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 VIPs, 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.
Someone obviously had a “beef” with them.
Can’t say I have any argument with “Peace Chicken’s” list of legitimate uses for SWAT teams. Assuming the police need them at ALL... which IS arguable.
Just think how it would have turned out if there had been any “identity confusion”, and the residents were inclined to exercise their RKBA in defense of their property and family.
There is a lot of bogus material in this supposed “true” story, the swat team held guns to the childrens head for 9 hours? ya, right, BS
Too bad the Illinois Governor wasn’t involved with the farm. If he had, they would have received a call at home and would have been allowed to come on over and get it all fixed up.
The fact that asome judge somewhere signed a warrant justified by “beef” recalls the old line:
Q: What do you call an attorney who graduated in the bottom 5% of his class?
A: “Your Honor”
“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.”
Last I checked, SWAT teams aren’t made up of health inspectors either.
I agree, exaggerated B.S.
Just as I suspected. Anyone else who believes this exaggerated hokum story should do a Google search and read something other than the hysterical web “reporting”, which in this case is far, far worse than anything cooked-up by the MSM.
For example, the following from http://www.cleveland.com/lorain/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lorain/1228901590175700.xml&coll=2 :
The Plain Dealer
‘Raid’ at Manna Storehouse organic food co-op disputed by Lorain County Sheriff’s Office
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Patrick O’Donnell
Plain Dealer Reporter
[snip]
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
The Lorain County Health Department tried to inspect the Storehouse in November 2007 but the family told inspectors to leave the property. Jacqueline Stowers wrote the department the next month that Manna does not need a license and that the inspection was an attempt to “cunningly coerce unlawful entry into our house and private property.”
In September, the county asked the Ohio Department of Agriculture for assistance, and an agent purchased eggs at the store. When agents learned of a possible delivery of meat, they obtained a warrant to search for evidence of the business’s activities.
The BS is the government at any level interfering with the operation of a business selling a legal product. Whether or not there were “jackbooted thugs” or not, these people should have been left alone. Additionally, I am more inclined to believe the story of the victims of this raid than the public officials who implemented and then defended it. The base line position is that those in power are not telling the truth, not the victimized subjects.
Please see my post #9 above.
So, DID law enforcement use a SWAT team, or not?
Jacqueline and John Stowers, owners of the Manna Storehouse, 43565 SR 303, were inspected in November 2007 by the Lorain County General Health District, according to court records.
The Plain Dealer says not but court records say it was inspected. Also at my link are comments after the story.
>>>>I’ll be interested in hearing the rest of the story.<<<<
See #9 above and click the link tot he Plain Dealer story.
I’m as concerned as anyone about the potential misuse of SWAT teams, but it appears not to have happened here.
They needed a license, they refused to get one. A search warrant was issued to inspect their facility and to obtain evidence of known and further wrongdoing.
End of story.
Having witnessed and unfortunately been a part of just such a kind of raid, I can attest that the abuse that goes on is staggering. Especially the abuse (and I suspected theft) of personal property.
That's pretty much where I'm coming from these days as well. The "cops", be they local, state and/or federal, more and more often go WAY overboard on simple issues.
>>>>>So, DID law enforcement use a SWAT team, or not?<<<<<
Read the Plain Dealer story.
Loraine Country sheriff says they don’t have a SWAT team.
Most localities do not use their SWAT teams to serve simple search warrants.
And there are other links on FR.
While Navy Seabee Is Fighting in Iraq, His Family Under Attack by Food Regulators in U.S.
Btw, why has the government the right to approve our food?
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