What PETA lie?

Here's a nice article that Ben Trumble pointed out to me. Article Link - The Arizona Republic Activist to supporters: Lie Covance critic is linked to PETA, deception Edythe Jensen The Arizona Republic May. 13, 2006 12:00 AM In e-mail sent to supporters, Chandler animal-rights activist Jan McClellan encouraged recipients to give phony names when they protested a Gilbert circus this week, and told them to conceal their association with a group trying to stop Covance, a drug-testing company, from building in Chandler. The communication became public record this week after one of the recipients forwarded it to city offices. McClellan, 57, has for months insisted she is just a Chandler resident concerned about drug testing on animals and not affiliated with the national group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. But in the e-mail, McClellan said she and another woman gave fake names to the Gilbert Kiwanis Club, which was sponsoring the Carson & Barnes Circus, "because it would be detrimental to the Covance campaign for us to be associated with this protest." She also referred supporters to national PETA activists for advice. Reached Friday, McClellan declined comment for publication. Jeannette Duffield, a member of the Gilbert Kiwanis Club that sponsored the circus to raise funds for underprivileged children, said two unidentified women disrupted a club business meeting before the performances. "That really upset us . . . they started spouting off about the circus employees and it really got ugly," Duffield said. In McClellan's e-mail she said she was one of those women at the Kiwanis meeting and that she gave her name as Pam Jess. Some of the targets of her protests said the e-mail exposes McClellan's deceptive tactics and unmasks PETA's aim to mislead and frighten the public. "We have been saying for a long time that this group was really hiding their actual agenda and trying to create the appearance that they were local citizens," Covance spokeswoman Camilla Strongin said. Covance, a global biotech firm, owns 38 acres on the Price Road Corridor and last year announced plans to build one of its largest facilities in Chandler and employ more than 500. Company officials said they would conduct animal testing at the facility, which is mandated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before drugs can be used on humans. Ben Trumble, spokesman for Carson & Barnes Circus said PETA protesters periodically show up outside his performances and try to disrupt them. In addition to animal cruelty, the e-mail and protesters accused circus employees of being criminals, sexual predators and undocumented immigrants. "It's false, ludicrous and meant only to inflame and create fear," Trumble said. The circus, based in Hugo, Okla., left Gilbert on Friday and is performing this weekend in Phoenix. In her e-mail McClellan said the group plans to demonstrate at the Phoenix site.