Trib Local on 4-H at Wagner/Lake County Fair

Two articles on 4-H at Wagner Farm and/or the Lake County Fair at Trib Local, the Chicago Tribune's north shore suburban site to which pretty much anybody can submit an article, as you will see from these examples.

The first is by our own Cathy2, with a balanced portrait of the events at the Lake County Fair and the 4-H activities which will be judged there:

4-H children who choose to raise lambs, chickens, cows, goats or pigs are expected to meet project goals: Learn to accept responsibility to care for an animal regularly. Learn animal nutrition and how to protect their health. Learn to train and handle an animal safely.

Meanwhile, in another article, we learn that the animals raised by the children will be slaughtered, almost certainly turning the 4-Hers into future serial killers:

The animals are about 5 months old, have been raised at Wagner Farm, and have become domesticated. “Wagner Farm presents a bucolic presentation, but what is going on there is hardly bucolic,” said Rubenstein.

"The children and their families think that the Wagner Farm animals live out their entire lives on the farm," said Garrett. "We doubt that the 4H children, let alone the Glenview community, have any knowledge of these circumstances. Why is Wagner Farm(s) in the business of making money on slaughtering of animals raised by the children of the 4H?", he asked.

Do the 4-Hers have any idea of the nightmarish horror that lies behind the cheerful farm facade of Wagner Farm? I asked one of them:

Hi,

I had no idea anyone was protesting the 4-H project at Wagner Farm. I'm glad there is a counterpoint available in my submission.

Regards,

Wow - just exactly what do they think farm animals are for? Yeesh.

I wonder if these folks have ever been to Devon and Western.

Hi,

Check out the comment section on both linked articles. Relative to the usual silence, it is quite lively.

Regards,

BTW (after adding my own comment) the poster on the vegetarian article is asking people to write to the Glenview Park District to remove the program from Wagner Farm and to take the animals to a "sanctuary." I followed the linkand did the opposite.

And you see why real farmers are less than enthusiastic about giving farm tours to strangers ...

There were two girls standing outside the farm today facing Lake Street with something along the lines of, "Don't Kill Lambs" signs. Probably around 13 years old. For three years I've passed by Wagner Farm and I never realized it was a real farm. Never thought a place that holds 200 birthday parties a year was actually slaughtering their animals. Does anyone know if Reagan's Meats sells anything from the farm?

Wagner Farm was the last working farm in Cook County. They made it a park district farm (and built various new facilities). Yes, it's a real 4-H program raising real animals which are really auctioned off:



Just as if it were in another Illinois county where working farms are not exotic curiosities...

However, they don't raise animals for meat year-round, only as many as there are 4-H kids to raise in the spring and summer. So no, they're not raising meat and selling it to Reagan's, though I do recall that last year Sunset Foods bought several animals. Considering the way prices are bid up at the auction (2-3 times market), I doubt it wound up in the case, though.

Hi- The second link does not seem to be working anymore. I just checked the trib local website, and it looks like they took the article written by the animal activist down.

I am just curious if any of these people that want to send these animals to a sanctuary actually live in Glenview? They talk about the fact that they do not want their tax dollars going towards the killing of animals, but if they do not even live in Glenview, that should not be the case.

I have a hard time understanding the animal activists. Why don't they focus their energy on stopping gun violence, instead of worrying about the suffering of the animals? BTW- It is really easy for somebody to get their article posted in trib local. I sing with the North Shore Choral Society, and the person that does our PR pro bono, submits articles to trib local fairly regularly, and as far as I know they all get published. 90% of the articles that appear in trib local, are written by PR people. Hope this helps, Nancy

Apparently, the writer of the article has learned how to game the system. If you go to her own page, you will see that she posted the same article three times, which explains why the article's title is in all caps.

Of course, when she deleted the articles, she deleted all the dissenting comments, too. I'm not sure whether this is TribLocal's moderation or just the author's way to make sure it seems like everyone agrees with her.

NFriday wrote:90% of the articles that appear in trib local, are written by PR people. Hope this helps, Nancy

That's not how it looks in my local paper. There is an open policy about what goes on the website, though not everything ends up in the paper.

I think there was some moderation at TribLocal last night. There were 20 responses, then suddenly 17. I know two had links to videos, one from Mike and another from those wanting to save the animals.

