PETA Withdraws Penfield Reef Request (Maybe)
By Sue Clark on Aug 1, 2007 in Opinion 
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PETA has offered to withdraw their letter of interest in Penfield Reef Lighthouse, by faxing a letter to the Town of Fairfield, saying that they didn’t know the town wanted the lighthouse, and if Fairfield can promise that no fish will be eaten or harmed on the lighthouse grounds, it’s theirs.
Does PETA
realize
that this
is an offshore lighthouse? And people certainly aren’t using it as a fish cleaning station. But that matters not to them, and according to the Connecticut Post today, the town of Fairfield “isn’t going to bite.” According to the story, First Selectman Ken Flatto wouldn’t directly respond to PETA’s offer, though he noted few people visit the offshore lighthouse due to safety concerns. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to respond to any applicant’s request regarding the town’s intentions. “This is not a negotiation,” Flatto said.
Besides Fairfield and PETA, the General Services Administration (GSA) has received four other letters of interest, from Del Function Inc., a breast cancer research project, Beacon Properties (no information available), the Kennedy Healing Foundation (no information available) and St. Ambrose Foundation(no information available).
Flatto said he wouldn’t object to another party owning Penfield Lighthouse if it shared the town’s goal of preserving it as a historic landmark. “If another viable organization were to be selected by the federal government, as long as it would preserve the lighthouse as a historical landmark, that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be the town of Fairfield,” he said.
This writer feels that PETA really ought to rethink its stance on owning lighthouses. Besides bordering on extortion, this is just getting ridiculous. Historical preservation and their organization’s goals are at polar ends. PETA, give it up. Find a nice normal building that you can “renovate” to your heart’s content.
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