As I began reading through the court suit that Jacqueline and John Stowers have filed against various Ohio officials, I kept wondering about the retail licensing provision that supposedly prompted the entire affair. How was it that the Manna Storehouse was exempt, or possibly violated it?
But as I continued reading, and learning that the level of violence and abuse was probably even worse than what I and other bloggers previously described, I found myself considering another question: What was the real message the Lorain County and Ohio Department of Agriculture officials were trying to deliver, to the Stowers, and to the community at large?
For it’s clear from the suit that the state’s retail licensing provisions are vague at best in terms of their application to the Manna Storehouse cooperative. There are all kinds of exemptions. In that spirit, the Stowers had, a year earlier, requested via certified mail clarification of the regulations as would apply to Manna Storehouse.
The answer was a knock on the door December 1, according to the suit, “and Katie Stowers opened. Police shoved Katie Stowers to the side, and immediately entered the residence, without first announcing (1) that they were police; or (2) the purpose of the visit. During the raid, at least one, if not several police entered the home with guns drawn, and the Stowers home was surrounded by police who also had guns drawn. Once having obtained entry into the home, the lead officer on the raid, with his gun drawn, swiftly and immediately moved to the upstairs of the home, where he found 8 small children in the middle of a home-schooling lesson. The officer used physical force to get Jacqueline Stowers and her children down the stairs. The officers held the Stowers family captive in their living room for in excess of six hours. During the time that the Stowers were held captive, police and the Ohio Department of Agriculture agents, directed by agent William Lesho, searched not just the Manna Storehouse portion of the Stowers’ property, but also the Stowers’ entire personal residence, and their entire 26-acre property. The police and Ohio Department of Agriculture agents seized the Stowers’ personal family computers, personal cell phones, and personal food supply…” And on and on it goes.
The suit charges that the search was unlawful because “there is no evidence whatsoever, to support anything other than a calm, peaceful and consented-to entry into, and search and seizure of, the Manna Storehouse and the Stowers’ private residence.” It also charges that the ODA and Lorain County health officials “acted beyond the scope of its administrative authority when it directed the police raid, search, and seizure…”
There was “taking of private property without compensation”—on the order of more than $10,000 worth of food, of which “$8,030 was for personal and family use. The reason this amount is so significant is because (1) ten children currently live with the Stowers; and (2) the Stowers had recently taken much of their personal herd of sheep to the butcher, which furnished a year’s supply of meat for the family.”
These are all violations of the U.S. and Ohio constitution, the suit argues. As for the retail licensing matter, the Manna Storehouse’s activities, which “include buying local food from farmers, growing their own food on their own farm, consuming, as a family, food they have grown and purchased, and distributing excess food that they have grown or purchased to members of their co-op in prearranged amounts. This activity is entirely different than operating retail food establishment. The Stowers and/or Manna Storehouse cannot reasonably be classified as a ‘retail food establishment’ because it does not store, process, prepare, manufacture or otherwise handle food for retail sale.”
So I return to my original question. What was the real message behind the raid? That if regulators decide co-ops should be categorized as retail establishments, and subject to various extra regulations and taxes, that the operators and members better just do what they’re told? That you question the regulators at risk of all your food and even your life, and the lives of your children?
It had to be about more than a retail license. Because of the ODA’s involvement, you can reasonably assume it was about sending a message. The ODA was involved in a violent raid and personal assault on raw milk producer Gary Oaks two years ago in Cincinnati as he distributed milk to herdshare members, and got away without any court action, or exposure beyond what I wrote about it. Gary experienced months of hospitalization associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the assault.
I suspect the message has to do with concern about the growth of private groups, like herdshares and co-ops, to ensure access to organic nutritionally dense foods. Let’s see of the courts will stand up to the police-state tactics that ODA has grown so fond of.
(Thanks to Don Neeper for posting the link to the court case, and to the five-minute YouTube segment of the Stowers telling their tale, which is very moving.)
