Here’s today’s open line and the daily news roundup. Also:
* HIT AND RUN: Little Rock police are looking for a heavyset white male driving a white van with green lettering he drove off after hitting a pedestrian at Rodney Parham and Old Forge. The van reportedly was traveling south on Old Forge, drove through a service station parking lot to go west on Rodney Parham and hit the victim, who was knocked into the roadway. The van kept going. UPDATE: Police say Ian Canham, 29, was killed in the hit-and-run and they believe they have located a suspect.
* GIVE PEAS A CHANCE: Add PETA to the list of those for ideas about things that should be honored on the Capitol grounds along with the Ten Commandments.
Read on:
A recently approved Ten Commandments monument on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds may soon have company from PETA. The group is following up on its earlier July proposal to display a banner on the grounds, which was reportedly rejected because of size constraints. In a letter rushed to the secretary of state and the Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission, PETA offered to retool its banner—which shows the Christian cross, the Muslim star and crescent, the Hindu Aum, and the Jewish Star of David and reads, “Give Peas a Chance: Go Vegan. Kindness Is the Best Religion of All.”
“Whether it’s 1 foot long or 20 feet high, our banner will remind everyone that, regardless of personal religious beliefs, we can share a message of kindness with the world by choosing vegan foods,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is happy to make whatever alterations are necessary to bring this powerful message of compassion to the Arkansas state capitol.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that although animals killed for food appear different from us, they experience joy, pain, fear, love, and grief and value their lives, just as we do.
PETA’s letter to Arkansas Secretary of State Mark Martin is available upon request. For more information, please visit PETA.org.