POSTVILLE, Iowa - Ever since the arrival of their extraordinary neighbors, folks in this tiny northeastern Iowa town have grown used to being an anomaly.
When a family of Lubavitch Jews, an ultra-Orthodox sect, bought the local slaughterhouse in 1987 and converted it to a kosher plant, Postville became an experiment in cultural diversity as immigrants from up to 30 nations flocked to the town for jobs.
Then, early this month, an animal-rights group released an undercover video that it claims represents inhumane killing practices at the slaughterhouse, and Postville found itself at the center of an international squall involving religion, grass-roots politics, the news media and the humble cow.
Since the Virginia-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, set its sights on practices inside Postville's sprawling Agriprocessors plant, "the buzz [in town] has been `Leave us alone,'" said Rob Dehli, general manager of KPVL-FM, a local public radio station that broadcasts in English, Spanish, Russian and Hebrew.
"This company keeps people employed in this town."
At the same time, said Dehli, "people are really curious about how they decided on our little town. And why this processing plant?"
PETA's complaint, like any alleged violation of the federal 1978 Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, prompted an investigation by the U.S. Agriculture Department's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Results are expected by the end of the month, said Steven Cohen, an inspection service spokesman.
Meanwhile, both sides have dug in. PETA's allegations have drawn heated debate, even within the kosher community.
PETA, best known for high-profile campaigns against fur and selected fast-food restaurants, posts on its Web site the headline "Undercover Investigation Reveals Slaughter Horrors at Agriprocessors." It has lined up outspoken critics, including Colorado livestock consultant Temple Grandin, who says she has visited 30 kosher slaughterhouses around the world but has never witnessed procedures like those at the Postville plant.
"There are a lot of rabbis that are very, very upset about [the material on the videotape]," she said. "People in the [meat] industry are just furious. It's a black eye to the whole industry."
Agriprocessors, in turn, has launched a public-relations campaign against what plant manager Sholom Rubashkin, calls an "extreme political group" that "will do whatever it can for publicity" and "wants to turn you into a vegetarian."
