Upstream. A Mohawk Valley Blogzine.

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Don't Let Brian Stratton Get Your Goat!

As the owner of two goats (pets only), I have been following the controversy that Mayor Brian Stratton of Schenectady has stirred up over an immigrant family that killed and barbecued a goat in their back yard. I have little to add to the controversy except that I came across an ad in the catalog of a charitable organization. For $50 you can buy a goat for a poor person in Africa or Latin America. The ad reads in part--"Looking for a gift that keeps giving? A dairy goat can supply a poor family with four or more quarts of fresh milk a day--nearly a ton of milk, butter, and cheese each years. And a nanny goat can produce as many as three kids a year, enabling a family to start a small dairy to pay for essentials like medicine and schooling."
It seems to me that with the continual implosion of Schenectady's economy, quality of life, etc. that raising goats should be encouraged. Of course, when a goat stops producing milk, cheese, butter and kids, it then becomes a meat goat.
I would encourage Brian Stratton and members of the city council to send $50 to Samaritan's Purse to buy a goat for poor families in Africa and Latin America. It makes more sense than spending money passing legislation over one incident of goat slaughter in Schenectady.

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