James Stewart and Sharon Palmer spent a fifth night in a Ventura County jail. The two, who are associated with the Rawesome Food Club–Stewart as its owner-manager and Palmer as a provider of milk (via a herdshare since discontinued) and chickens and eggs–are hoping to be released tomorrow (Thursday) during a hearing at which they will request a lowering of their bail.
Stewart is being held on $1 million bail and Palmer on $2 million bail. The Ventura County District Attorney has argued that the two are flight risks. Palmer back in 1998 fled to Mexico when a mortgage company she worked with came under investigation She detailed her version of what occurred in a comment on this blog in early 2009.
A third individual associated with Rawesome, real estate developer Larry Otting, was also hit with a $1 million bail; he apparently couldn’t be found to be arrested last Friday, and turned himself in yesterday at the courthouse, where he posted bail and left the courthouse.
All three pleaded not guilty yesterday to assorted charges–including grand theft, securities fraud, embezzlement, mortgage fraud, and money laundering–in connection with the purchase by Palmer of Healthy Family Farms in Ventura County in 2008. In addition, Palmer was charged with evasion of state income taxes.
The three have been charged in connection with Sharon Palmer’s acquisition of the property for nearly $2 million. Otting used his credit to obtain a mortgage of $1.1 million, and allegedly signed documents saying that the remainder of the purchase price wouldn’t come from borrowed funds. But Palmer did borrow several hundred thousand dollars of funds from about half a dozen individuals, indicating they would be repaid from a government loan she had applied for. According to Palmer’s lawyer, at least some of the individuals who loaned her money were sympathetic to her problems when the California Department of Food and Agriculture came after her in connection with providing goats milk to a herdshare organized by Rawesome, and were content to give her more time to re-pay the loans; others apparently haven’t been so forgiving.
Palmer’s lawyer, Matthew Bromund, accused the Ventura District Attorney’s office of “grandstanding” via the high bail. He said that not only has she appeared at every hearing in connection with the Rawesome case in Los Angeles, but also at all hearings in connection with misdemeanor charges brought against her in connection with the the original CDFA actions against her in 2008 and 2009 on whether she had valid pasteurization and milk plant licenses. Her current detention is “a complete travesty,” Bromund stated.
From what I understand, none of the latest charges have anything to do with a sore point among some Rawesome members–allegations that Palmer sometimes provided outsourced eggs and chickens to the club rather than what she produced at Healthy Family Farms.
James Stewart and Sharon Palmer, shown together at a fund-raising event for their court case in Los Angeles, last fall. At the bail hearing Thursday, lawyers for Stewart and Palmer are expected to point out that neither has shown any inclination to leave town since charges were filed last August by the Los Angeles District Attorney in connection with allegedly illegal raw milk sales at Rawesome. Each has appeared at any number of hearings that have been scheduled over the last seven months.
Friends of Stewart are collecting written character references for him, to present to the court on Thursday, which can be sent to friendsofrawesome@gmail.com. For Sharon Palmer, letters can be sent to her lawyer, Matthew Bromund <mbromund@bromundlaw.com>.
**
There was one piece of unfinished business from the Vernon Hershberger hearing Friday–something I hesitated to write about originally. But when I told a few friends about it, they said they thought it was highly germane to the whole event–a kind of a reality test as to what the keepers of the courts, and the prosecutors and judges who help employ them, really think of us food rights folks.
The reason I was in the hall outside the courtroom and ran into Andrew Hershberger (as described in my previous post) was because I was on my way to the bathroom. No big deal, except in the Sauk County Courthouse on Friday, it was a big deal.
See, when I originally entered the courtroom, near the front of a long line of individuals who had been at the rally, and took a seat, I went in as one of the crowd, one of those attending the rally. After I got inside, I realized I needed to use the bathroom, and went outside the courtroom to ask a court officer where it was located, and what I might need to do to get back into the courtoom (like go through the security metal detector again).
“You can’t get back in,” the court officer told me.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I need to use the bathroom. I’m glad to go through security again.”
“If you go to the bathroom, you’ll have to go to the back of the line,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the stairs a floor below us.
That meant I probably wouldn’t get back into the courtroom, and maybe not into the overflow room, either.
“That doesn’t sound right,” I protested. “People shouldn’t be prohibited from using the bathroom. That’s just plain human decency.”
“Sorry, those are the rules.”
I asked another court officer, and was told the same thing. Can’t use the bathroom. “I don’t make the rules,” she said. No, clearly, the rules came from on high.
Other people had the same problem–after all, we had all driven in from somewhere and then been out in the cold for a couple hours. Everyone got the same answer, and reluctantly returned to their courtroom seats.
So we all unhappily and uncomfortably gritted our teeth, and awaited the start of the session, hoping it wouldn’t last too long. At that point, I noticed there was a media section to the courtroom, where a few reporters were sitting. I decided to try to sit there, so someone else could have my courtroom seat. I showed my press credentials, and changed seats.