The call to protest was gone, too. It really was a call to rally people on Saturday, which was passed. However a lot of events past their time often remain on their site. However the were also pretty cheeky when underneath the author's name they stated, "Special to the Tribune." Suggesting it was not a staff writer, though a paid submission. This slight of hand might have not played in their favor.

In one of the public comments, all4ag of Sacramento, CA suggested people expand their protest to St. Mary's pig roast. Oh lovely. I was on the fence about going, now I will be there absolutely.

Regards,

Hi,

One additional note, at the Trib mothership all comments are reviewed before they are posted.

At TribLocal, those comments went up as quickly as one hit the send button. While they may have been taken down many hours later, they were there long enough to reach their intended audience.

When I submit an article with an image, the article is immediately posted. The image waits for approval.

Regards,

FYI, the article has been removed from Trib Local's site (all three times it was posted) and the poster's profile is no longer available. I submitted my thoughts on the matter to the Tribune through their feedback system and just received an email from a gentleman at the Trib.

Email from Trib wrote:What is story?

(note: the above email is in its entirety and has not been edited by me in any way)

I replied with a history of what happened (which was also in the comment I submitted through their site), but since all of the links are dead now, there's not much to send the guy.

He's since responded indicating:

Email from Trib wrote:The person posting misidentified herself and she would not stop posting so we had to ban her and eliminate the story.

-Dan

Hi,

A new comment was added from TribLocal staff directly:

On 7/26/10 at 03:25 PM, Triblocal wrote:
Editors note: TribLocal deleted the "other story" because the writer would not identify themselves properly after numerous attempts by our editors to have the byline corrected. We encourage this debate and request only that people keep their comments constructive and civil.

Thank you all for contributing to this conversation

I surmise the "Special to the Tribune" addition to the byline was probably an issue, too.

Regards,

Hi I just checked if there were any new comments on Cathy's article, and there have been no posts since the post this afternoon by the trib local editors. I wonder if all the animal activists posts since then have been deleted? I doubt that those people gave up on posting.

BTW- What I should have said was that 90% of the articles that appear in trib local, are written by people that do not work for the Chicago Tribune, and do not get paid for their articles. For the Evanston edition of trib local, I think they only have one or two trib reporters. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:BTW- What I should have said was that 90% of the articles that appear in trib local, are written by people that do not work for the Chicago Tribune, and do not get paid for their articles. For the Evanston edition of trib local, I think they only have one or two trib reporters.

Agreed.

The submissions to the website are as originally written. Those selected for print are edited and to some extent fact checked. There is a regular contributor for Highland Park whose topics are often political. I know TribLocal people have fact checked those articles. As a courtesy, this person will often send links providing proof where source information originated.

Only one one article I wrote related to the Navy's Culinary School did I receive a phone call inquiring where some information was derived. I tend to submit stuff in the range of 500 words, conforming to AP stylebook to reduce editing and preserve my voice.

For me, it is an exercise in writing more concise, tight articles. On LTH, I can wander and introduce sidebar information not necessarily interesting in print articles.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:For me, it is an exercise in writing more concise, tight articles. On LTH, I can wander and introduce sidebar information not necessarily interesting in print articles.

Regards,

And for that, we thank you

Here is what I sent the Glenview Park District; I got an email that it was forwarded to the Board of Commissioners:

I recently read the article in Triblocal regarding the protest of 4-H at Wagner Farm. I am writing to support this program - it is one of the few opportunities urban children have to participate in the food chain, and to understand that food does not come from a grocery store.

My son is too young to participate, but your program enabled us to do this - we saw your pigs at the Lake Co. Fair, and later went to the St. Mary's Pork roast. It's difficult to explain where our food comes from if the only option we have is the meat chart at the grocery store - while my son was a bit squeamish at first, he understood that the kids in 4-H spent a long time caring for the pig that eventually became pork.

It is vitally important, especially for urban kids, to have some context for this process - the understanding that not everything should be done in a huge factory; that some things are better with care and effort. Please do not allow an angry few to change the programs at Wagner Farm; we need a place where we can experience the deep-rooted traditions of the Midwest.

Great letter, Michelle.

As it turns out (I didn't know this till tonight) the dad of one of the kids in 4-H is one of the Glenview officials who deals with both Wagner Farm and these protesters on occasion. The word is that the village and the park district are extremely supportive of 4-H at Wagner-- but you never know; politics can shift. So letting them know that you think it should continue and that it serves a valuable purpose, as Michelle did very eloquently above, can't hurt and could be important.

