| Author |
Across the Fence:  farmer arrested and loses milk license in Ohio  |
|
|
Mari-dahlia
True Blue Farmgirl
269 Posts
Marianne
Hoosick Falls
New York
USA
269 Posts |
 Posted - Jun 28 2006 : 11:54:32 AM
|
Just listen to this. Ohio sets up an official sting operation to catch a poor Amish Dairy farmer selling raw milk! I guess that there is a loop whole that people who love raw milk have figured out. You pay a fee and own part of a herd of dairy cow. Then you bring your own container and knock on the farmer's door and he goes and gets you your milk. That is exactly what the officer did, he even paid for the milk and then they arrested the farmer. Are we a free country or not???? Pretty soon we will all wake up and have no freedoms left. What are you doing in Ohio? Your a big farm State. It's time to vote these guys out!!!
If I save a container, pay a monthly or annual fee and make the trip to the farm, knock on the farmer's door and ask for milk, I know It is raw milk and have jumped through many hoops to get it, what's the big deal. Don't they have Crime in Ohio, they have to go around arresting dairy famers?
I do not mean to offend anyone from Ohio, these injustices just make me really angry. |
|
|
therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2006 : 12:01:34 PM
|
A local dairy -- not too far from my house -- sold "shares" of the herd for raw milk. Several people got ecoli from the raw milk. In WA you can do it but you have to be certified. This farm wasn't. When the health deparment went in to inspect there was manure several inches thick in the room where the cows were milked. I agree -- this incident in Ohio is pretty bad. Like the police don't have better things to do than do a sting on a farmer? Someone probably turned him in or the authorities would have not known about it.
"But as for me & my house we will serve the LORD!" Joshua 24:15
Lotion bars, linen water & more in my online shop! http://therusticcottage.etsy.com
|
Edited by - therusticcottage on Jun 28 2006 9:31:30 PM |
 |
|
|
KarenP
True Blue Farmgirl
666 Posts
Karen
Chippewa Falls
Wisconsin
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2006 : 2:26:32 PM
|
Marianne,
I know it's not legal to sell raw milk in Wisconsin to consumers.
Must be the same in Ohio.
I feel that if I wish to purchase raw milk then it's my risk for e-coli etc.
But the state doesn't see it that way.
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
|
|
|
Mari-dahlia
True Blue Farmgirl
269 Posts
Marianne
Hoosick Falls
New York
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - Jun 28 2006 : 7:06:38 PM
|
| Here in NY, raw milk is legal with a special permit and a warning label. Most people go through hell-and-high-water to find it. I think anyone who sells to the public should be inspected for cleanliness. We seem to do things half-assed-and backwords in the US. Instead of inspecting everyone for cleanliness and compliance, we make it illegal in states and require NAIS instead of testing every animal. Just seems illogical. |
|
|
|
santa_gertrudis_gal
True Blue Farmgirl
198 Posts
Kim
Groesbeck
Texas
USA
198 Posts |
Posted - Jun 29 2006 : 07:59:50 AM
|
On the national level the selling of raw milk is illegal. Since this became a federal law, state's have modified it with the approval of the USDA. In the late 1800's it was contaminated beef being processed in filthy slaughter houses. I think certification of a dairy to sell raw milk is the solution. Unfortunately not all farmers/ranchers are honorable and laws are generated to protect the food supply for those few who are dishonorable. As for police and this Amish man you have to look at the cause. It's really not about the fact he sold the raw milk as it is about providing income to the jursidiction that arrested the dairyman. I've found that policing agencies are not interested in common sense anymore, but in providing income. Texas DPS (our state police) are more interested in providing an income to their department. In order for a trooper to get his next level of pay raise or the new car when they are issued they have to have a paper trail. So if your traveling through Texas and get stopped, expect a piece of paper in the form of either a ticket or warning. Then it is even tougher to handle watching them break the traffic laws themselves. My husband called in on a trooper that did just that and confronted him about it. His superiors came and picked him up, but I'm sure he just got a slap on the wrist. Just my humble opinion.
