For years in the Jim Crow South (after the Civil War), prosecutors having difficulty finding the culprit in a theft or even a violent crime like a sexual assault, always had a fallback position: They could encourage the victim to accuse a black, usually a young black man, of the crime. Now, didnt you see that N___ nosing around your yard a few weeks ago?….Was it this N_____that made eyes at you before your encounter?…I know hes worked for your family, never had any problem, but you never know when one of these people is going to do something crazy…
Something like Jim Crow justice may be unfolding in the unlikeliest of places–proper and upstanding Minnesota, where, in rural Stearns County, the local prosecutor is preparing for the states second criminal misdemeanor trial of farmer Alvin Schlangen. The farmer was acquitted of all criminal charges associated with illegally selling raw milk and other foods last September in a three-day jury trial in Minneapolis. (The Minnesota judges dont take too seriously the Constitutionally-prohibited practice of double jeopardy–trying a man twice for the same offenses–which is why a second trial is unfolding.)
A couple weeks after that trial, I interviewed the jury foreman, who told me that a big reason the jury acquitted Schlangen was because no one had become ill from the farmers raw milk. No one was injured, he said. If anyone had gotten sick, that would have weighed on me.
Indeed, there has never been even the slightest suggestion that anyone has ever become ill from Schlangens milk, or any food, by anyone, either before or during that first trial. Now, in preparation for a second trial being held in Schlangens home county, memories seem to have changed, and the state seems to have its N_____. In documentation the prosecution made available last week to Schlangens defense lawyer, Nathan Hansen, the narrative of a Supplemental Report by Stearns County prosecuting attorney Mickey Berg begins this way:
On June 10, 2013, Assistant Stearns County Attorney William MacPhail, Paralegal Jill Weber, and I met with Jim Roettger, John Mitterholzer and Levi Muhl [all of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture] to discuss their role as witnesses in the above-named case. They provided the following information:
John Mitterholzer stated that his involvement with the defendant began when the Minnesota Department of Health received a report that an individual had become ill after ingesting Campylobacter bacteria. The report indicated a number of possible sources including daily consumption of unpasteurized milk from Schlangen Family Farms. John stated that this call came into what is known as the daily pool, which is set up to take calls regarding food complaints. John stated that the Minnesota Department of Health notified the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to follow up on by going out and doing a safety investigation on the defendant. John stated that this complaint to the Minnesota Department of Health was what initiated the investigation into the defendant and his activities.
Schlangens attorney, Hansen, is stunned with this potential blockbuster revelation, especially given that it never came up in all the hundreds of pages of documentation and under-oath questioning of MDA officials during the previous Schlangen trial.
A copy of the MN Department of Health questionnaire on the individual who supposedly became ill is included in the Supplemental Report, and I have included the three-page form on the left. As you can see, the name of the individual who supposedly became sick is redacted. It isnt clear that individual will testify during the upcoming trial.
Also puzzling about the disclosure about a potential raw milk illness is the fact that the Stearns County prosecutor dropped the single charge that Schlangen illegally sold raw milk, at the same time Hansen was presented with the report. (He is charged with selling food without a license, failing to keep eggs at required temperatures, selling prohibited foods like custom-slaughtered meat, and violating an MDA embargo on selling food.) Presumably, the report of illness was kept in the report in case the state wants to use it to try to back up allegations from the MDA that Schlangen was running an unsanitary facility for storage of eggs–an allegation in the first trial that the jury didnt find persuasive.
So during the first trial, when Schlangen was facing a charge of illegally selling raw milk, and the indication of an illness would have carried the greatest weight, the supposed illness never got mentioned. Now, during Schlangens second trial, and the third major food rights trial within the last year, following on Vernon Hershbergers acquittal by a Wisconsin jury on all licensing and dairy charges last month, the illness suddenly reappears.
Hansen thinks he knows why. This prosecutor looked at the other trials [Schlangen 1 and Hershberger] and said, I want to win this one.
Hansen plans to challenge inclusion of the evidence in the upcoming Schlangen trial, due to start in August. It has every evidentiary problem you can think of…authentication, foundation hearsay…Sixth Amendment right to confront your accuser…
It doesnt pass the smell test, adds Hansen in describing the allegation of illness, and hes not speaking in jest about the smell test.
