I read a story today that made me sick to my stomach. I could not believe that something like this can happen in the USA. It makes me feel like we are living in the military state, with no rights, no voice, and no government to give us protection, or allow us freedom of choice. But it also affirms the fact that money=power even in the country that claims to be run by the people. It also confirms that the FDA will do whatever it takes to run the country. That it would rather feed the country's citizenz with poisoned, chemically laden foods, than give up a portion of their possible profits. It really shows that our government does not care!
But, before I continue rambling, let me allow you to judge this situation for yourself. Instead of trying to retell the story, I am going to quote Dr. Pam Popper, and link you to a local blogger that covered it in depth.
"On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The team was aggressive and belligerent. At some point, the "bad cop" SWAT team was relieved by another team, a "good cop" team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.
There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them was identified as Bill Lesho.
Agents began rifling through all of the family's possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in their home. It has been reported that the search warrant itself was suspicious-looking. In addition, many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant.
The family was not permitted a phone call, they were not told what crime they were being charged with, nor were they read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family's personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers and cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.
The Morning Journal, a newspaper serving northern Ohio, reported that the Stowers were believed to be operating a retail establishment without a license, which is a 3rd degree misdemeanor. However, the Stowers claim that the food co-op they run does not engage in any activities that would require state licensing.
Friends of the Stowers openly question why such aggressive tactics were necessary to investigate a licensing complaint.
One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:
"Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in-law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid."
The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk "sale," which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away" (Matthew 5:42)
The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College's student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After being contacted by officials from the ODA, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the co-op, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!
The matter has been forwarded to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and the Lorain County General Health District according to Lorain County court records."
Here are the links to the local Ohio blogger.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
I would really like to do something more than just posting about this on my blog. Perphas we can all find a way to write to their local authorities and voice our outrage?... I will certainly explore my options.
But, before I continue rambling, let me allow you to judge this situation for yourself. Instead of trying to retell the story, I am going to quote Dr. Pam Popper, and link you to a local blogger that covered it in depth.
"On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The team was aggressive and belligerent. At some point, the "bad cop" SWAT team was relieved by another team, a "good cop" team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.
There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them was identified as Bill Lesho.
Agents began rifling through all of the family's possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in their home. It has been reported that the search warrant itself was suspicious-looking. In addition, many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant.
The family was not permitted a phone call, they were not told what crime they were being charged with, nor were they read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family's personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers and cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.
The Morning Journal, a newspaper serving northern Ohio, reported that the Stowers were believed to be operating a retail establishment without a license, which is a 3rd degree misdemeanor. However, the Stowers claim that the food co-op they run does not engage in any activities that would require state licensing.
Friends of the Stowers openly question why such aggressive tactics were necessary to investigate a licensing complaint.
One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:
"Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in-law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid."
The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk "sale," which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away" (Matthew 5:42)
The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College's student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After being contacted by officials from the ODA, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the co-op, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!
The matter has been forwarded to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office and the Lorain County General Health District according to Lorain County court records."
Here are the links to the local Ohio blogger.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
I would really like to do something more than just posting about this on my blog. Perphas we can all find a way to write to their local authorities and voice our outrage?... I will certainly explore my options.