***
Speaking of assaults on private groups of consumers, Meadowsweet Dairy and its owners, Barb and Steve Smith, are planning an appeal of the court ruling against them last month, based on a decision by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund. The Smiths had claimed that their limited liability company and its 100-plus members were exempt from regulation by the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, but a state court disagreed, ruling the members were “consumers” and thus subject to the same regulation as any farm with a raw milk permit.
Certainly it seems the Stover’s legal case, which they’ve put together with their friends at the Buckeye Institute, is addressing the issues that need to be addressed in this trespass.
As for the message that this is sending, it would seem to be a gesture of intimidation. But other than encouraging people to get their groceries at Walmart like good Americans, it’s difficult to imagine what would be behind this, unless it’s some sort of test probe to see how people, the media and the public respond to being terrorized like this by agents of the state.
They must be held acountable and pay huge amounts of money in damages. The budgets of these small counties will be crippled by the judgments.
Juries must have the guts to tell the police…NO… not in our homes and not in our towns will cops be allowed to act like Fascist Nazis and get away with it.
Our democracy will work if we let it and make it work. We the people must do exactly what we are doing….it is hard emotionally draining work. It takes time but it is very important and critical to America.
God bless the Stowers……
Go get um!!! A massive lawsuit is the way to shoot back and win.
Peacefully and intensively. No jury will ever let this conduct go unpunished. If they do it is our own faults and we deserve what we get.
Mark Mcafee
Since David brought up Gary Oaks again, I just wanted to mention that one of the reasons that his incident wasn’t reported in the larger media was that he and his wife didn’t want it publicized. I spoke with them a few days after he was released from the hospital and offered to issue a press release on his behalf, but he declined and at the time expressed a hope that he could reach an accommodation with the agencies involved. I didn’t believe that to be the best decision, but I certainly wasn’t going to make any attempt to change his mind and we honored his request. That raid occurred soon after Arlie Stutzman’s license revocation had hit the news, and it really would have given the ODA a "one, two" punch if we had been able to publicize it. Unfortunately the Gary Oaks draft press release never saw the light of day, and most of the world never heard about him.
I like to view these things fundamentally. I figure that if humankind’s habit were to follow the golden rule we would have no government at all. But since we tend, at least occasionally, toward avarice, gluttony, name itif you’re conscious, you know what I meanwe make protective rules, and link them with fanged enforcement methods. That is government. But therein is a problem, for the same sort of humans enforce the rules as those being ruled. If given an opportunity, at least occasionally the rule makers and enforcers will escape their perimeters.
So wheres the solution? The founders thought they had one when they set about designing a government that limited the powers commissioned to rule makers. They established the famous system of checks and balances, and everywhere sprinkled their texts with references to the rights of individuals, as opposed to entities. They did a great thing. And they woefully underestimated the creativity of men looking to grab power.
All systems without active and aggressive monitoring and adjustment by an attentive citizenry will gravitate into oppression. Mark is right about demanding accountability. We can disagree on the methods, but in the end we are obliged to assist the oppressed, and assure that every oppressive rule and act is brought into the light, and corrected.
My purpose for looking this up was in reaction to some of the talk here of revolt, and the many, many comments I read on some farm groups I belong to about stocking up ammo. for the day when TSHTF. Just yesterday I had a conversation with two of my son’s college friends about guns. The discussion was on the questionable need of semi-automatic or fully automatic weaponry, and how many people we knew who owned such pieces. I was talking with a coworker who grew up in the city, about night scopes; a question originally directed at hunters. I was thinking coyotes. I’ve lost 10 goats this past year. This coworker had a night scope, and bragged on his gun collection (which is not an uncommon topic of conversation). Yesterday, one of my son’s friends said semi-automatic weapons were necessary for the coming apocolypse zombie invasion. Granted, these boys play way too many video games, and watch way too many movies, but the humor was in that he had a valid point. While an unprovoked government can come in with guns and assault a farm family, what happens when the food resources become more tightly limited, with the rest of the population? I don’t even own a gun, and don’t plan to. But I was thinking about attempting to kill some coyotes, and have been toying with what brought me to that place.
I belong to the Ohio State Grange, part of the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. It was formed for similar purposes of what is going on here. In fact, it might be a good medium to discuss some of these issues, offline. After all, it was set up with incorporated filters.
