Posted on 12/10/2008 6:33:57 AM PST by Dutchgirl
A crack SWAT team of sherrif's deputies, health inspectors, and Ohio Department of Agriculture officials busted into the Manna Storehouse food co-op in LaGrange, Ohio, in a raid last week. The co-op is also the home of the Stowers family, so Katie Stowers, her children, and her in-laws were held at gunpoint while the agents took tens of thousands of dollars worth of meat, plus computers and cell phone. Chad Stowers, Katie's husband, wasn't home because he is a U.S. Navy Seabee currently in Iraq.
Their crime? The warrant listed the reason for the raid as "beef."
Manna may, perhaps, have needed a license to run a retail food establishment. Mostly a coop, they did sell some leftover products in a small store on the property. The exact nature of the business is in dispute, which is why the Stowers' wrote letters to various agencies asking for advice on how to proceed. Obviously, the best way to reply to that request was with a SWAT team.
The folks over at Peace Chicken (yes, that's a real site, compete with chicken death doomsday clock) are seriously peeved. They offer, from the Lorain county sherrif's page, a list of the legit justifications for a SWAT raid:
* Hostage Situations: the holding of any person(s) against their will by an armed or potentially armed suspect. * Barricade Situation: the stand-off created by an armed or potentially armed suspect in any location, whether fortified or not, who is refusing to comply with law enforcement demands for surrender. * Sniper Situations: the firing upon citizens and/or law enforcement officers by an armed suspect, whether stationary or mobile. * High-Risk Apprehension: the arrest or apprehension of armed or potentially armed suspects where the likelihood of armed resistance is high. * High-Risk Warrant Service: the service of search or arrest warrants where the warrant service matrix or policy recommends or requires the use of SWAT. * Personal Protection: the security of special persons, such as VIP’s, witnesses, or suspects, based on threat or potential threat to the well being of those persons. * Special Assignments: any assignment, approved by the SWAT Operations Commander, based on a high level of threat and/or need.
Not on the list:
* Licensing Confusion: when a farm might be a retail establishment, or it might not, based on high level of threat from pitchforks and/or women and children.
Because co-ops are exempt.
I can see both sides of this issue- it seems the authorities could have sat down with these people and told them what is required for their operation to be legal, and given them copies of laws and ordinances that pertain to what they are doing. The idea of food co-ops, bartering of food- selling certain food items directly to the public are all gray areas in food laws. Most food laws are aimed at retail food sales and it seems these people think they are not (the authorities think they are) retail selling food.
Food laws are important to protect people from many diseases and food-born illnesses- especially when it comes to meat. Laws regarding beef have become a really big deal since the fear of mad cow disease and the authorities wanting to track beef at every step in the chain so if Mad Cow disease is discovered it can be rapidly determined exactly where it came from. The laws are probably over-kill and over-reaching since it is the government after all, but some enforcement is definately needed to protect the public.
>>>>>I’m really not accustomed to thinking something would work better if only government had a little more control over it. <<<<<<<
Food inspection is one area where I’m content to allow the government significant leeway.
Especially since I’ve had food poisoning while abroad, and have repeatedly seen the most revolting meat handling practices imaginable.
It’s already gross enough, I wouldn’t want America to decline to anywhere near those “standards”.
>>>>>>the authorities could have sat down with these people and told them what is required for their operation to be legal, and given them copies of laws and ordinances that pertain to what they are doing.<<<<<<<
I’d agree with you in theory but in my area “the government” is generally not so accomodating, especially if you have already challenged them when they tried to gain your legal compliance and you refused.
Also where I’m from it is generally *my* duty and obligation to understand the laws, and to seek legal counsel if I do not.
I’ve had a business for 10 years and have *never* had a state or local authority “sit down to tell me what is legal”.
If they ever do that I shall promptly fall to the floor in shock.
America’s “standards” aren’t yours, believe me. My brother Dan drives semi. Went to a pickle factory for a pickup. After seeing the outdoor vats and what’s in them besides pickles, FDA approved, he won’t eat pickles anymore. Co-ops and health food farms are cleaner.
>>>>I, for one, favor a Free Republic. Do you even know what that means? <<<<<<
I quit the Libertarian Party 25 years ago for exactly the sort of pie-in-the-sky amateur anarchism that you seem to espouse.
