Almost like a mirage, the Rawesome Food Club case seems to be disappearing before our eyes.
A big chunk of it vaporized Friday when two defendants–Sharon Palmer and Victoria Bloch–settled the charges filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney 13 months ago with slaps on the wrist…no, I’d say they were little taps. They each pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor, and agreed to pay a small fine.
Palmer, the Ventura County farmer, pleaded guilty to one count of distributing milk in unsanitary conditions, was fined $400, and will have to do 40 hours of community service. She will be on probation for three years.
Bloch, the graphic designer who worked for Palmer at farmers markets on weekends, pleaded guilty to one count of mislabeling a container of goat milk. She’ll pay a $100 fine and won’t have any community service requirement. She’ll be on probation for one year.
The case of James Stewart, Rawesome’s manager, remains in abeyance. He has a hearing scheduled next Wednesday in Ventura County on his motion to dismiss charges against him there for alleged with fraud and securities law violations in connection with Palmer’s acquisition of Healthy Family Farms back in 2008. Palmer still faces charges there as well in connection with loans and a mortgage obtained to obtain the farm.
But if the events today are any indication, Stewart’s Los Angeles County case can be expected to vaporize, and the Ventura County case looks to be on unsteady legs.
The L.A. County District Attorney clearly didn’t want to have to present evidence in the Rawesome case. The prosecutors there had previously offered Palmer a deal whereby she would plead guilty to a single felony count, with five years felony probation.
She refused the deal, and her lawyer proceeded to subpoena Richard Estes, the chief counsel for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to challenge the legality of herdshares. As I discussed in my previous post, many of the charges against Palmer and Stewart in L.A. County grew out of a herdshare Palmer operated for Rawesome, whereby she provided raw goat milk.
Apparently when Palmer arrived at court Friday morning for a pretrial hearing, at which the state was supposed to present its key evidence in the case, the deal for Palmer had improved–the felony charge would become a misdemeanor and there would be no restrictions on her selling at L.A. County farmers markets. The move to subpoena Estes of the CDFA had apparently helped convince Estes he didn’t want to testify and prosecutors that they didn’t want to do a legal defense of prosecuting herdshares in California, when the state has no law covering herdshares.
Both Bloch and Palmer had indicated a willingness to fight the charges associated with Rawesome, but apparently were swayed by the offer of a very small penalty, and the prospect of avoiding a protracted wait for a trial. Bloch said that apparently, under the labeling laws, “ignorance of the law isn’t necessarily an excuse. I am guilty of having made one sale to an undercover officer because I gave him goat milk without a label.”
According to Palmer, the misdemeanor count she pleaded guilty to is misleading with its mention of “unsanitary condition.” “When I was raided, the milk was for my ‘milk fed pig’. The unsanitary conditions relate to the non-food containers the milk was kept in to feed the pigs. Even my pig food did not have pathogens in it and tested clean.”
The two women, together with Stewart, were charged in early August 2011, when they were arrested and tossed in jail–Stewart and Bloch for two days and Palmer for a week–until bail could be arranged.
Subsequently, Palmer and Stewart were arrested by Ventura County sheriffs in connection with the fraud allegations while at a hearing in L.A. County. They were held–Palmer on $2 million bail and Stewart on $1 million bail–for days until a judge finally reduced bail enough that the two could raise the money. In late July, Stewart was jailed in Ventura County for violating terms of his bail by not showing up for a court hearing; he remains there.
The prosecutors may have failed to get very tough penalties on Palmer and Bloch, but they no doubt accomplished their key goals: to shut down Rawesome Food Club and get at least a couple of small notches on their belts by obtaining guilty pleas to a couple of misdemeanors. Certainly those were the primary goals all along–pile on the charges and then let the defendants off, relieved they only had small penalties, and send a message that private food clubs that provide members with full choice, including raw milk, won’t be tolerated.
Where are the citizens of CA who are sickened by all this and even more so, see the writing on the wall for their state because of the stupidity of the higher ups?
The courts are more like circuses for the stupidity of the other branches and agencies of government at this point than vehicles of justice.
Terry, can you email me, I looked at your site and could not find a contact email, mine is eleew then a 18 and then @ juno (dot) com
1. If it is a stretch to read this very different style of writing, how is it that that stretching is bad, exactly?
2. If I ask a question, for that asking can I be attacked for making a false statement?
In regards to Rawesome, the 8/2011 raid,
1. Criminal acts were committed under the color of law in the commission and execution of the August 2011 Rawesome raid, werent they?
