California-based Liborio Markets, a Latino-based grocery store, is branching out to Colorado.Eight stores in all are planned for the state, the first one to be called Rancho Liborio in Commerce City.
"We are proposing to have live poultry processed here at the store," said owner, Anthony Trujillo.
Trujillo says about 150 chickens a day would be brought to the store in climate-controlled trucks, where they're then unloaded into a climate-controlled room in the back.
Every morning, the chickens are given a fatal electric shock, de-feathered, cleaned, cut, and put on the shelves. Trujillo says no live chickens remain in the back for more than five hours.
However, nearby residents, like Claudia Barnes, don't like the idea at all.
"We're just appalled," she said. "If they want to do this in the privacy of their home, I don't care. But we're just opening up a keg of worms if this happens."
Barnes argues that Commerce City law states no livestock is allowed to be killed in the city where zoning has not been approved for that purpose.
"If they make an exception for them, they're going to have to make an exception for everyone," she said.
I agree purely on free-enterprise economic principles that if Mr. Trujillo can gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace by slaughtering chickens right there in front of the customers then that is good, however; if the city ordinances say that you may not slaughter livestock on property not zoned for that purpose, then that's the law. The legislative law generally supersedes the law of supply and demand and we are nothing if not a nation of laws.
That being said, is there really a market demand for yard-bird that's still warm from the slaughter? I'm one of those carnivores who heaves if my dinner resembles too closely it's former self in the barn-yard. Seriously, is this peculiar to Mexican cuisine culture or are we Americans spoiled in the sense that we love to eat meat but we just are too squeemish to have it look at us before we dine on it?
6 comments:
One must assume that an ordinance prohibiting the slaughter of livestock would also apply to the slaughter of any domesticated species raised en masse for the purposes of human consumption...mustn't one?
I also noticed the keg of worms referred to by Ms. Barnes. That's an awful lot of worms compared to the more pedestrian can of worms most often cited.
Perhaps she's also wary of opening a Pandora's pantry.
She obviously is a beer drinker of renowned ability. Hoisting a keg in lieu of a few cans - my kinda girl
The Green Lantern said....
The government should use their power to condem this man's property and or business and take it from him. People should rely more on the government to control rogues like him. Chickens have a right. Demo's Rule.
Green Lantern...dude, you are such a liberal, big-government, animal rights socialist!
What is up with that? Either you think you are one of the enlightened, anointed ones who will leed the people in correctness, you believe you are too stupid, incompetent and lazy to think and act for your self and want the government to make decisions for you, or you are really a conservative who fancies himself a comic and you enjoy throwing out idiotic socialist red herring on conservative sites just to get a reaction.
Which are you?
Dupree: You obviously underestimate the Green Lantern and the crack staff of informants under control. See GL knows that Mr. Trujillo is sitting on a prime piece of real estate that can be snarfed up for next to nothing after the property is condemned. Gl can then allow a developer to demo the existing structure and turn it into a government funded housing project where GL is guarrenteed rent by the good ole USA (you and me) and everything paid by the hapless tenants is gravy. He pays off his note in a quick 3 year time and reaps profits until he is forced to renovate. He then borrows the cash, skims some off the top, repairs minimally, and starts the gouging all over. In the interim GL has had a cash flow that has allowd for many personal upgrades and advancements, all the while still claiming that the Republican set up is screwing the general population. GL wins both ways. I now hope that this shop owner kills chickens by the thousands, sells the same and makes huge profits. We can then only be forced to endure GL's rantings about the Upper class Republican crap and how priveleged they are. It all boils down to money - who is getting it and who it's coming from. Hey GL, I agree with Dupree, show us your true colors .
If Mr. Trujillo owns that property outright and he can somehow skirt the city ordinance prohibiting mass slaughter on site, then he should go ahead with his plans to garner market share and force the local government into another embarassing imminent domain bruhaha. The more of these ID issues that receive media attention, the better it is for the constitutionally guaranteed property ownership rights of all citizens.
The added benefit is that Mexican-Americans will see that conservative principles serve them better than the entitlement society they came here to take advantage of. They will see that the government never has their best interests at heart. The government operates in it's own best interest, never in the interests of the individual.
Perhaps if this case can get some media attention, the party loyalty pendulum of Mexicans will swing in favor of Republicans rather than Democrats. They'll see that it's liberals who want to take away their land and conservatives who want them to own property and make money from that ownership.
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