I asked the reporter sitting next to me, Joe Orso, if he thought I might be able to get a bathroom break. He had the same problem, so we both headed out, to inquire with the court officers . The first fellow who had denied me, knew all about me as I emerged. “You didn’t tell me you were media,” he said, enthusiastically, with a big smile. “Sure, head on down. You can just come back through security.”
The message couldn’t have been clearer. The court officials didn’t like the pro-Hershberger crowd, and were going to make sure to make the dislike as clear as possible. Shutting off bathroom rights is about as demeaning and dehumanizing as it gets. Even ordinary prisoners get that.
Why would they do that? Maybe they don’t like Hershberger standing up for his rights. Whatever, there was a meanness of spirit that told me a lot about the hostility many in positions of authority feel about the audacity of some of us to object vocally about the trampling of our food rights.
By the way, there have been a steady stream of nice articles and posts about last Friday’s rally and court hearing. One by Kim Hartke, and another by Bekah Wilce of PR Watch. And there’s the incisive text of a talk by Kelly West, a member of Hershberger’s food club.
**
With the previous Wisconsin courthouse experience fresh in my mind, I looked over a new study that came out last week, “Motivation for Unpasteurized Milk Consumption in Michigan, 2011”. By large margins, those surveyed feel raw milk is healthier than pasteurized milk and should be legal to sell…and they don’t trust public health officials.
Yawn. They needed a formal “scientific” study to learn that? At one point, the study’s authors state: “Respondents were evidently very dedicated to drinking raw milk, since a majority drank raw milk exclusively and travel a great distance (mean of 24 miles) to obtain raw milk. The proposed health benefits of raw milk consumption were a major reason for their loyalty to the product. Unfortunately, there is little scientific evidence to support the beliefs regarding raw milk’s health benefits.”
Yes, these poor delusional raw milk drinkers. Maybe put them in a zoo for the next phase of the study, so their brains and anatomy can be studied for defects and genetic problems. But definitely don’t investigate the possible nutritional and health benefits of raw dairy products.
We talked alot about the PARSIFAL and GABRIELA studies done in Basel Swtizerland…both peer reviewed, both published in renowned and respected journals of Science. We spoke about Dr. Beals study of lactose intolerance in Michigan. We spoke about the tens of thousands of consumers of Raw Milk in CA that report confirming experiences that align perfectly with the Basel research and Dr. Beals work.
Sounds like the Murcury news is about to do some truth talking.
The Progressive Dairymans magazine had an editorial in it this month that blew my mind. The editor went off on the secrets of the processing industry and how these secrets had destroyed the dairy markets. Things like "Milk Protein Concentrate" being added to thousands of foods in our supermarkets…..and it does not even have GRAS ( generally accepted as safe ) status from the FDA. Many believe that it may be carcinogenic. The editorial attacked the dairy and the commodity market system that is killing farms and farmers and killing hope for the next generation of farmers.
I have said this before…."big lies come back to cause big problems". Big Dairy has a Big Problem and dollar voting consumers are now a very serious problem for them. Prices per CWT are falling ( again in 2012 ) and dairy milk pricing is expected to have another horrible year. In 2009, milk prices paid to commodity farmers were $9 per CWT less than their costs. OUCH!!!
One lesson that must be learned by dairyman….if you do not hang together, you will hang one by one. As a dairyman, you must learn to be a part of a team. Get Big or Get Out….just does not work. It kills off the smallest and then…. reduces market size. Smaller…becomes a bigger and bigger fish to die in the next round of die off. Small used to be 100 cows…now small is 1000 cows.
Dairyman must reduce the amount of milk they produce and they MUST START CONNECTING TO CONSUMERS and producing products that they can digest and that are not allergenic. Disconnected farmers…do consumer disconnected things. They ruin their own markets. Selfishness will then kill-off the rest as they try and eat each other alive trying to get big before they are forced out.
The processors are the enemy of all…both the farmer and the consumer. Sick selfish greed based process…sad outcomes….thank you "pasteurization".
No ….you were not the saviour of the world. The Human Gut is not a shelf…stop treating it like a shelf.
Big Lies====Big Problems.
David, next time you go to court in Wisconsin, take a piliot relief bag….piss in court. That should get things stirred up a bit. That may be what it takes…literally piss on them.
Deception is unforgivable.
Didn't the govt spend $$$$$ on a study of cow farts? Wasteful. Common sense isn't so common.
"A citizen may not be required to offer a "good and substantive" reason why he should be permitted to exercise his rights. The right's existence is all the reason he needs."
Benson Everette Legg; U.S. District Court Judge
Case docket: Woolard et al v. Sheridan et al
ia600501.us.archive.org
"a sore point among some Rawesome members–allegations that Palmer sometimes provided outsourced eggs and chickens to the club rather than what she produced at Healthy Family Farms."
Deception is unforgivable.