2. These criminal acts are an issue that must be resolved in the clear light of day, arent they?
3. The damaged party is the Rawesome Club, isnt it?
4. Who did the damage?
5. These criminal acts under the color of law involve the Judge who granted authorization for the taking of samples, and those who requested that authorization, and those who ran that raid, and those who participated in that raid, with the resultant wholesale destruction of Club property and disruption of the Clubs operation, dont they?
6. Arent there Rawesome Club members whose health or the health of those they cared for was irreparably damaged as a result of that raid?
7. Isnt this a matter for the Los Angeles County, California, Grand Jury?
In regards to MW
1. Will you kindly provide the reference that is the basis for your recent statement regarding the book The Untold Story Of Milk?
Seriously and cheerfully yours,
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
David
Im not sure your site is functioning properly: when I click on a comment I am sent to your post that the comment is attached to, but not to the specific comment. This is so with two different browsers of mine. With small numbers of comments it doesnt matter but, well, with the longer comment sections, I dont have time to manually search for the new comment. Also I thought the new comment rollover occurred in chunks of 100 comments but it seems the I expect WI post rolled over between 100 and 200. Thanks.
Good answer, Ingvar! Maybe the next question you want to ask is: “David why did you tell Terry in an email that he can only post (3) three times in any new post?” And like I have said previously when attorneys sue the government for rights violations the things they look for are: 1. incompetence, 2. misconduct, and 3. abuse. Those are the things that should have been addressed in this case as well as in Hershberger’s, Schlangen’s and Hartmann’s. Not this “death march” to jail or probation that as misrepresented as a primrose path.
“pleaded guilty to one count of selling her goat milk stored in unsanitary conditions to Rawesome market,”
People put their trust and faith and money into her and her products. The $1300 fine is a joke. By selling raw dairy from unsanitary conditions she put many people at risk for illness. Palmer has admitted selling eggs she outsourced- without telling the consumers, one can only wonder what other devious crap she pulled.
J. Ingvaar Odegard,
The problem you are encountering with clicking on posts occurs when there are a large number of posts, and there is a second or even a third page of posts. In that case, you have to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the second or third little square to get to other pages.
As far as the Rawesome prosecution is concerned, you raise important questions about the government’s actions. I’m not familiar with the possible remedies the defendants, or others, might have–whether they can sue various agencies for possible criminal acts, or for damages. I hope someone does challenge one or more of the agencies. Such a challenge might make the agency think twice before undertaking such an action again, and would help educate more people about the kinds of excesses that are occurring in this food arena.
As for Terry Dean Nemmers’ “style,” I have no issues with his style. A person’s style is their style. I have a problem when people post here excessively, in my judgment, and for whatever reasons (posting unrelated links, excessively arguing, getting into personal tiffs with others, etc.). In those situations, I privately ask them to reduce their comments to what I consider to be reasonable limits. If they exceed the limits, then the system blocks them. There are no hard and fast rules on this stuff. It’s a matter of etiquette and allowing for reasonable discussion.
‘So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.’ John 8:7
It’s a shame that no one seems to care about outsourcing: not the government, not the DA, not the farmer’s markets, not the producers or vendors… who is out there to protect the Farmer’s Market consumer?
Caveat Emptor.
‘The Code of Silence is a zero-sum game. You can’t have integrity and play the Code of Silence game because every time you use it to win the game of convict and incarcerate you lose honor and integrity. Sadly, a lot of the cops succumb to the Code. It becomes a way of doing business for them.’
Walking With the Devil: The Police Code of Silence by Michael W. Quinn [Mpls Police Sgt (ret)], page 69-70.
And all the crooked court needs to do to make you guilty is to change the rules and the people will blindly ignore the facts!
‘Mr. Supalo said he believed the hearsay law might be unconstitutional, but he eventually realized his duty as a juror was only to assess the evidence, not the laws. We werent the U.S. Supreme Court, he said of the jurors. Right or wrong, this was the hearsay law, and we had to use it in this case.’ Hearsay Rule Vexed Jurors in Illinois Murder Case, By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Published: September 8, 2012.
Now I suppose the hierarchy will be upset that I put things into context, won’t they?
http://farmmuckraker.blogspot.com/2011/10/farmers-market-consumers-buyer-beware.html
http://farmmuckraker.blogspot.com/2011/11/farmers-market-customers-buyer-beware.html
http://farmmuckraker.blogspot.com/2011/12/farmers-market-consumers-buyer-beware.html
I see that you have become a Commercially licensed Broom Rider with Advanced Instrument, Multi Engine, High Purformance and Complex ratings…..you fly that Broom into any kind of adverse weather conditions. Wow….very impressive.
