PETA offers Hamburg $15,000 to change name to Veggieburg

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/pa...h-pennsylvania PETA offers Hamburg $15,000 to change name to Veggieburg

The Associated Press
4/25/03 6:38 AM


HAMBURG, Pa. (AP) -- An animal rights group is offering $15,000 worth of vegetarian patties if officials change the borough's name to Veggieburg.

Town officials say they're not biting.

"I don't care if they offer us $1 million worth of veggie patties or $2 million in cash, I don't think anyone in the community would want to sell their heritage," said Mayor Roy C. DelRosario.

The offer, from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, mirrors an offer made this week to Hamburg, N.Y. PETA claims the name Hamburg conjures up images of slaughtered cows and unhealthy meals.

Officials in the Buffalo, N.Y., suburb, which claims to be the birthplace of the hamburger, also turned down the offer. PETA would have donated the $15,000 of patties to area schools.

"This campaign is a bit tongue-in-cheek because we don't expect anybody to accept, but the offer is serious," PETA spokesman Joe Haptas said.

Hamburg was incorporated in 1837. Town officials said the borough is named after Hamburg, Germany.

The mayor said the idea that people associate the borough with animal abuse is silly.

"We don't have slaughterhouses in town and we don't even have any animal farms," DelRosario said. "Our name is connected to our German history, not hamburgers."