Solution: Enact your own term limits when you walk in the voting booth. Write your elected officals.
Kim
Heaven is a day at the ranch with my Santa Gertrudis! |
|
|
|
sunshine
True Blue Farmgirl
4877 Posts
Wendy
Utah
USA
4877 Posts |
Posted - Jun 29 2006 : 08:10:50 AM
|
this is a total side note but the pilice officers where I live don't get paid much if them getting raises means handing out more speeding tickets then by all means make the streets slower and give yourself a raise. Any one who takes on a job that is as thankless as that of a policeman or woman and might die because of that job has a right to want better pay and behafits. ( p.s. no one in my family is a police officer I use to have a neighbor who was the worry that went on in that home when he was at work it is a wonder any police people are able to keep spouces just stressful) If people don't like the laws the police men have to enforce don't pass the law in the first place or go and try to revoke it getting mad at the policeman isn't going to solve the problem. There are so many laws in the law books it is rediculas(sp?) no way any one could know them all and probably we break alot of laws we don't ever know about. A commen one people break is Jay walking I got one of those tickets when I was 15 I thought it a silly law until 3 yars latter when my fiance (sp?) at the time watched his 5 year old niece be killed in front of him as they where jay walking to a park. Trust me that is an image he will never get out of his mind long story short it took fire hoses to remove her from the road not much of a human left. So laws are great and some are silly if you don't like one protest it by voting and becoming a state delagate or something like that.
have a lovely day and may God bless you and keep you safe |
Edited by - sunshine on Jun 29 2006 10:12:57 AM |
|
|
|
LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Jun 29 2006 : 6:41:26 PM
|
Sunshine, I completely agree with you that being a law enforcement officer is a difficult and thankless job. However, if law enforcement wants respect from the general public then they should not have different rules than the rest of us. I know from talking to police officers that all their spouses have to do in order to get out of a speeding ticket is introduce themselves as so-and-so's wife or husband or mother or whatever and if the officer refuses to obey that unwritten rule and goes ahead and writes the ticket they should expect retaliation from other officers. When I lived in Indianapolis a police officer who was not following proper procedure killed a young boy because of it and as far as I know nothing happened, it was swept under the rug and out of public scrutiny. Another Indianapolis officer was pulled over by a state police officer and when the state trooper refused to let him go without a ticket his buddies showed up and "took him into custody" so that the trooper couldn't write the ticket. And you're absolutely right. They don't get paid enough. Perhaps if they did we wouldn't make excuses for them when they behave badly. I of course know that there are many police officers out there who are honorable and respectful of the law, but the ones who aren't are the ones who stand out and make things seem so unjust to the rest of us.
Not that this has anything to do with an Amish farmer being arrested for selling raw milk. That is the law and people should expect that it will be enforced. I would bet money that there is a raw milk activist group putting up for this man's legal defense so that they can use it as a test case to get the raw milk laws overturned and give share programs some legal "teeth." Selling raw milk is also illegal in Michigan and I know from talking to people who sell their milk raw that many of the dairy farmers here who specialize in shares already have attorneys ready to go for when they get "caught." I also know that they get a LOT of money for their milk (around $200 a goat share PLUS $10 or more per gallon of milk on top of that).
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
|
|
|
|
happymama58
True Blue Farmgirl
1210 Posts
Patti
Missouri
USA
1210 Posts |
Posted - Jun 30 2006 : 7:53:31 PM
|
Let me get this right -- you can't use the "own part of the cow so I'm getting my own milk", but in dry counties (which means no liquor sales by the drink at the least and no liquor at all in some cases), private clubs allow members to "finance" a certain number of bottles of liquor per month or 6 months that are bought by the club, and members can come to the club and drink from "their" liquor (no name on the bottle, so which is whose is not the point), and that's legal??  Sounds pretty hypocritical to me. Okay, I'll quiet down now.
