Danny the Vampire Fish

This letter to the editor is certainly NOT from Danny, but it seemed germane; it also provoked Danny into a response.

This is a “mad as heck” letter in response to the letter of Aug. 25 by Traci Vetovich, coordinator of MADD of Butler/Lawrence County, and all interested MADD cronies.

I read Vetovich’s letter, which was headlined “Gift remembers victim,” and tossed it aside as being a bunch of self-serving rhetoric. It was the typical MADD pity party: Drinking and driving is a “senseless, horrific crime,” with the typical adjoining story, “I lost a friend and how sad. . . .”

Well, Vetovich should open her eyes and smell the hypocrisy!

I’ve had DUI trouble, and all I heard was, “Well, you should have thought of that before you drank and drove” or, my favorite, “Impairment starts with the first drink,” or, the most hypocritical, “It’s against the law.”

The worst thing is, I had to listen to this from everyone in the judicial system, including cops!

Well, that recently backfired. An undercover state cop, drunk at twice the legal limit, flying down Route 422 at more than 100 mph in a stateowned undercover car, lost control of his car and died.

The revolting part is, he was within his legal rights! It’s true; an undercover cop can drink and drive while on duty, legally.

If another cop would have stopped him that night, do you really think he would have been charged with DUI, even if he were twice the legal limit?

Cops break laws; cops just don’t tell on other cops.

I think Vetovich should re-read her letter, then call her local politicians and demand to know why this policy stands — as should all of us. No one should have to live under such a ridiculous set of double standards.

I mean, honestly, think about this:

A bricklayer, after a hard day’s work, wants to stop and rinse the dust out of his mouth. Well, here comes the law, spurred on by MADD, demanding his license and livelihood because he’s blowing a .09 blood-alcohol level.

Meanwhile, a state undercover cop is completely and legally immune to the same laws!

Talk about the old adage “do as I say, not as I do!”

Change is vital. After all, why should I obey laws when cops don’t?

Call and complain!

And, as far as MADD goes, who cares what that organization says; I certainly don’t. It is a pathetically impotent organization that loses popularity and funding daily.

I personally will not donate to any charity that gives to MADD and, believe me, I ask before I donate.

Perhaps a makeover is due.

MADD members whine while standing on their empty soapboxes about “17,000 alcohol-related deaths a year” while there are twice that many children being held in America as slaves.

Why don’t they convert to “Mothers Against Disappearing Delinquents?”

The medical profession “accidentally” kills around 98,000 people a year. MADD should dump its outdated, contradictory mission statement and form “Mothers Against Dangerous Doctors.”

MADD has probably hurt more lives than it has helped. MADD crushes the common man while kowtowing to politicians and law enforcement — and it isn’t right!

I suggest that people write to their governor and call their lawmakers. Let’s work on this “undercover cops can legally drink on duty” stuff first.

Then, let’s put MADD out of business by starving them financially.

James H. Matson
Butler

Annoyance at the opening of the North County Brew Pub in Slippery Rock, PA dominated Danny’s classifieds through early 2002. He was a harsh critic of the business, and not its only critic. From this letter to the editor by one of the Pub founders, readers may get a sense of just how deep the non-Danny opposition to this little microbrewery ran…

 

In 1997, Jodi Branem and I scouted through every commercial building in the town of Slippery Rock. To many of us, it seems as if the only time Main Street is bustling with life is on graduation day at Slippery Rock University, or any other day of the week when we witness families lined up on Main Street to turn west, heading for Interstate 79.

The only traffic problem we’ve noticed is that people can’t get out of town quickly enough.

We began renovating our building immediately, working full time while gutting 10,000 square feet.

We went to every town meeting that time would permit and continued to collect recipes and plan as we listened to the Slippery Rock community say, “We want the choice of a glass of wine or beer with dinner.”

This was two years before redevelopment was mentioned. And now more then ever, Slippery Rock has the potential to become the picturesque town we’ve all dreamed of.

When the borough residents voted the town “wet”, we didn’t immediately post our orange PLCB placard. We first launched our website, www.northcountrybrewing.com, so that any misconceptions could be answered in an open forum.

We also had renderings drawn up to provide a visual of the atmosphere we wanted to create. We have many community-oriented events planned as well as Christian bands booked two Sundays a month.

We didn’t have any hidden agenda by booking these bands. We thought it would be something that everyone would appreciate on Sunday afternoons after church.

We were puzzled by the protests of United Methodist church and tried to meet with church leadership twice.

However, six months later, we received a letter from the church that asks that “we reconsider this business venture and find a business more in tune with your own stated high moral and religious values.” Somehow handcrafted ales and sodas led to, “. . .we are against alcohol and other drugs.”

These distorted views of what we are planning have grown to the point where our differences need to be resolved in public.

For that, Jodi and I are truly sorry. We wish that our neighbors would have been more direct in relaying their concerns to us early on so that we could have met as friends and worked out the bumps before we hit them at full speed. If anyone had ever talked with us, we could have presented the parking solutions that we have planned.

We envision North Country Brewing as a unique business that doesn’t compete with any other business in Slippery Rock or in the area.

We’re talking about the choice of hand-crafted sodas, ales and awardwinning Pennsylvania wines with dinner, not “alcohol and other drugs”.

Again, to the congregation of the United Methodist Church, we are truly sorry, and we extend an open invitation to meet with you.

Bob McCafferty
North Country Brewing Company
Slippery Rock