U.S. Citizens Must Be Protected, Controlled, Regulated and Intimidated For Their Own Good

Too Good Reports ^ | Dec. 8, 2003 | Fred Reed

[snopercod]

OTC. Don't go to a vet. Go to a feed store.

Here in the country, even the local hardware stores carry the stuff. Injectibles, too.

[snopercod]

In fiesta season, which just ended, everybody and his grand aunt Chuleta puts up a taco stand or booze stall on the plaza. Yes: In front of God and everybody. These do not have permits.

In Santa Maria, CA, with it's heavily Mexican population, BBQ stands are set up Saturday on just about every corner on Broadway.

I live in NC now and thought of doing the same thing here in our little town since I can't find a da*n job. So I made the mistake of visiting the County Health Department to see what would be required to get a permit to do that.

I would have had put up a screened enclosure with fly fans, hot and cold running water and a sink to wash my hands. The temperature of the water would have to be monitored. I would need a refrigerator (also monitored), and restroom facilities.

All food would have to be prepared in a Class A restaurant - no food prep on site. Neither could I sell any food containing mayonaise.

Needless to say, I have forgotten about that idea.

Oh yes, my brother told me that the city fathers in Santa Maria tried to do the same thing to the BBQ stands there. They were gone for about a month, until the local population revolted and demanded that they be allowed to return.

[Ignatz]

That's pretty interesting. I grew up on a farm, and believe me, I was in direct contact with animal wastes on a daily basis. I never had an e.coli infection. You may be on to something, tl!

[Ignatz]

after telling the pharmacist that I did not want the suppository form

France, eh? The pharmacist must have been terribly disappointed!

[snopercod]

http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2002/08/17/news/export4045.txt

Crackdown on catering trucks

By Jasmine Marshall and Elizabeth Rodriguez / Times Staff Writers

SANTA MARIA -- Catering trucks have become so popular with Santa Marians, some restaurant owners are thinking of foregoing their more expensive rent and overhead in favor offering a moveable feast. Others are fed up with the trend because they say the trucks are flouting health and operating codes while cutting into their business.

"Many of my permanent facility operators have said they want to sell and get a truck because they just can't make it," confirms Richard Furtado, an inspector for Santa Barbara County's Environmental Health Department, which handles permits and inspections for the food industry.

One restaurant owner who doesn't plan to sell her business and buy a truck is Petra Hernandez. With her husband, Hernandez operates the El Rey Del Taco restaurant on West Main Street. She's fed up with catering truck operators who she says have set up permanent shop at several locations on Main Street and Broadway.

"These trucks are here all the time. Morning, noon and night. They don't move," said Hernandez, showing a photo she recently took documenting a catering truck open for business and serving a customer after dark.

The city of Santa Maria does not permit catering vehicles to sell food between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. The trucks are also not supposed to be parked for more than 30 minutes at any location on public streets. Catering vehicles parked on private property must have written permission from the owner and cannot stay for more than 70 minutes before moving to another location for at least two hours.

Hernandez said that isn't happening. She claims catering trucks are operating like restaurants, not moving at all.

"It isn't fair to those of us who follow the laws and codes," Hernandez said. "If you get your permits and follow the laws, then fine, I have no problem with you. But many of them (catering trucks) aren't. They don't pay for business licenses or go through the same health inspection process."

While catering vehicles are supposed to be inspected on a yearly basis, it's up to the operators to come in and apply for the permits, Fertado said.

"A lot of them are not being inspected," said Furtado. "It's on their honor to come in and get the permits, and they don't always."

Many of the catering trucks appear to be coming from Southern California, as are produce trucks, ice cream carts and corn vendors, hoping to capture the lucrative market of Santa Maria's Latino immigrant population. "Coyotes" often bring up newly arrived Mexican immigrants, desperate for work to sell food on the streets. Their customers may be purchasing snow cones, meat or corn kept in unsanitary conditions, but they rarely file complaints with his department, Furtado said.

Spurred by complaints by permanent restaurant owners like Hernandez, Santa Maria's code compliance department has asked the Santa Maria Police Department begin investigating whether the catering trucks violating the law. It won't be the first time the issue has been brought up according to Wendy Stockton, senior deputy city attorney.

"It's cyclical," said Stockton. The city typically investigates and prosecutes catering trucks violating city codes after receiving complaints from business owners like Hernandez.

Some catering truck owners said they follow guidelines to run their business and have no fear of a city crackdown.

The owner of Nohely's Hot Lunch, parked on Main Street, said he has had commercial permits for many years. He did not give his name. Though he did not wish to show the permits, he insisted he does indeed have permits.

"I don't know what you're trying to get at, but otherwise how could I be here," he said in Spanish.

At 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon Nohely's Hot Lunch was parked at the corner of Kathleen Lane and Main Street. The owner of the truck said he doesn't stay there all day, he moves further west on Main Street where the farm workers are.

Delfino Cuevas, owner of Tacos y Mariscos El Rinconsito de Mexico, was eager to show his permits from both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Cuevas said, in Spanish, he takes his truck to San Luis Obispo during the day and comes to Santa Maria in the evenings. He said he moves around different parts of town approximately every hour and added he knows of catering trucks that stay in one location all day.

The food he serves, Cuevas said, is bought at La Chiquita Market and cooked in the truck. He said he has a permit to cook in the truck as well.

Alfonso Navarro, who works for the Tacos y Mariscos El Tapatio, also known as "A Touch of Class," also had no qualms about showing his permits from Santa Barbara County and Santa Maria. He said they have unannounced health inspections, and "that's good," he said in Spanish.

The "Touch of Class" truck is plugged into an electrical outlet in the parking lot of Calderon's Tires. Navarro said the truck owner has a symbiotic relationship with the owners of the tire shop: The catering truck employees keep the tire shop bathrooms clean and the truck can use electricity.