I know. Food standards DOES seem like one area where regulation might not be a bad thing. However, if government is so bad at everything else, how can it be that they might actually make this situation better? It’s kind of a puzzler to me.
>>>>>>“in place for 100 years” then it HAS to be the right thing to do.<<<<<<
Pretty darned disingenuous since I posted several times in detail why we have food and health regulations in America.
It’s pretty clear that you have no serious argument for your emotional positions, else you wouldn’t be resorting to ad hominem attacks and intentional misreading of my posts.
http://www.loraincountysheriff.com/swat.htm
S.W.A.T Unit
|
Every law enforcement agency at one time or another will be faced with an emergency or critical incident with greater risk and a higher potential for the loss of life. Such incidents may involve confrontations with armed, barricaded suspects, the rescue of hostages or injured people, snipers, riots, crowd control and dignitary protection. The methods, techniques and equipment used to resolve these situations may determine the outcome of a life or death situation. These situations can expose law enforcement personnel to an abnormal amount of risk and personal danger. To minimize the risk and deal most effectively with these situations requires planning, special weapons, tactics and highly trained personnel. The result is the formation of a group of carefully selected officers trained with Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT). Recognizing that the presence of a highly trained, highly skilled tactical unit has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of injury or loss of life to citizens, police officers and suspects; and recognizing that a well managed team response to critical incidents usually results in successful resolution of critical incidents. It is the mission of Lorain County Sheriff's Office personnel assigned to SWAT to provide a immediate, systematic response of trained law enforcement personnel and equipment to tactical situations, emergencies, critical incidents or natural disasters that exceed the capabilities of a requesting agency. The Lorain County SWAT Team is comprised of officers from Amherst, Avon, Grafton, Sheffield Lake and Vermilion Police departments as well as Deputies from the Sheriff's Office. |
>>>>>>However, if government is so bad at everything else, how can it be that they might actually make this situation better? It’s kind of a puzzler to me.<<<<<<<
Not to say they are always up to snuff, but I have personally seen countless food stalls and vendors abroad where there is no inspection or regulation of any kind. The meat products are covered with flies, often (when I’ve checked) rotten, and just generally disgusting. I’ve been made deathly ill from bad food while abroad, and never in the U.S. (although it does happen to people).
There’s much more to say (example China) but you get the idea.
Things would be infinitely worse without our U.S. food inspection and licensing laws.
The quasi-anarchist mewling in this thread is just preposterous, and obviously from people who have never been outside the borders of the USA.
>>>>>Co-ops and health food farms are cleaner.<<<<<
Fine. Then a license and inspections should be no problem.
>>>>>>Since when does the government have the right to tell us that we can’t buy direct from farmers?<<<<<<
You can buy anything from anyone who’s selling it.
It’s not you but the food outlet that needs the health and inspection license.
And why don't you understand that the FDA allows a certain amount of "debris" in food? The FDA's standards aren't what you think.
I stand corrected, I misread this paragraph from The Plain Dealer story linked above:
“Resendez said four deputies conducted the search over three or four hours - not the nine claimed on some sites. There was no SWAT team and no semiautomatic weapons. “We don’t even have semiautomatic weapons,” he said.
So apparently they seem to have a SWAT team, but the Sheriff says it was not used and it doesn’t have automatic weapons.
Seeing what the FDA approves would make you puke.
>>>>>Co-ops are not licensed. Why can’t you understand that no state requires a co-op to be licensed?<<<<<<
But coops do require that their suppliers have proper licensing, and the operations of this Manna establishment clearly cross the line into retail sales.
Ah!!!! You have first hand knowledge. You live in Lagrange or Cleveland?
>>>>>Seeing what the FDA approves would make you puke.<<<<<<<
Agreed. And eating the contaminated foods in unregulated countries almost killed me.
Are you another anarchist who objects to food inspection and licensing?
>>>>>>Ah!!!! You have first hand knowledge. You live in Lagrange or Cleveland? <<<<<<<
Ahhhhhh@!
I read the PDF of the warrant order and affidavits!
>>>>>And why don’t you understand that the FDA allows a certain amount of “debris” in food?<<<<<<<
Have you *ever* been to a country where there is no food inspection or licensing of any kind whatsoever?
This whole discussion is grossly parochial.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.