KOA Headlines
10 04 24 NWSS President Paul Andrews on impact of slaughterhouse and fur sale ban
Finding the right news podcast can feel like dating. It seems promising until you start listening. When you hit play on post reports, you'll get fascinating conversations, and sometimes a little fun too. I'm Martine Powers. And I'm Allahi Azadi. Martine and I are the hosts of post reports. The show comes out every weekday from the Washington Post. You can follow and listen to post reports wherever you get your podcasts. It'll be a match, I promise. It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre-based stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku Channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TVs, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeart Radio on the Roku Channel. Happy streaming. Make your holiday entertainment sound spectacular with Visio's all-in-one sound bar. Now, just $129.99 at Best Buy, featuring Dolby Atmos and two built-in subwoofers. Cinema quality sound is closer than ever. Plus, this Visio sound bar has the simplest setup yet, so you can stream your favorite holiday playlist from iHeart Radio in minutes. Give the gift of incredible sound, or treat yourself to a serious audio upgrade. Find the Visio all-in-one sound bar at Best Buy for just $129.99, and make your holidays sound better than ever. Advocates for a pair of city-wide ballot measures aimed at protecting animals say that the sale of fur and the area's only operating slaughterhouse in Denver need to stop. We live in the United States, which is supposedly the land of the free, but 10 billion animals are confined and slaughtered here every single year. Their freedom is taken from them, they're separated from their friends and family. That's Natalie Fulton from Pro-Animal Future, who joined us earlier here on the show. And joining us now in the KOA Common Spirit Health Hotline, he's in opposition to these potential ordinances, Princeton President and CEO of the National Western Stock Show, it's Paul Andrews. Paul, glad to have you back on here on Colorado's Morning News, when you first received word that these measures would be on the Denver valid. What was your initial reaction? Well, my initial reaction was, we got a bunch of out-of-state interests. Really, somewhat crazy, that think they can come into Colorado and dictate to us how we can live here, which I find as a Colorado native, quite appalling. - Paul, when we had Natalie on earlier, she said just the opposite, that there isn't as much funding from out-of-state as we're seeing from the local funding here on your side of it, as well as they have fewer funding dollars currently funding their campaign than yours. So when it comes to the back and forth of what we're seeing, and we look at the economic impact of all of this, she kind of downplayed the economic side. What would you see if Ordinance's 308 and 309, the banning of slaughterhouses and fur sales, passed in Denver? - Oh, it will be huge economic impact losses. I mean, CSU studied this alone, and it's millions of dollars and countless number of jobs that would be lost. Listen, at the end of the day, banning fur, let's start with that, this is not about mean coats. This is about a direct impact on agriculture across the great state of Colorado. They're attacking our ability to eat meat, and listen, I'm not attacking their ability to be vegetarians. I would never do that, but they're suggesting that we all should not be meat eaters, and I find that completely unacceptable. The fact that we also could not wear a cowboy hat, or buy or sell a cowboy hat in the city and county of Denver, if the fur bound passes, means 20% of the vendors of the National Western Stock Show would not be able to come here, make their living, which they do in other states, but they would be banned from bringing those cowboy hats to Denver, Colorado, and that would really start breaking down our Western tradition here as well. - I was trying to peruse the Colorado State study on this, but it was pretty voluminous, 23 pages, and obviously I couldn't get through it here in about five or six minutes, but I wanted to ask more philosophically, and I asked this of our previous guest. Is there a way, Paul, in the industry, when it comes to food and the products we get from animals, is there such a thing as humane treatment in dealing with them? And I'm asking, 'cause I think some people on the other side, there never is. I'm wondering, from your perspective, is there an actual humane way that we can get these things from animals? - Well, obviously animals have to be controlled at some level, or they're going to run over the population. I mean, the beaver population alone, if not controlled, will wreak havoc across America here. So beaver pelts are used in the making of cowboy hats. That's just a fact, and the control of that population is a humane thing for society as well as the beavers, so they don't overpopulate across America, which would be dangerous to everyone. So at the end of the day, both the slaughterhouse, which really is a meat processing plant. The one here in Denver