Another employee of the catering truck said the best way to know whether or not a catering truck has a permit from the health department is to look for a sticker similar to that of a Department of Motor Vehicles license plate tag.

Policing the catering trucks is difficult for the Santa Maria Police Department, when officers already have their hands full dealing with crimes and safety calls, said Sgt. Scott Vales.

But Hernandez said the issue is important, especially as merchants like herself are trying to revitalize northwest Santa Maria.

"This isn't how we want Santa Maria to look," she said pointing at a photo of a catering truck. "We're the All-America City, but this makes us look like East L.A."

* Staff writer Jasmine Marshall can be reached at (805) 739-2219, or by e-mail at jmarshall@pulitzer.net. Staff writer Elizabeth Rodriguez can be reached at (805) 347-4580 or by e-mail at erodriguez@pulitzer.net.

August 17, 2002

[tacticalogic]

I never had an e.coli infection.

Sure you did, probably at a very early age. Your immune system learned how to recognize it, and how to make the antibodies to kill it. Every time it got re-introduced into your system, that response was reinforced.

[ArrogantBustard]

Comments?

Influenza ("flu") is caused by a virus...

[AAABEST]

Free country my ass.

We really have lost so many freedoms so fast and nobody is doing a damn thing about it.

[Lazamataz]

I've heard traffic court in America referred to as a "sheep-shearing conveyor belt", and after experiencing it once first-hand believe our bandoleros in blue have found a way.

I have beaten 7 out of 10 traffic infraction citations in Georgia to-date. They write tickets like crazy in Atlanta. Sometimes they just pull me over and go fishing.

In three of the tickets, the officer never showed up. Dismissed. In four of the others, I successfully argued before the judge and won.

Never plead Guilty or Nolo Contendre to a traffic ticket. Forcing them to prove their point often yields positive results.

[DannyTN]

hmmm, well that works for antibiotics, but a quick scan of feed stores indicates they don't carry PPA.

Apparently nobody cares if livestock has allergies. It's sort of like the Elvis version of Old McDonald. "If that cow gets out of line....Hamburger Medium Rare."


Elvis Presley
Old MacDonald
Written by - Randy Starr

Old MacDonald had a farm
E I E I O
And on that farm he had some chicks
E I E I O
With a cluck, cluck here, a cluck, cluck there
Loud as they could be
And when those chicks got out of line
Chicken fricasee
With a cluck, cluck here, a cluck, cluck there
Loud as they could be
And when those chicks got out of line
Chicken fricasee

Well, Old MacDonald had a farm
E I E I O
And on that farm he had some cows
E I E I O
With a moo, moo here, a moo, moo there
Cattle everywhere
And when those cows got out of line
Hamburger, medium rare
With a moo, moo here, a moo, moo there
Cattle everywhere
And when those cows got out of line
Hamburger, medium rare

Oh...well, Old MacDonald had a farm
E I E I O
And on that farm he had some pigs
E I E I O
With an oink, oink here, an oink, oink there
Pigs everywhere in sight
And when those pigs got out of line
Pork and beans at night
With an oink, oink here, an oink, oink there
Pigs everywhere in sight
And when those pigs got out of line
Pork and beans at night

Well I'm gonna have a farm one day
E I E I O
And I'll do things McDonald's way
E I E I O
With a cluck, cluck here, a cluck, cluck there
A moo, moo here, a moo, moo there
An oink, oink here, an oink, oink there
And I can promise you
If those animals ever get out of line
We'll have a mulligan stew...
How about you?
Back
Home

[snopercod]

We really have lost so many freedoms so fast and nobody is doing a damn thing about it.

Any doubters here, please take a commercial airline trip. That will convince you that the 4th Reich has arrived.

[Middle Man]

I'm a contractor, just not in the construction industry. ;^)

[Middle Man]

"They were gone for about a month, until the local population revolted and demanded that they be allowed to return."

There you go. We've still got the numbers.

[Middle Man]

"Never plead Guilty or Nolo Contendre to a traffic ticket."

Hmmm. I pleaded Not Guilty and the judge simply intoned the words, "Fifty-five dollars", and gavelled my case off the docket. I was third or fourth in line of a case all involving the same officer and the same intersection.

If I knew then what I know now...

[Middle Man]

True. Over-use always begets a stronger species. An earlier generation had syphillis and gonorrhea; today we have AIDS and herpes.

[tacticalogic]

Not quite. AIDS and Herpes are viruses. Antibiotics only affect bacterial infections.

[SoCal Pubbie]

The article begins with a false statement. I suffer with sinus infections frequently. When I do, I go to my local "urgent care" facility, usually wait no more then fifteen minutes to see the doctor, and get my medicine right away. Yes, I may have to pay more than people do in Mexico, but there's no waiting. I pay cash so there's no insurance forms either. All in Kalifornia. Anyone in the US can choose to do this way too.

[MEGoody]

Most of the article strikes a chord with me. We are over-regulated. But this got my attention:

In fiesta season, which just ended, everybody and his grand aunt Chuleta puts up a taco stand or booze stall on the plaza.

What if Aunt Chuleta's tacos give you food poisoning? What if one of her 'secret ingredients' is rat droppings? What if Uncle Jose's booze stall is serving methyl alcohol? If one of your family members dies, can you seek revenge against Aunt Culeta or Uncle Jose? Is that legal?

[MEGoody]

"If their so happy, there should be many less of them coming over the US border illegaly next year."

There will probably be a lot more. Guess they prefer regulation after all. LOL

[MEGoody]

"Any doubters here, please take a commercial airline trip."

So you'd prefer no security at airports?