Shrine Circus protested by animals rights activists

While we've been watching the Masonic "circus" involving the governor of Alabama in Montgomery and the radio renegades in Birmingham, we missed a Shrine Circus story a little closer to home, in Columbus, Ga., a city on the border of Georgia and Alabama.

The recent Shrine Circus was the scene of protests by animal rights activists, who say that animals in the circus operated by Serge Coronas for the Shrine are mistreated. Apparently, in Columbus, it's become hip and trendy to protest the circus each year, as the news article quotes highschoolers who say this is not the first Shrine Circus protest they have attended.

This article is interesting in that the reporter, Jon Kalahar of WTVM Channel 9, dismisses the accusations with a "the animals looked okay to me" kind of attitude, and closed the piece with "And we would to totally remiss if we didn't mention how much money this circus raises for the local shriners' organization. The Shrine Circus is expected to raise close to twenty five thousand dollars. And of course that goes to help children who are burn victims or that have disabilities."

Apparently reporter Kalahar is not familiar with the Orlando Sentinel's news reports on the finances of the Shrine Circus operations in the 1980s, nor the current ongoing investigations of financial impropriety among Shrine organizations throughout the United States.

We also found a badly spelled rant-to-the-editor letter by a Shriner, who wrote the Columbus Ledger-Inquirer newspaper to complain about their coverage of the animal rights protest.

Our thanks to the anti-Masonic FreemasonryWatch.org website for these stories. It's nice to know that Burning Taper has finally "arrived" as a Masonic website of reknown, as it seems FreemasonryWatch.org is now watching us. I found several links to some of our previous articles there. Hi, guys!

Masons | Shriners | Shrine Circus | Animal Cruelty | BurningTaper.com | Columbus, Georgia | Burning Taper

I wonder if this event will find its way into Dan Brown's upcoming book The Solomon Key.