There is also no indication in the Supplemental Report that the MDA did what investigators would normally do if they suspected a particular source of raw milk was creating illness–test the milk, from Schlangens farm and from anything the victim had left over, and try to find evidence of the presence of campylobacter. Maybe that is because the patient noted on the questionnaire that he had also eaten chicken, both at home and in a restaurant, not to mention meatballs and spaghetti at a Spaghetti Factory and a sausage and egg muffin at McDonald’s. There were too many variables, and the person is a regular junk-food-junkie to boot.
My guess is that this supposed illness did come up in the preparations for the first trial, but that the prosecutor in that case quickly determined it was so speculative, so problematic, that she told the MDA guys to stuff it. But desperation does funny things to people, even prosecutors…or especially prosecutors, just like it did in the Jim Crow South.
Im not the first person to find a comparison between whats happening in Minnesota and what used to happen in the Jim Crow South. In this video showing MDA inspector Jim Roettger confiscating raw milk being delivered by the brother of farmer Michael Hartmann, a member of the crowd can be heard shouting at one point at the inspector: Maybe down south you can get away with this, but not in progressive Minnesota.
Amazingly, they may be able to get away with railroading an innocent man in progressive Minnesota. The State is facing an 0 and 2 count in Stearns County. Three strikes and youre out, and the State is determined to do anything to avoid striking out.
**
I have to believe the suggestions made following my previous post that Mary McGonigle Martin and Mark McAfee are CIA agents were made in jest. Knowing both these individuals, I could chuckle. Neither would make a good CIA agent–they talk too much.
The whole thing would be even funnier, if it wasnt for the reality that secret agents have entrapped farmers and joined food clubs to try to incriminate farmers. It happened at Rawesome Food Club in California and at Grassfed on the Hill in Maryland, as I detail in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Food Rights. In Minnesota, Schlangens lawyer, Hansen, thinks the supposed illness may have come from a mole feeding information to regulators about Schlangens food club. There have been other examples as well.
When I see such half-serious accusations about McGonigle-Martin and McAfee, I realize the infiltrations are having some of their desired effects: to make food rights supporters suspicious of each other, or of individuals who are simply being outspoken advocates. No, the infiltrators are quiet. You wont find them signing posts under their real names on this blog.
***
I agree that the “CIA” allegations violate Occam’s Razor, and once again we see how distracting and pointless conspiracy theories are. There’s no need to go beyond the obvious explanations: that Mary’s a typical phony (claims to care about “food safety” but isn’t focused on GMOs and CAFOs, but only on kicking down on the miniscule raw milk sector, on account of a perceived personal grievance), while Mark’s a typical industrial organic elitist who wants to bring raw milk under the legalized corporate fold, which explains his actions, his appeasement mentality toward the corporate state, and his often-demonstrated hostility toward small producers and the local food ideal.
As far as the latter, wouldn’t it be better for this blog to get the conflict of industrial organic vs. Community Food, and where raw milk’s place needs to be (it seems obvious to me), out in the open, rather than trying to paper it over indefinitely, with the result being these frequent murky conflicts and allegations?
And btw, My comments about CIA Mary are definitely in jest, although anyone that has followed the conversations here for a while can see she does have ulterior motives, whatever they are.
We all know tptb will switch tactics and use whatever legal or illegal means to achieve their agendas, to include inventing victims. A spy’s persona can be as varied as the group it infiltrates. Someone who is loud and in your face may be less obvious than the quiet one sitting on the sidelines.
You are right about it causing mistrust among the supporters and it does hinder moving forward. But, as you pointed out, there has been many cases of entrapment. Trust is an issue. The entrapment is one issue to be addressed to prevent from continuing.
Ora, Your words said in jest are no different than Mary claiming to inoculate the milk with e-coli. Common sense is not very common.
I think educating the masses on the true industrial processes and the local farmers to include raw dairy is the best way. People will retain short factual statements along with photos best. You wouldn’t want to overwhelm the mind, then nothing will stick.