Did you even read the CDFA recall notice or Press release? Did you even read the OPDC recall notice. Sounds like you are an OPDC wanny be “FB liker” . You got blocked months ago because of bitchy destructive comments….but you still hang arround vicariously lurking about.
The September 13th recall raw milk tested negative. Same for the skim raw milk that tested negative. The only test that came back positive was the raw cream. There should be no reason not to drink the raw milk. Even raw milk dated Sepetmber 13th. The expanded yet very targeted and narrow, very specific recall was an act of slightly over cautious regulator activity. To recall a product which tested negative is something to be expected from our very very very very very cautious CDFA food safety partners.
My daughter Kaleigh loves raw milk and she is one of the healthiest young moms I know.
Watch your next flight of the BROOM….you are messing with my daughter….that is Hard Hurricane force IFR weather and I do think you want to tempt your fate messin with me….I protect my young.
Ground your Broom and start considering what it is you really believe in.
Mark
Suggest to your employee that she stop acting like one of your customers, daughter or not. She is the head of marketing for your dairy and in charge of your Facebook page. On Facebook you actually have to switch your settings to post as “yourself” when you are an administer of a business page. Tell her not to switch to herself, just to continue posting as OPDC. Perhaps after posting as OPDC, she could leave her name so that people know it’s her and not you if her intent is to tell people it’s her and not you.
Or perhaps you’ve instructed her to play it this way.
Did your cream come from different milk than your bottled fluid milk? Was the skim milk not a byproduct of the cream? You’ve only got one tank and it was the same code day that was recalled. We know it pathogens can be unevenly distributed in product. Do you have structures in place that make you sure your milk was not contaminated when your cream obviously was?
Amanda
Perhaps to you her devious outsourcing is better than nothing. It is the same crap you buy in the grocery store. If I am paying premium money for a certain item, then I expect to get that particular item. If you don’t have it, fine, I’ll look elsewhere for what I want. She knowingly deceived her customers, she committed fraud against the customers. Hers was NOT a healthy source. She could rot in jail for all I care.
We apparently have to look out for ourselves. Word of mouth goes a long way. Whenever someone brings up Palmer et al, I inform them of what I’ve read about her dealings and her admission of outsourcing without informing the customers, and also encourage them to google her name and arrest records. Fraud is fraud.
On reactions to campy, my titers are probably very high and as long as they stay that way, campy in whatever food vehicle doesn’t pose a lot of risk to me. I expect the lion’s share of OPDC customers (especially new ones) don’t fall in that category. Some risk more than diarrhea. They have a right to make their own decision about what they are eating and feeding their children that is not clouded by manipulative marketing. Manipulation can come from both sides, of course, but in this exchange I have been talking about the behavior coming from OPDC’s paid full time marketer.
Amanda
I love the fishing analogy you used. If Mark is serious about RAWMI and educating farmers about all the pathogens that can be found in raw milk, I sure hope he is making it clear pathogens are not equally dispersed in liquid. He knows perfectly well why the milk could test negative and cream from this same milk could test positive. He should be educating everyone why this occurs instead of playing dumb.
Teach, Teach, Teach
I live in Wisconsin and it’s almost impossible to get raw milk here. It’s not sold in stores and there is no testing. We have to beg a farmer to sell us milk and hope the state doesn’t find out. Testing would only increase the price of the milk and would serve no purpose because the milk would all ready be consumed by the time the test results came back. Furthermore anyone who drinks raw milk for more than a year already knows raw milk prevents diarrhea it doesn’t cause it. Why would you believe anything a competitor says about fresh milk?
It would appear that some of the major flaws of the “revolution” are that the ‘instigator’ has never actually been arrested for civil disobedience, right? The ‘rabble rouser’ has never spent a single minute behind bars, correct? The ‘provocateur’ has never been on probation, right? In summary, the ‘agitator’ wants the ‘community’ to do something that the ‘agitator’ would never consider doing himself, right? Maybe the ‘fomenter’ should have written the book on the ‘revolution’ behind bars so there would have been some inspiration for the ‘community’ to take the ‘kamikaze ride’ in court for the maximum penalty, huh? Maybe that is why I was able to talk some sense into Schlangen, huh? Since I was able to speak from experience that being in jail IS NOT as wonderful as the ‘goads’ wanted him to think it was, huh?