Some people search for happiness; others create it.
http://happymama58.typepad.com/my_weblog/ |
|
|
|
BStein
True Blue Farmgirl
75 Posts
Barbara
Westerville
OH
75 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2006 : 07:47:49 AM
|
I have no idea where in Ohio this took place, but I do know that the Amish in some areas of Ohio have been under fire for running puppy mills. This could be a case of being able to shut someone down for one thing because they can't really prove the other. I don't think Ohio officials are particularly controlling. In fact, in many areas, judges in Ohio are way too lenient. I think laws like these are a way to protect us from "bad apples." I don't agree in all cases, but sometimes people have to be protected from their own bad judgment. I would hate for someone's child to get e-coli and die from raw milk. Kids can't always rely on their parents to be careful.
Barbara |
|
|
|
LJRphoto
True Blue Farmgirl
760 Posts
Laura
Hickory Corners
MI
USA
760 Posts |
Posted - Jul 05 2006 : 7:32:09 PM
|
Something occurred to me while I was reading about Arlie Stutzman (the Amish dairy farmer)... How would an Amish farmer pasteurize their milk? Is there a way that they can do it without violating their beliefs? Maybe on a woodburning stove? Could they use a thermometer to make sure that the temperature was correct for the required length of time? When I first read that he's fighting the arrest on religious grounds I started to think that maybe he's a crack pot, but maybe he has a legitimate argument.
quote:
Originally posted by BStein
I don't agree in all cases, but sometimes people have to be protected from their own bad judgment. I would hate for someone's child to get e-coli and die from raw milk. Kids can't always rely on their parents to be careful.
Barbara
My problem with this argument is that it assumes that there is less risk with commercially pasteurized milk than with raw milk bought from a local farmer that you know. In the 80's Jewel, a large grocery store chain in the Midwest caused 17,000 cases of serious salmonella poisoning (6 people died, many had lasting health problems-my husband had an acquaintance who never fully recovered). So, while our government is busy protecting us from ourselves who is protecting us from this kind of incident?
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority." -E. B. White
http://www.betweenthecities.com/blog/ljr/
|
|
|
|
Mari-dahlia
True Blue Farmgirl
269 Posts
Marianne
Hoosick Falls
New York
USA
269 Posts |
Posted - Jul 07 2006 : 11:45:49 AM
|
| I do not believe that our government's role is to enact new laws. Where is our freedom? Our governments role while we are living free is to keep us safe. WE need to revamp all of our agencies to that rule of thumb. |
|
|
|
rabbithorns
True Blue Farmgirl
544 Posts
Allison
Fort Scott
KS
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - Jul 07 2006 : 5:58:23 PM
|
A friend of mine simply went goat to avoid this kind of thing. She has her own goats, milks her own goats, drinks her goats' milk, etc.
http://www.rabbithorns.etsy.com |
|
|
|
katiedid
True Blue Farmgirl
601 Posts
Kate
West Jordan
Utah
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2006 : 08:15:10 AM
|
This is the kind of thing that makes me completely crazy! Really, aren't there more pressing matters for law enforcement?!?! Drugs, prositution, theft, not be mention the biggest health threat to our nation domestic violence and child abuse!! (in my opinion)
really, give me a break
This makes me sad
Kate |
|
|
|
ThymeForEweFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
705 Posts
Robin
An organic farm in the forest in
Maine
USA
705 Posts |
Posted - Jul 08 2006 : 08:30:58 AM
|
It's very sad. People want wholesome milk instead of over-processed pale white slurry, yet it's illegal to buy this 100% natural product. God Bless America - land of the free?
Robin
www.thymeforewe.com
|
|
|
| |
Across the Fence: farmer arrested and loses milk license in Ohio |
|
farmer arrested and loses milk license in Ohio