happens to be superior farms. They're right next to us here at the National Western Complex. They have about 200 men and women of color that are working in their processing plant that have amazing jobs. They will lose their job if the slaughterhouse band passes. And a ballot measure to put 200 people up to 200 people out of work, I think, is amazing that we can even consider something like that. And again, they're about 19% the figures I've seen of the lamb production in America, 19%. So the economic impact of this affects the truckers. It affects, obviously, all 200 of those workers and their families. This would just be an atrocity if we allow this to pass here in the state of Colorado. - All a big argument on the other side is the environmental impacts that they see are pollution concerns, especially with superior farms. Now you explained right there that the National Western Complex is right next to superior farms. The opposition says a lot of businesses don't want to be by this slaughterhouse due to the smell, due to the pollution, due to the issues that they see there. What's the back and forth or the clarity that we see with this? - Well, listen, I've been in my role for 15 years here as their neighbor, maybe a hundred yards away from them. They absolutely do not impact this area whatsoever. That is just a story that somebody's making up to put out there to mislead the public. And again, these are out of state interest coming in here trying to tell us how to live in Denver. I think it's insanity. I assure you, there is absolutely no smell from the superior farms processing plant and there is absolutely no pollution that is occurring there. - I would guess that most neighbors have no idea they're even there. If you ask the people in global Illyrian Swansea around us here, I doubt they even know they're there. - And I don't want to go back to asking about the whether or not something like this can be humane treatment of animals, but do these animals, especially the lambs of the slaughterhouse, are they treated with high-end or better care and maybe even what we see from other locations in other places? - They are very humanely processed. These animals have no idea as they're coming in the processing plant that they are about to be processed for meat eating. And I've seen their operation personally and the animals are asleep before they're even begin to process. So it's as humane as you possibly can be. And these are animals. These are not human beings. They are animals that are here for people that are meat eaters on planet earth. - Again, the ordinances 308 and 309 will be before Denver voters coming up a week, a month from tomorrow, that is Paul Andrews, CEO of the National Western Stock Show. Paul, before wrapping up with you, we had the news last week, that is of you announcing your retirement and handing over the reins, I guess we could say, coming up in 2025. Any other words of that and who you hope to give some advice to as your next replacement? - Well, I can tell you that it has been an honor to serve in this role for 15 years. I will be working with the board and finding a successor in 2025, probably in the summer of '25, somewhere spring or summer. And let me tell you everyone here in Colorado that the support for the National Western for my 15 years and the 119th year coming up this year has been nothing short of amazing. And I certainly see another 100 good years ahead of us here right at Di70 and Brighton Boulevard. And we just love all our fans and we love all of you. And we can't wait to see you this January. - Appreciate it, Paul. Thanks so much. - Thanks Marty. Bye-bye. - If you put aside 25 cents every week for a year, what could you get at the end? A few cups of coffee maybe, a candle, or you could get a year of the best reporting from all over the world. Go to washingtonpost.com/bf24 right now. You'll get a Washington Post subscription for 25 cents a week for your first year. This is a Black Friday sale, so it won't last long. Washington Post.com/bf24. - It's beginning to sound a lot like the holidays. The Roku Channel, your home for free and premium TV, is giving you access to holiday music and genre based stations from iHeart all for free. Find the soundtrack of the season with channels like iHeartChristmas and North Pole Radio. The Roku Channel is available on all Roku devices, web, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Samsung TVs, and the Roku mobile app on iOS and Android devices. So stream what you love and turn up the cheer with iHeartRadio on the Roku Channel. Happy streaming. - Make someone's holiday unforgettable with a Visio 50 inch 4K Smart TV, now just $239.99 at Target. Experience stunning clarity that brings movie marathons to life like never before. With Watch 3 Plus built in, enjoy free live and on demand TV right out of the box. Plus stream all your favorite holiday songs with the iHeartRadio app. Whether it's a gift for the family or an upgrade to your own setup, this incredible value delivers 4K brilliance without breaking your holiday budget. Get your Visio 50 inch 4K Smart TV at Target for just $239.99 today.