(Corrected version)
Yes exposure is indeed one of the essential components to good health. Pasteurized milk and chlorinated water are by far a much greater threat to good health then exposure to organisms such as campylobacter.
Clearly pets are not versed on current microbial research which suggest they too are vulnerable to many of the same infections that affect humans, for they (cat and dog) routinely use the toilet bowl instead of the accessible, fresh, clean water in their dish.
People who spend their time trying to avoid and control ubiquitous organisms such as campy fail to realize that exposure to such organisms is a given and likely occurs on a daily basis despite their efforts.
Ken
It is sad that we are subjected to many unwanted toxins on a daily basis, chlorine being one of them. Years ago I had read that swimmers (daily swimming in pools) have a higher incidence of esophageal cancer than the regular population.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/152475.php
“incidence of the cancer has increased fivefold over the last 30 years. ” Such a great increase in so short a time.
http://www.belkraft.com/chlorine_dangerous.htm Many cities are using a mixture of chlorine and ammonia=chloramine. Fish die in it (you can’t use it in your fish bowel), dialysis machines require special filters as chloramine prevents red blood cells from up-taking oxygen. http://www.chloramine.org/chloraminefacts.htm
‘With the rise of the democracies and the dethronement and disempowering of previously powerful groups such as the military, the nobility, and the like, there has been a gradual shift from the conscious and explicit use of direct methods of interpersonal and social control to one that are more indirect, subtle, and covert.’ Gaslighting, The Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Covert Control in Psychotherapy & Analysis, Theo L. Dorpat (Maryland: 2004), Page xviii.
The people with money and power have sunk lots of money into find ways to psychologically manipulate people, haven’t they? And their investment has paid off, hasn’t it?
‘By making another person feel fearful, guilty, or ashamed, the manipulator is in a position to gain control over the other individual’s affects, thoughts, and behaviors by substituting his own beliefs. This is the basic mechanism of gaslighting whether used in everyday life, in psychotherapy situations, or in the thought-reform and mind-control manipulations of cult leaders. Some advertising and many social interactions in which one person attempts to gain control over another are based on this principle.’ Gaslighting, The Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Covert Control in Psychotherapy & Analysis, Theo L. Dorpat (Maryland: 2004), Page 7.
Organic Scandal Ends In Settlement: http://www.cornucopia.org/2012/09/bush-era-organic-scandal-ends-in-7-5-million-settlement/
That may be the case for the specific bottle that was tested but we’re talking about uneven pathogen distribution and we know that somewhere in the tank there was campy — the cream was positive. Other bottles from the same tank could have had enough campy to make someone sick. That’s why they were recalled.
That means less than 10 coliforms in the BULK TANK on the farm if sold consumer direct. That also means that OPDC is now going to be tested twice to meet the very stringent coliform standards. Once at the bulk tank and one more time at the finished product.
OPDC is now being tested twice as much….to meet our very hig standards. This also clearly makes any possible outsourcing for Class 1 or 2 uses impossible. I also argue that this letter is the best and most rational arguement for OPDC being removed and separated from the Milk Pool. This would save OPDC about $30,000 per month and provide the funding to reduce milk prices and also build our new creamery.
This is a serious food safety gap….it is now closed legally buy a letter sent down from Sacramento. The powers of the Secretary of Ag….are huge.
Becuase of this new testing at the Bulk tank, there is no way that Milk Pool milk can ever be recieved at a Raw Dairy Creamery. This makes our case iron clad that OPDC is structurally….not a participant in the MILK POOL.
It is too early to start dancing….but I think that the party will start very soon. The MIlk Pool obbligations for OPDC have been a massively repressive economic wet towel.
Mark
I’m sure there is more unevenness in our levels of health, the sample quality, and test reliability than there is in the so called pathogen distribution.
Rawmilkmike,
The Rawesome case became very complicated, in large part because the prosecutors piled on charges, against not only Sharon Palmer, but against James Stewart and Victoria Bloch. It was complicated even further because of internal divisions within Rawesome over allegations (by some Rawesome people, but not by the prosecutors) that Palmer was selling conventional food from places like Costco and claiming it was organic and grown on her farm. However, for all the charges piled on by prosecutors (for violating CA raw milk laws, mislabeling, securities law violations, etc.), none of them had anything to do with the accusations against Palmer that she outsourced her food (i.e. sold conventional food as if it was organic and grown on her farm). Individuals like Sylvia won’t let go of that internal dispute, and every time Sharon Palmer’s name is mentioned, she (and others) bring up, for the umpteenth time, their accusations that Palmer is a fraud. It’s pretty discouraging, since the case is complicated enough as it is.