For example Smithfield pork: Educating that the US gov allows the Americans to be contaminated with toxins other countries ban and disclose who owns who….
I did find a statement by Smithfield sickenly amusing in that they let Paula Deen go because they wanted to maintain their “ethical” standards.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/14/us-smithfield-results-idUSBRE95D0FD20130614
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/06/09/smithfield-foods-pork-foreign-investment/2396187/
Ora, that was a typo–good catch. Thanks.
Here is something from greatist.com
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Russ,
You are correct–a second page was missing (with Qs 4, 5, 6, 7). Turns out it wasn’t included because there was a double-sided page. I’ve inserted it–it shows the supposedly sick individual was eating at Spaghetti Factory and McDonald’s–maybe washing down the junk food with raw milk?
Over the last 30 years, despite countless efforts at change, poor hand hygiene has continued to contribute to the high rates of infections acquired in hospitals, clinics and other health care settings. According to the World Health Organization, these infections affect as many as 1.7 million patients in the United States each year, racking up an annual cost of $6.5 billion and contributing to more than 90,000 deaths annually.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/improving-handwashing-among-doctors/?_r=0
To learn more, read the full column, Why Dont Doctors Wash Their Hands More? and then please join the discussion below.
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How can these people even think about pointing a finger at raw milk.
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We’ve known the importance of hand washing sense Hippocrates. This importance was documented in 1199 by Moses ben Maimom http://www.library.musc.edu/resources/biomed/InfectCtrl/sld001.html
and proven in 1847 by Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis who died in disgrace in 1865. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis
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The CDC and the AMA didn’t even start to address it till the 70’s?
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization
The process of heating wine for preservation purposes has been known in China since 1117,[2] and was documented in Japan in 1568 in the diary Tamonin-nikki.
Much later, in 1768, an Italian priest and scientist Lazzaro Spallanzani proved experimentally that heat killed bacteria, and that they do not re-appear if the product is hermetically sealed.[3] In 1795, a Parisian chef and confectioner named Nicolas Appert began experimenting with ways to preserve foodstuffs, succeeding with soups, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jellies, jams, and syrups. He placed the food in glass jars, sealed them with cork and sealing wax and placed them in boiling water
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Louis Pasteur discovered in 1856 when an alcohol manufacturer commissioned him, what was causing beet root alcohol to sour.
The pasteurization of milk didn’t come into practice until the late 1800s
The pasteurization process was invented in 1864.
The first commercial milk pasteurizers were produced in 1882, using a high-temperature, short-time (HTST) process.
Pasteurization was first used in the United States in the 1890s.
The first law to require the pasteurization of milk was passed in Chicago in 1908 [source: Sun]. http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/pasteurization1.htm
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But yet processors want to blame raw milk for outbreak that happened in 1938. Outbreaks that were probably most severe in cities and least severe in rural areas where raw milk was still being consumed.
Not that I completely trust the CFFS or CDC, but…
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/2325/center-for-food-safety-prevails-in-foodborne-illness-prevention-case
“Food safety is life and death. Every year, 1 in 6 Americans is sickened with food poisoning: 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. Children and the elderly are in the greatest danger. Many people suffer serious long-term impacts from food poisoning such as kidney failure, chronic arthritis, brain and nerve damage. ”
Get that? ONE in SIX. 128,000 are hospitalized and 3,000 die. Please show me evidence how raw milk is more dangerous than that.
Not to pick on anyone in particular but why isn’t Mary Marler or state prosecutors of raw milk jumping on this bandwagon? Wait it must be about the money. Or the CIA.
Back to my cave, enjoy the nice weather. It’s pretty cool down here come visit when it gets too hot out.
The first commercial milk pasteurizers were produced in 1882, using a high-temperature, short-time (HTST) process.
Pasteurization was first used in the United States in the 1890s.
The first law to require the pasteurization of milk was passed in Chicago in 1908 [source: Sun]. http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/pasteurization1.htm
In 1938, milk was said to have caused 25 percent of all outbreaks of food- and water-related sickness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_milk
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But yet processors want to blame raw milk for outbreak that happened in 1938. Outbreaks that were probably most severe in cities and least severe in rural areas where raw milk was still being consumed.
