PETA Urges Hamburg, N.Y., to Change Name

NYT.com ^

[Sub-Driver]

PETA Urges Hamburg, N.Y., to Change Name By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:56 p.m. ET

HAMBURG, N.Y. (AP) -- A national animal rights group has offered Hamburg officials $15,000 to change the town's name to Veggieburg.

``The town's name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows,'' said Joe Haptas, spokesman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in a letter faxed Monday to Hamburg Supervisor Patrick Hoak.

PETA offered to supply area schools with $15,000 worth of non-meat patties for the name change.

``Our offer is serious as a heart attack,'' Haptas said.

Hoak immediately declined.

``With all due respect, I think it's a delicacy in our community,'' he said about hamburgers. ``We're proud of our name and proud of our heritage.''

The Buffalo suburb, named Hamburg since 1812, claims to be the birth place of the American culinary staple. Hamburg commemorates the birth of hamburgers at the annual Burgerfest.

In 1996, PETA proposed that the Hudson Valley town of Fishkill change its centuries-old name to Fishsave, since the group believed the name conjured up violent imagery of dead fish.

The town was named by Dutch settlers in the early 1600s. ``Kill'' is the Dutch word for ``stream.''

[TheBigB]

BaconCheeseBurg has a nice ring to it..:-)

[TheSpottedOwl]

Lol! Yank its horns, wipe its a$$ and throw it on the plate is how rare I like my steak ;-)

[MEGoody]

``The town's name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows,''

With pickles, onions and mustard. Yum, yum!

[Luna]

Bwahahahahahahaha!!!

The really humorous thing about this latest PETA escapade is that PETA is serious while the rest of the world rolls on the floor in laughing convulsions. They should stick to the silly campaigns and stay away from serious ones, like that disgusting Holocaust/chicken ad.

[quark]

PinkInTheMiddleBurg might be a possibility...

[Mr. K]

stupid attention-getting scam. The cost of changing the letterhead alone would be greater than $15,000

PETA knows it, know no one will accept this offer, and so gets free publicity. The presstitutes also know this, and print it anyway. If I offered money to change the towns name to my name to you think it would get national attention?

[lilylangtree]

Think how much $15,000 could do at the local pet shelter. Besides, hamburgers are good.

[SunStar]

``The town's name conjures up visions of unhealthy patties of ground-up dead cows,'' said Joe Haptas, spokesman of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, in a letter faxed Monday to Hamburg Supervisor Patrick Hoak.

What a fool.

I suppose Hamburg, Germany should change it's name too? What about Frankfurt?

After all, that conjures up images of hot dogs...

And what about Philadelphia? "Veggiedelphia" would stop the conjuring of images of cheese steaks!

And, I'm sure the good Muslims in Turkey wouldn't mind changing their country's name to "Tofurkey". Much better! I'll be damned if I have to think of Thanksgiving dinner everytime I think of the Turks!

Shall I continue? Or has my point been made?

[mamaduck]

What would you "save" fish for? So they can live out their last years in fish retirement villas?

of course!

[Sub-Driver]

As my South African collegue says "I want it served BLUE!"

[Puppage]

[RnMomof7]

LOL LOL..I live 5 minutes from Hamburg the home of the hamburger they say..

They are soooooooooo pathetic..

[STFrancis]

In case anyone was wondering... History of the Hamburger...

http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HamburgerHistory.htm

[DeFault User]

In the immortal words of Fritz Mondale:

Where's the Beef?

[Only1choice____Freedom]

I wonder if they would be dissapointed to learn that it was named after Hamburg Germany and not the hamburger.

After all it's not Hamburger NY.

They should move to Hell, Michigan.
http://www.hell2u.com/

[ZULU]

I wish I had $16,000 to spare. I'd offer it to them to change the town name to "Dead Meat".

[Only1choice____Freedom]

How about "Nugentsville?"

Or maybe "Ted's Paradise."

[paul51]

If they do it they will have to change the water tower alongside the thruway that they painted to look like a huge hamburg.

[RansomOttawa]

I'll give PETA $1,000 to officially change their name to "Wasted Vegetarians with No Lives."

[Willie Green]

Well if PETA gave me $15K, I'd be willing to change my screen name to "Willie Tomato".