What nags at me most about this situation is that it sets a precedent. There is really no historical comparison to the current climate and set of circumstances. We don’t even have a well defined vocabulary for it. For the past 3 million years, only in the last 200 have we had "grocery stores," and in the past 50 to 100, food regulation in the name of "food safety." The only really effective government lobby is American Farm Bureau, and it is heavily influenced by big ag. They even got together with Monsanto on a statement on labeling milk in regards to animals being fed hormones this past year.
The ignorance of the people conducting this assault is profound, from our point of view. They don’t see that, you know. They’re most likely stuck in a "Law and Order" episode, and don’t see the implications not only of our independence or ability to raise our own food, but the implications of this sort of thing for the future, after 3 million years of humankind raising their community’s food, unfettered. It is going to take more than lawsuits. I’m not suggesting violence here, but creativity.
Gwen
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83865
Utopia is chimerical. A loving God will work out true justice in the next world. In this we have only to do our best, which, in my view, requires that we not become what we fight against.
It also means being ever diligent, and cognizant about the realities. Thank you Gwen for the insightful reminder: "There is really no historical comparison to the current climate and set of circumstances." Unique times may call for creative correction. Still, I believe that the Gary Coxs of the world are our best bet, aided by the David Gumperts and the Stowers’ and the Jason Sauers, and all the others that offer ideas, energy, time, and money to the cause.
Gwen also said, "The ignorance of the people conducting this assault is profound, from our point of view. "
Ignorant, indeed. How could they be anything other than ignorant of history and still persist in carrying out these kinds of actions without fear of reprisal? The seeds of rebellion are being sown. I hope it’s a bloodless rebellion. Many of the offenses against the citizenry of the American colonies by the British crown a few hundred years ago, the offenses that piled up and provoked enough colonists to anger sufficient to revolt, pale in comparison to a government stealing food from children and trying to tell farmers they can’t sell the food they grow to their neighbors. Taxation without representation seems like small potatoes next to that.
There are parallels in the history of the Soviet Union as well, wherein the government tried to totally control the production and distribution of food, although with the excuse of fairness and the communistic ideal rather than food safety. Their system failed utterly, resulting in the infamous bread lines in a country with all the necessary natural resources to feed its own, a thriving black market for food because people couldn’t get enough through approved channels, and these things contributed to the ultimate collapse. Envision disillusioned soldiers returning home from Afghanistan being expected to enforce the laws that forbade farmers, gardeners or old ladies baking bread in their kitchen from selling or trading directly to their neighbors, thinking "explain to me again why I should stop these people from feeding their children and mine?". That kind of dissent, brewing over decades, played no small part in the complete loss of trust between a majority of Soviet citizens and their government.
Now envision disillusioned American soldiers, some returning home from Afghanistan, being asked to perform the same "duty". Not such a stretch, if you ask me, given that the conventional, industrial food production and distribution system that feeds most US citizens now is a house of cards, and a strong wind’s a blowin’. A few cards at the bottom of the stack fall, and suddenly there’s no bread at the Wal-Mart. They trampled a man to death in pursuit of discount toys, does anyone believe the results wouldn’t be worse if people were waiting in a mob for the doors to open just to buy food, especially if there wasn’t enough to go around? A military presence to control such situations is only an executive order away, a presence that could easily spill over into the attempts to control food distribution from farms and co-ops.
New Ag. Sec is very closed to big dairy, biotech co, GMO crops, cow cloning, ethonal and has been ferried around in Monsantos private jet.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20081218/News02/312189948/Ag+
secretary+selection+getsmixed+reaction
In this day of brain-washed adrenine-rushed -paramilitary want-to-be-cops. Do not ever think that using a gun with one of these crazy jerks will win anything.
These Nazis dream of ( and are trained extensively to the point of pent up frustration )being able to pull the trigger. All they need is you holding a gun in your hands to blow you into pieces.
It is a sick world they live in…..infliction of death is something glorified and justified.
We must follow the humanity inside of us and resist the tempation to seek revenge or use weapons for our defense against police at all cost to avoid giving these crazed cops the excuse that justifies their training and equiptment excesses.