Initially after the scientific discovery of bacteria, no product testing was available to determine if a farmer’s milk was safe or infected, so all milk was treated as potentially contagious.
Looks like Louis Pasteur took all the credit for pasteurization, is that ethical?
linked to –
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/dining/08raw.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
In 2000, the Organic Pastures Dairy Company in the San Joaquin Valley near Fresno became Californias first raw milk dairy with certified organic pasture land. This year its co-founder, Mark McAfee, expects it to gross $6 million up from $4.9 last year.
His raw milk is sold in 300 stores in California, where it is legal. He also has an $80,000 a month mail order business, shipping creams and cheese as well as milk to all 50 states. He believes he reaches 35,000 customers a week for his raw milk products. Because the laws allow interstate shipping of raw milk that is not meant for human consumption, Organic Pastures milk is labeled as pet food.
I like to go into the warehouse and see the addresses it goes all over creation, he said. We dont have the same customers day in and day out. Were the entry point. We hear back that shipping is too expensive but that they found a local provider, either a farm or on the black market. They have got to have it.
Mr. McAfee said he knows firsthand of more than six dairies in Pennsylvania, some of them Amish, that supply the black market in New York and Boston. Theyre sending in 200 cases of milk every month, he said.
Today I spoke for 1.5 hours at the International Culinary Arts Institute in San Jose….all about raw milk and human immune systems. The room was filled with Chefs and their instructors.
On July 9th I testify in front of the CDFA “Dairy Council” in Sac Ca. My four page statement has already been submitted and recieved by CDFA. Dr. Bruce German from UC Davis will also be attending from the Interational Milk Genomics Consortium. The subject will be future investment in pathogen testing technologies and support of responsibly produced raw milk for CA as an emerging high value market.
It is clear that pasteurized milk is highly allergenic, not digestible and failing in the market place….all the while, almond milk and raw milk sales are on fire!!!and eating up the dairy case. The dairy community and their well funded council deserve to know exactly why.
The CIA ( Cows In Action )raw milk spy will be there to explain why and provide a little truth therapy…Lol.
Mary will be nominated to head the NIH & FDA next year….our mission is almost complete! Go Mary…
You are so right David, I could never be a spy, I teach too much.
Mark
“Raw milk from Cambridge farm makes at least six sick in Minnesota”
Of course nothing in the article makes mention of pathogens being found in the milk. Or if this was a raw milk operation or a commodity dairy selling on the side. Only that 6 people got sick, who also happened to drink raw milk from a farm. So of course the raw milk must be at fault.
At best they jumped the gun, at worst they’re making up raw milk outbreaks. When are farmers going to start suing for slander/libel?
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/06/26/health/dairy-raw-milk-sales?refid=0
“The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has banned raw milk sales on a central Minnesota farm, after blaming the product for a half dozen illnesses. ”
Wait, isn’t this the state which says its illegal to sell raw milk in MN? Maybe I misunderstood.
http://www.ufodigest.com/article/mysteries-mount-shasta-home-underground-dwellers-and-ancient-gods
Seriously though, while Mark McAfee and the RAWMI need no defending, I will say for the sake of getting the facts straight, that we are indeed a California Cow Share. We are “Community Food” people who intend to feed the neighborhood, not the world. We operate in an area where OPDC is currently the ONLY source of raw milk. When we begin offering milk to our community, we will in theory be in direct competition with OPDC. And yet Mark and his wife were geneously overjoyed to come and help us. We asked them to come. We pursued them. As family cow owners for the last 5 years, and now transitioning to a community herdshare, there has been a void of real-person mentors for us as to how to produce quality raw milk. And I don’t only mean bacteria-free…I mean QUALITY….from cows fed a grass-based, locally sourced diet, human handling, and with production methods that avoid the use of poison. The knowledge base is largely gone in our area, as all our community dairies are gone and our dairy men are in nursing homes.
Shawna, thanks for sharing your story. Yes, Mark McAfee has been there for farmers everywhere trying to feed their communities. He understands that OPDC benefits as the market for nutritionally dense food expands among a variety of producers–that he doesn’t need to be a monopoly.