Me, I just got back from the potluck in the cow barn for the exhibitors. Every all-American dish you could imagine, from Swedish meatballs to taco salad, most of them still homemade. Strictly speaking I may have been to better picnics culinarily in the last few weeks, but it's hard to beat the surroundings and neighborliness of this one.

Hi- I just clicked on the link to Cathy's article again, and there is a new comment by one of the animal activists, but the link she gives does not seem to work. I suspect that she posted another article on trib local, which got deleted. Hope this helps, Nancy

I was sad to see that a very nice rescue gal (from whom I got one of my mutts) who I've stayed in touch with over the years posted the following on Facebook:

"WE ARE MEETING AGAIN ON SAT., JULY 31, AT WAGNER FARM AT 9:00 AM for another peaceable rally. If you can, bring a poster with a message (ask if you don't know what to write). We will also have extra posters to share. PLEASE CONTACT info@eyeonwagnerfarm.com and let us know if you plan on attending. Thanks so much everyone..., on behalf of these innocent animals who need ALL of our voices! Please help save these 4H raised pigs and lambs from slaughter! They have a safe place to go!

I'm pretty shocked--I've never seen her post anything other than pet related info. Obviously this thing must still have some legs...

They are back: Taxpayer funds support needless slaughter of baby 4-H animals. The comment section is pretty much a choir of like minded people.

The Rescue Fund would like to acquire ownership of these animals to prevent their needless slaughter. They have offered to reimburse the 4-H families for their costs in raising the animals, at or above market prices, while at the same time provide a humane outcome for the animals.

Their desire to purchase these animals is easily accomplished by bidding for them at auction.

Since it was important to them to post a link to their story from the comment section related to mine, I posted a link on theirs, too.

Regards,

Hi- I just looked at the http://eyeonwagnerfarm.com site, and apparently two of the ringleaders of this group, live in Glenview. On the site, they have a petition that you can sign, and they have 289 signatures. The majority of the signatures are from people that do not live in Illinois, and a lot of the people are from other countries. One thing I found particularly interesting is that on their site, they have one of Mike's videos.

If these people want to keep these animals from being slaughtered, all they have to do is bid on them at the auction. Hope this helps, Nancy

Wow. That article is all kinds of wrong (in terms of reading more like an advocacy piece).

I am with Nancy -- if this is such a big deal to these folks, why not just participate in the auction, outbid everyone else, and put the animals in the mythical sanctuaries that appear to be a viable alternative. Simple free market solution.

Hi- I just googled Janet Weeks name, and she is one of the coordinators for an animal activist meetup group in Sacramento. She is the person that wrote the latest article about the slaughtering of animals at Wagner Farms. I wish I knew why she has spent so much time condemning the 4-H program here, when she does not even live here. There must be lots of factory farms she can picket in California.

I do not know what good it will do to picket Wagner Farm this Saturday, when the auction is going to take place before then. Hope this helps, Nancy

Got the report from the judging today from my wife:

Liam did great showing the lamb but lamb came in next to last in middle
weight class.

Myles came in the top 4 in junior showmanship and was the top boy. He was
pleased. Liam was fine with his experience.

Take that, vegetarian agitators from California.

NFriday wrote:I do not know what good it will do to picket Wagner Farm this Saturday, when the auction is going to take place before then. Hope this helps, Nancy

The auction commences at 1 pm Saturday at the Lake County Fair.

Congratulations to Liam and Myles.

What is the name of their lamb?

Regards,

Ewe2.

Although he's not a ewe.

I wonder if a quiet counter protest would be good, you know, sitting on the other side of the street with signs saying, um, Go 4H, or Yay Kids, or Meet your Meat or whatever? I don't have specific plans for Saturday...

Hi,

When I first administered the soda pop sale at the county for 4-H, people never realized the pop stands were fundraisers. They didn't even think it was for 4-H. I was looking for something short and unique to spur interest. I found some slogans in some 4-H literature:

4-H More Than You Ever Imagined!

4-H The Power of Youth!

I had these on the pop stands as well as on the golf carts running around distributing pop. I believe the next person who took it over didn't like these and never used them again.

Regards,