Mike Schmidt is perhaps the greatest example for all of us:
Prepare in peace and stay centered
Get your video camera ready and fully charged. It is your gun!!!
Keep your guns locked up….if the cops come.
Have your copies of the "Civil Servant" questionare ready
Have a list of media contacts ready for calling ( nothing like TV Cameras to stop a beating)
Never ever loose your cool …give them no excuses to hurt you.
Be ready to be the star actor in your own Rated Raw for Police Violence movie…cause your jury will judge you and the police in the end and render justice when it is all over.
You must live to be free on the other side of the incident. Guns will surely get you dead and buried. Cause… we do not spend hours each day romantically perfecting the art of killing and maiming like bad cops do. We spend our time feeding and caring and serving others. Remember SWAT recruitment draws cops that like big bad guns and pointing them at people. It gets them high. I have witnessed it myself and it made me sick. It was one of the reasons I left EMS.
The best SWAT teams actually recruit cops that hate violence. This can be seen in police incident reports showing how critical incidents are resolved. Well mediated, time taken, public safe, bad guy safe, everything cool and nothing broken inlcuding emotions and childrens hearts.
Lastly….become good friends with good cops. There are many of them and they are just like us and deep down inside they hate bad cops. We call these cops…peace officers and we need more of them.
Gary Cox is our Kilted Braveheart Warrior…Donate to the fund. Fight back with your video camera and calm in your heart.
Mark Mcafee
OPDC
Retired Paramedic and
SWAT Trained Medic
Fresno County EMS 1981-1996
I believe publicity is really the best response we have to events like what happened at Manna Storehouse. However, in this case it’s a little disheartening to see how the police seem to deny excess force was used and the mainstream media I’ve seen covering the story — ie the local paper and the Cleveland Plain Dealer — totally buy that police denial. To read their reports you’d think this was a routine regulatory event.
But even if the Stowers had a video camera, it doesn’t sound like the police would have let them use it to document what was going on.
Gwen, it’s interesting to read your research on rural revolts. I’m guessing that the prospect of some sort of grassroots revolt against tyranny is behind the decision to station active duty troops under Northcom on the streets of America. A while ago on the internet I ran across a review of a recent book that put forward the hypothesis that mass-shooting-suicide incidents were actually a form of class warfare, irrational though they may be, and that such incidents have precedents in the times of slavery, official slavery that is.
One might argue that a country with 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the world’s prisoners and which uses prisoners for forced labour (I’m talking the U.S.) never really abolished slavery after all. If that book rings a bell with any readers here I’d appreciate knowing the title and author. On the other hand, these mass shootings could just as well be the work of mind-controlled manchurian candidates. The class-revolt theory is an interesting reading of events nonetheless.
Here in Canada with the Michael Schmidt case, litigation using lawyers has proven too costly for Mr. Schmidt and his supporters. In the last "milk war" in 1994, he ended up losing 400 of his 500 acres and most of his herd to legal costs. This time around, supporters raised something like $170,000 and the lawyers spent most of it before even getting to trial. They wanted something like another $350,000 for the first several days of the trial.
Finally Michael felt he really had no other option than to defend himself. Fortunately he has the help of someone who successfully defended himself in a raw milk case, using arguments based in fundamental law, although in it’s decision the court refused to address the issues he had raised and instead dismissed the case on a manufactured technicality. That main trial will be coming up in late January. So far all we’ve had is stuff like contempt of course cases where the core issues around raw milk could not even be addressed or argued. I tell the story of that guy’s case in the post linked to below. At some point I’ll publish a more detailed report on his legal arguments.
But Michael has been pretty successful in getting favourable publicity. Every time he appears in court, it’s an occasion for journalists to write about him and his case.
