ain't going to get involved, dealing with Yankee's ain't easy.

19 posted on 02/03/2004 1:13:43 PM PST by Little Bill (I can't take another rat in the White House at my age.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
My favorite is the Norwegian Blue Parrot.
20 posted on 02/03/2004 1:15:36 PM PST by Redcloak (Mirab, his sails unfurled.)
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