Deception is unforgivable. Of course. What does this mean? Does it mean that Sylvia Gibson will have nothing whatsoever to do with Sharon Palmer in terms of buying food products? I would guess that is what it means, at the least.
In the case of Rawesome, whose business is this, the chicken and the egg deception? The Los Angeles County District Attorneys? The State of Californias. The United States Governments? The United Nations? The United Federation of Planets? The Galactic Republics? Without addressing the question Ive posed, please allow me to move to this topic:
The Rawesome raiders on Wednesday, the Third of August 2011, destroyed a significant quantity of Club property. Is that destruction of Club property not criminal activity by any accepted measure? The Rawesome raiders, it is said, had judicial authorization to take certain samples. Was the judicial authorization to take samples then simply a judge-supplied fig-leaf, the real purpose being to provide cover for an extra-legal attack on Rawesome?
Keep in mind that book Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent. If the thicket of laws we inhabit (however that thicket has grown, whether directly enacted law or indirectly enacted law, via regulations) becomes (or has become) so great that an ordinary life or business can always be found to be in violation (of some law(s) or regulation(s)), then the authorities, with sufficient investigatory effort, will always have legal weapons to hand to direct at any target they choose to attack. If the authorities do not choose to attack, they simply ignore the violations.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
On a seperate topic, here's a good article on the disappearance of France's diverse cheese making traditions, which seems to coincide with the loss of biological and ecological diversity, and globalization & industrialization.
http://3wheeledcheese.com/2012/03/06/frances-distinctive-cheeses-are-disappearing/
www. lisbonreporter .com/2012/02/high-on-his-power-breathing-fresh-air.html
(take out the space before and after lisbonreporter to get to the link)
Brandon
I work with Sharon Palmer and have for several years, I have been her neighbor, her friend, help sell for her and seen everything there is to see on her farm including sitting in her office in her room printing out egg labels. There are several people out to ruin her and I am going to defend her in any way I can. Most of these people have never been to the farm, had an intelligible conversation with her or had an open mind that maybe things have been taken out of context, pictures taken somewhere else, things that were fabricated to bring her business down. Doesn't that happen often in businesses? I sell at 3 farmer's markets for her and I personally own a farmer's market and am working on opening a co-operatively farmer/consumer owned farmer's market. Before I met Sharon, I managed several of the biggest Farmer's Markets in Southern California. I grew up in the midwest surrounded by farms and farmers. I met her because I personally was passionate about going to my farmers who were represented in the farmer's markets so I could build confidence in the consumer. While there are some naysayers about her, as well all know, no business is perfect and no explanation will ever suffice the people that are against her. But if you were to spend a day with her on the farm and she were to show you around, you would feel a warmth and generosity that I could tell you hundreds of people have felt. She would let you gather your eggs and give you a carton to put them in. She would pick you flowers from her garden, offer you iced tea and you would enjoy sitting at her farmhouse table in the barn listening to all her stories that would have you cracking up about her animals and their personality. One of her dogs on the farm would come sit at your feet and you would love to pick up one of the baby lambs or pigs. She is the most generous person I sincerely have ever met, that is why I am standing up for her along with the hundreds of customers that come to my booth every week that have been to the farm and always comment "this is the best chicken, pork, eggs….I have ever had." Many of these other market owners have been to her farm and have her still selling because of what they have seen. I have been at the farm every day since her recent arrest, was at her arraignment tuesday and will be at her bail hearing today. I can't wait for all the evidence to be proven of her innocence, I have personally seen it. My heart goes out to her children and animals, they are the ones suffering right now. When I spoke to Sharon the last few days, she is weary of doing a good thing and I don't care what anyone wants to say in judgement, Sharon is not who the media or a few naysayers say that she is.
How many of us could stand from a Glass house and throw Stones. I find it funny when her past allegations, charges etc are thrown out there so negatively but nothing is reported then about how she was found innocent, only served time because she didn't have the money for bail. These current allegations are so blown out of proportion, easy to use to scare away business and to bring her down, why else would they have her arrested in LA at the end of a court hearing in which she has cooperated with all along. Trust me she has an explanation for everything and when in context it makes sense. She is very concerned about doing things to protect her family and business. Farming is not a perfect science, the laws and system are far from perfect and it is completely easy to distort something to bring a business and farm down. If she wasn't doing a good thing and an honest business why would she have been in Farmageddon, Edible Ojai magazine, on the above news and many other sources.
Because those people came out to the farm spent time with her and the animals, interviewed those closest to her and felt confident enough to feature her.
You can see her whole farm from the road. She has an organic garden in which she grows all kinds of stuff including pumpkins which the animals love. She has a fodder system that grows grass when the canyon is dry.
I know this is long, so I will stop for now.
Thanks for listening, I had to put this out there because it was bothering me that the picture the media paints of her is not who she is.
Wendy
Further proof that danger labels on packages does not work.