In my view, the case, at its most fundamental, is about the government’s political campaign against private food, with the courts being used to carry out the campaign at this time.
It’s difficult for people like you, who may not be familiar with the convoluted history of the Rawesome situation, to understand all its nuances. It’s difficult for me to know how much background to provide each time I write about it. I obviously didn’t provide enough this time. In the meantime, I’d suggest you do a search of “Rawesome” and “Sharon Palmer” on this site, and take a look at some of the posts and comments to get more of a feel about it.
Sharon Palmer has a long legal or should I say illegal, history of various types of fraud. She admitted on this blog that she fraudulently sold eggs that she outsourced to customers and did not tell customers.
As I had said before, whatever is between her and the laws she broke is not my issue, that is up to the courts. My issue is her deceiving customers. Disdain comes to mind when she is pictured as the poor little misunderstood farmer.
It is discouraging when you put not only your trust and faith, but also your money into something you believe in and then to have that person or people deceive you, is unforgivable. To ignore and/or minimize her behavior in the food movement is an injustice to those who don’t know. It would be no different than spouting off that no foods can make you ill.
Some of us believe that farmers who violate the trust of their customers don’t deserve our support for whatever it is they are being dragged to court. David doesn’t make this distinction.
Amanda
The majority who drink the milk don’t get ill. It appears that those who do become ill have problems with their immune system, it doesn’t appear to be working at optimal levels.
I believe that there are many factors that affect the immune system, many which are beyond the local person’s control. Tap water is one factor, there are many chemicals we are forced to consume. We have to have water to live. The foods consumed have numerous chemicals in and on them that it is a major factor in affecting the immune system. Personal care products; soap, shampoo, toothpastes all contribute to contaminating our bodies.
There are reasons why cancers have increased, autism has soared, allergies increased, learning disabilities increased, obesity epidemic, etc. Do I believe it is genetically influenced? Not for the majority. I think that all these chemical assaults to our bodies are major contributors to whatever genetic link there is. Even tobacco isn’t just tobacco anymore, it has 100s of lethal chemicals added. Is it the tobacco that contributes to lung cancer or is it all the added chemicals to the tobacco that contributes to lung cancer? Why do the majority of smokers appear not to have breathing problems? Why does it affect only a few?
The raw milk movement is growing. It doesn’t appear that recalls affect those who want it. I think the recalls help to educate the consumers on what to look for and what to ask of the farmers. I don’t need to know a plate count, it really would mean nothing to me, as I’ve no doubt that the majority of people would be in the same boat. Plus, by the time they get the plate count results, I’ve probably already drank the milk.
I think if more people knew how the pasteurized milk was processed, then more would move toward raw milk.
I want to believe that most farmers are honest and will tell you, when you ask, how they farm. If they won’t tell you, then I would suggest you move on to another farmer. If you find out they lied to you, then share your experience with other consumers. Palmer admitted her outsourcing of eggs, these are the same eggs that she told the consumers where from her organically fed chickens…Which was fraud to all those who bought those eggs, they thought they were from palmers organically fed chickens and they were not. People like that leave a black mark for trust against those who are honest.
Rawmilkmike,
Nearly all the charges against Sharon Palmer had to do with distributing raw milk via a herdshare agreement. In the course of its investigation, the state repeatedly tested her milk to be sure it was raw, and it was. Kind of funny to think about, but that state might have filed fewer charges (or no charges) had she substituted pasteurized milk for the raw milk she supplied. Anyway, here is Palmer’s explanation about her outsourcing activities–that they resulted from a mountain lion assault on her chicken flock, and occurred with at least partial knowledge of Rawesome Food Club.
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2011/october/13/i-can-explain-says-sharon-palmer-she-admits-outsourcing-eggs-not
Some people here think she should be forever condemned for outsourcing. The state thinks she should be forever condemned for supplying raw milk.
I can’t speak for others. I feel she should be exposed for the fraudulent selling of products that were not hers and she knowingly sold to unsuspecting consumers. There is no doubt that others who are in search of healthy foods want to know about the people they are buying from. Isn’t “know your farmer” promoted?
As for wild animals attacking farm animals, people are not stupid, they are very understanding and if it was explained to the consumers what had happened and that she was temporarily outsourcing, the consumers would have been informed and made their choice on whether they wanted to buy the outsourced eggs or not. Palmer, by selling eggs that were not hers and not informing the buyers, it appears she was devious just for the profits. So yes, she should be exposed.