It’s No Bull--Hindus Adopt Cows

--Hindus who find it impossible to keep a cow themselves are being offered a chance to aid their religion’s most sacred animal through a farm’s Adopt-A-Cow program that guarantees an animal’s lifelong care. Herbert Bressack, director of the Gita-nagari Farm Community in Port Royal, Pa., said the farm offers assistance to Hindus who want to help protect cows. Jag Bushan Kaul and his wife, Veena, both Hindus, became life members of Adopt-A-Cow three years ago while living in Scranton, Pa. The couple, now living in Detroit, paid $3,000 to guarantee “a cow will be under your protection for her entire life.” Howard and Edith Best of Detroit, also followers of Hinduism, entered Adopt-A-Cow under a second plan. They pay $30 a month for one year. In return, they receive a photograph of their protected cow, sweets made from cow’s milk, dairy products, periodic news of their cow and a weekend vacation at the farm about 60 miles northwest of Harrisburg, Pa. The cow is considered sacred “because it is like a mother,” Bressack said. “She gives us milk, the most wonderful of all foods.” Bulls are considered “living souls,” he said. “They are a part of God.” Bressack said the farm plans to begin advertising soon in Michigan and Illinois vegetarian and animal rights publications to recruit members for Adopt-A-Cow. He said 125 people who embrace 3,500-year-old Hinduism live on the farm. Milk produced there is sold to Hindu communities in Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Baltimore. Veena Kaul said she, her husband and their three children visited their adopted cow about six months ago. “We wish we could adopt more,” she said. “They’re a very pious animal, very sacred.”

--Stock broker John M. Heckler, whose marriage to Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret M. Heckler ended in divorce, has wed Sheryl Jean Bills, a senior editor at USA Today. The couple were married Saturday at Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Va., 2 1/2 weeks after his divorce became final. Heckler was married to Margaret Heckler, recently named ambassador to Ireland, for 32 years. They have three grown children.

--Former President Jimmy Carter, accompanied by Colombia’s First Lady, viewed the area devastated by the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano. Carter, Rosa Elena Betancur and Public Health Minister Rafael de Zubiria flew over the towns of Armero and Chinchina that were buried under a river of mud following the Nov. 13 eruption. More than 25,000 people died in the disaster. Carter praised authorities for their “efficiency in helping” the victims.