While we've been watching the Masonic "circus" involving the governor of Alabama in Montgomery and the radio renegades in Birmingham, we missed a Shrine Circus story a little closer to home, in Columbus, Ga., a city on the border of Georgia and Alabama.The recent Shrine Circus was the scene of protests by animal rights activists, who say that animals in the circus operated by Serge Coronas for the Shrine are mistreated. Apparently, in Columbus, it's become hip and trendy to protest the circus each year, as the news article quotes highschoolers who say this is not the first Shrine Circus protest they have attended.
This article is interesting in that the reporter, Jon Kalahar of WTVM Channel 9, dismisses the accusations with a "the animals looked okay to me" kind of attitude, and closed the piece with "And we would to totally remiss if we didn't mention how much money this circus raises for the local shriners' organization. The Shrine Circus is expected to raise close to twenty five thousand dollars. And of course that goes to help children who are burn victims or that have disabilities."
Apparently reporter Kalahar is not familiar with the Orlando Sentinel's news reports on the finances of the Shrine Circus operations in the 1980s, nor the current ongoing investigations of financial impropriety among Shrine organizations throughout the United States.
We also found a badly spelled rant-to-the-editor letter by a Shriner, who wrote the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer newspaper to complain about their coverage of the animal rights protest.
Our thanks to the anti-Masonic FreemasonryWatch.org website for these stories. It's nice to know that Burning Taper has finally "arrived" as a Masonic website of reknown, as it seems FreemasonryWatch.org is now watching us. I found several links to some of our previous articles there. Hi, guys!
Masons | Shriners | Shrine Circus | Animal Cruelty | BurningTaper.com | Columbus, Georgia | Burning Taper
I wonder if this event will find its way into Dan Brown's upcoming book The Solomon Key.
PETA- People Eating Tasty Animals
ReplyDeleteYum!
Darren :)
Maybe it's just me, but I really dislike circuses and carnivals - or rather, I dislike the keeping of animals for entertainment purposes. I always feel badly for the animals being trained to do tricks, and I don't like that they need to be caged.
ReplyDeleteEven some zoos aren't particularly wholesome for the poor beasts. The Shriners should give up the circus simply to get rid of the poor animals.
Dont' get me wrong - I grill a great steak, and I'll eat meat until the day I die. But there's something about trainign them to do cute acts that just feels wrong to me.
The Sacred Chao of Masonry
If you were at the Shrine Circus in Columbus Georgia. You would have found thousands of happy children cheering to the sound of clowns, Elephants and Tigers. The most exciting show ever to come the the Civic center. If three yes only three 16 year old teenagers is a protest. It was like children with a lemonade stand. But the 10,000 circus fans inside enjoyed the best day of there lives. The animals were in the best of health. And the best part of the day children who would never ever get a chance to see such a wonderful animal up close. Got to see it,up close instead of reading about these Lyons Tigers and Elephants in a book.
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