kwch.com/kwch-news-ccd-peta-video-fallout-20120910,0,497846.story

kwch.com

PETA changes tactics after losing lawsuit in Kansas

Video;Related Links;

By Chris Durden & Jim Grawe

KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

4:50 PM CDT, September 10, 2012

(HUTCHINSON, Kan.)

Advertisement

It's the Kansas State Fair where there are livestock that have been bred to be breaded and all sorts of food that used to have a face.

In the middle of it all is a lone booth, set up by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  The group is trying to get Kansans to listen to its anti-meat message.

Along with pamphlets there's a video.  The video includes graphic images of animals being dismembered.  PETA says it was shot on American farms and in slaughterhouses.  The group wanted to set up a TV so everybody who walked by the booth could see the video.  But a federal judge ruled that State Fair management could require the video be hidden from general view.  So the back of the television is facing the people as they walk by.

Harold and Linda Reimer of Newton agreed to watch the video, although they are already vegetarians.

"If people don't want to watch it, they have a choice," Mr. Reimer says.  "Meat is served in the grocery store and they have no idea how it got there."

The video is playing at the Kansas State Fair. However, it isn't being shown at the Utah State Fair this week.  PETA agreed not to show it at all there.  
PETA spokesman Matt Bruce says the group had planned to show the video at state fairs across the county, but decided to focus on one-on-one conversations in Utah instead.
  
PETA'S showing of the video "Glass Walls," narrated by Paul McCartney, led to a temporary expulsion from the Iowa State Fair and a lawsuit against the Kansas State Fair.

Last week, U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled the Kansas State Fair is a so-called "limited public forum." He said fair officials acted reasonably in requiring PETA to shield people walking by its booth from easily seeing images depicting animal slaughter.

PETA sued the state, the Kansas Fair Board and the fair's general manager, arguing the restrictions violate its free speech rights.

*Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

PETA spreads message at State Fair.