Over time, I’ve noticed that coverage has tended to become more favourable. One big local newspaper that in the past would parrot the regulator’s propaganda has now taken more of an interest in the larger story around the regulatory conflict. And of course all this publicity is ultimately great for the cause of raw milk. More people hear about it and realize there could be an alternative to what they buy at the supermarket. And more people realize that it is possible to stand up to the government.
http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/an-untold-story-the-other-milk-man-sells-raw-milk-and-goes-on-to-win-his-case-when-charged-in-ontario-court/
Nice to hear some new voices speaking up. Oh and Dave, I think you mean you’re a "pacifist". That was a great little essay on anecdotal evidence you wrote a couple of threads back.
I will try to be more carefull in the fewture.
Dave
http://www.buckeyevoices.org/index.php?id=98
Two principal issues are clear: the issue of whether or not they needed a license to engage in a food coop enterprise with their neighbors (they bought from local Amish farmers among others) and if so, why should they be regulated with the same intensity as the local Krogers, and
the Fourth Amendment unreasonable search and seizure issue, where there was no reasonable risk of evidence being destroyed (sides of beef being flushed down the toilet) or of violence from women and children in a home-schooling classroom.
It will be interesting to see how the regulators handle this one, under the spotlight of the Buckeye/FTCLDF lawsuit.
I will be talking about this case and other farm-to-consumer issues in an interview tomorrow Saturday on an Internet broadcast 12-1 PM EST accessible on http://www.metrofood.com.
I am not a pacifist and there is a tipping point at which activism and defense of the rights of my home, my food, my freedom and my family takes precidence over peaceful politically appropriate action with cameras and playing along while you get raped.
That is a point which I only know down deep inside….it is private….
Another Wounded Knee, Ruby Ridge or Waco could easily happen in America because of police abuse, massive unemployment, corruption, Wallstreet rip offs, denial of the right to food etc….
Look at Greece….one shooting and the entire seat of modern democracy blows up. The coming home of our soldiers from Iraq is a critical force for our country to think about. Our soldiers think nothing of shooting anything that threatens them.
Now transplant that action back here in the USA and put families, food and emotion into the mix….ouch. How do you tell a soldier not to fight. Thats what they do and what better cause to fight for than your family and their food or home.
At the tipping point the humanity inside of us will resist oppression in order to survive. That is a horrible point. It is a point where the media refuses to carry the story and allows the cops to carry on with impunity protecting government interests or corporate interests and not our interests and we say "enough!!"
I am an American and believe in Lincolns wisdom when he said:
"America right or wrong. If right…fight to keep her right…if wrong…. fight to make her right".
I also believe that each and every mentally and emotionally stable free American should know how to shoot and shoot well and that those Americans that choose to do so should own a gun and appreciate its place in history and freedom. On of my fondest memories was visiting Switzerland in 1983 and seeing a youth with a machine gun on his back going to the shooting range on a moped. I thought to myself….no body will ever mess with his rights. Homes in Switzerland have huge machine SIG guns and everyone knows how to use them. There is little violence in that land and the crime rate is nill. Cops thoughtfully enter homes after asking politely and do not brandish weapons like Miami Vice.
I shoot and own guns….but you will never see them displayed or used against cops or any person. Until the tipping point. At that point my life is then the value which must be laid down in the balance and it is worth giving in trade.
I have dedicated myself to the peacefull process of avoiding that point at nealry all cost.
Remember, those that live by the sward can also die by it. If you raise a gun in anger expect to pay a dear price at some point.
Video cameras guys….video cameras.The media loves video cameras.
Mark Mcafee
Here’s an article excerpt from
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/12/lorain_county_sheriffs_office.html
Lorain County Sheriff’s Office disputes ‘raid’ at Manna Storehouse
Posted by Patrick O’Donnell/Plain Dealer Reporter December 09, 2008 21:55PM
At the same time, store policies say it does not sell to the public — only to members of the co-op who pay a membership fee. Openly proclaiming it is not licensed and does not plan to obtain a license, Manna has members affirm that they "take full responsibility for their own health, health choices, food choices and food quality."
County officials say the business cannot operate that way.
Assistant County Prosecutor Scott Serazin said any business that sells perishable foods must be licensed and follow regulations covering those who store and supply food. There is no exception in the law for a co-op, Serazin said, and Manna cannot ask customers to waive safety regulations
"You just can’t have that," he said. "There has to be some kind of regulation and inspection of food."