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Pennsylvania Pie Fight: State Cracks Down on Baked Goods
Wall Street Journal ^ | April 10, 2009 | Kris Maher

Posted on 04/10/2009 3:09:38 PM PDT by reaganaut1

ROCHESTER, Pa. -- On the first Friday of Lent, an elderly female parishioner of St. Cecilia Catholic Church began unwrapping pies at the church. That's when the trouble started.

A state inspector, there for an annual checkup on the church's kitchen, spied the desserts. After it was determined that the pies were home-baked, the inspector decreed they couldn't be sold.

"Everyone was devastated," says Josie Reed, a 69-year-old former teacher known for her pumpkin and berry pies.

Sold for $1 a slice, homemade pies have always been part of the Lenten fish-fry dinners at St. Cecilia's, located in this tiny city near Pittsburgh. Similar dinners are held in church basements and other venues across the country this time of year.

The problem is the pies are illegal in Pennsylvania. Under the state's food-safety code, facilities that provide food at four or more events in a year require at least a temporary eating and drinking license, and food has to be prepared in a state-inspected kitchen. Many churches have six fish fries a year, on Fridays during Lent. St. Cecilia's has always complied with having its kitchen licensed, so food made there is fine to serve. But homemade goods don't make the cut.

The disappearance of Mary Pratte's coconut-cream pie, Louise Humbert's raisin pie and Marge Murtha's "farm apple" pie from the fish-fry fund-raisers sparked an uproar that spread far beyond the small parish. The local paper dubbed it "piegate," and a nearby bakery donated pies to the church to help fill the gap at the dessert table. There are reports of other churches continuing to sell contraband pastries. Legislation to overturn the baked-goods ban is being discussed.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: church; food; healthnazis; nannystate; pennsylvania
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To: Bean Counter
BOSTON Cream Pie Tea Party
41 posted on 04/10/2009 8:23:02 PM PDT by Esther Ruth
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To: Billthedrill

Was that from Francisco’s wedding speech? I’m a ways ahead of the discussion and I know I read it but can’t remember the context.


42 posted on 04/10/2009 8:29:06 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?)
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To: reaganaut1

Jeez - our foolish laws will force God-fearing folks feel like they’re operating a meth lab when all they are doing is baking pies, for cryin’ out loud.


43 posted on 04/10/2009 8:52:50 PM PDT by 3catsanadog (I plan to give the new President the same respect and dignity the other side gave Bush.)
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To: rabscuttle385
How did it happen that we set up this situation where government employees just suck all the joy out of life?

First booze, then tobacco, then hamburgers, then booze again, then Twinkies, now pie.

Where will it all end?

44 posted on 04/10/2009 9:53:52 PM PDT by elkfersupper (Member of the Original Defiant Class)
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To: reaganaut1
"They have more work on their hands than going after little old ladies baking pies."

Well, apparently this one inspector was bored enough to give granny a hard time at this church.

45 posted on 04/11/2009 4:56:16 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner (Sarah Palin is a smart missile aimed at the heart of the left!)
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To: Bean Counter

Didn’t realise that Jerome “Curley” Howard was a lefty. Looks like he had a good breaking ball.


46 posted on 04/11/2009 6:07:31 AM PDT by Calvinist_Dark_Lord ((I have come here to kick @$$ and chew bubblegum...and I'm all outta bubblegum! ~Roddy Piper))
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To: reaganaut1
The same kind of thing happened years ago in Mchenry County, Illinois. This used to be a nice place to live and raise a family, but then a lot of people from Chicago and close-in suburbs moved in and brought the same mentality with them.

The county board of health hired a bunch of Nazi inspectors and decided to become a profit center. Events were canceled or hassled out of existence, and the little people learned to live with the inconvenience of big government in small towns.

47 posted on 04/11/2009 8:03:55 AM PDT by Bernard (If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember exactly what you said.)
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To: reaganaut1

This is just beyond stupid. What’s next, contraband pierogies?


48 posted on 04/11/2009 8:22:37 AM PDT by grimalkin (The ultimate basis of an all around bureaucratic system is violence. - Ludwig von Mises)
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To: AGreatPer

No, I think that we are coming down eating soylent green. The federal government wants to kill small farming and regulate all food. Church dinners are just a good staring point, grange halls, too. Once people get used the small intrusions of government regulation, they will move to the farms.

I think that the recent out breaks of salmonella in peanuts and pistachios are all related to the food police. I think that the nut prep factories are not union and a lot of lefties are afraid of nuts because of allergies, so they made a convenient target. Farm animals are, of course, included in the food safety act. It will cost farmers more to have the inspections than they can make on the farm products, thus forcing them out of business.

Democrats want to preserve the farm land and destroy the farmer.


49 posted on 04/11/2009 9:01:47 AM PDT by Eva (union motto - Aim for mediocrity, it's only fair.)
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To: tillacum

hard to believe they would actually go after these people for this...its hard to imagine but I am sure it happens here in NY too..anything for a nice hefty fine.


50 posted on 04/11/2009 9:55:34 AM PDT by Heavy Fuel
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To: reaganaut1

Freakin’ ridiculous! Ban the nanny state!


51 posted on 04/11/2009 10:40:44 AM PDT by ronnyquest ("That's what governments are for, to get in a man's way.")
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