FDA Raids Amish FARM!

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—PLEASE BROADCAST FAR AND WIDE—

http://butterfliesandbumblebees.org/?p=2144

> FDA Raids Amish Farmer Dan Allgyer

> Please take action (see ACTION at end of notice)

> Kinzers, PA At 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday April 20, Amish farmer Dan Allgyer went

outside to begin milking his small herd of dairy cows. On the normally quiet

Kinzer Road in front of his farm, just a few miles from the Nickel Mines Amish

massacre of 2006, several unfamiliar vehicles drove slowly past. Two months

prior, on February 4, FDA agents had trespassed on Allgyer's farm, claiming to

be conducting an " investigation. " Allgyer had suspected they would be back at

some point, because many other small dairy farms around the country have been

similarly treated by the FDA. Following is Dan's account of Tuesday morning's

events:

> I became aware of the cars as soon as I walked out on the sidewalk as part of

my morning routine around 4:30 a.m. and immediately said to myself something is

going on, there is too much traffic on Kinzer Road. I was watching and noticed

three cars were cruising down Kinzer Road right behind each other, and

immediately thought, hey, that looks like trouble. I watched and pretty soon one

car came back and parked on my neighbor's farm, on private property, just as the

FDA agents had when they came on my property in February; it was exactly the

same place.

>

> A couple minutes later, the other two cars pulled up and joined the first on

my neighbor's property, where the occupants appeared to be in conference with

one another. Shortly after that, they turned their headlights on and drove in my

lane – this would have been at about 5:00.

>

> I stood back in the dark barn to see what they were going to do. They drove

past my two Private Property signs, up to where my coolers were, with their

headlights shining right on them. They all got out of their vehicles – five men

all together – with big bright flashlights they were shining all around. My wife

and family were still asleep. When they couldn't find anybody, they prepared to

knock on the door of my darkened house. Just before they got to the house I

stepped out of the barn and hollered at them, then they came up to me and

introduced themselves. Two were from the FDA, agent C. Schafer who had

been there in February and another. They showed me identification, but I was too

flustered to ask for their cards. I remember being told that two were deputy

U.S. Marshals and one a state trooper. They started asking me questions right

away. They handed me a paper and I didn't realize what it was. Agent C.

Schafer told me they were there to do a " routine inspection. " At 5:00 in the

morning, I wondered to myself? " Do you have a warrant? " I asked, and one of

them, a marshal or the state policeman, said, " You've got in your hand buddy. " I

asked, " What is thewarrant about? " Schafer responded, " We have credible evidence

that you are involved in interstate commerce. "

>

> They wanted me to answer some questions, my name, middle initial, last name,

wanted to know how many cows we have on the farm. I answered those questions and

some more. Finally, I got over my initial shock and said I would not be

answering any more questions. They said O.K., we'll get on with the

" inspection. "

>

> I went to go talk to my wife. As I walked away, they held a quick excited

conversation and I heard one of them say, " I'll take care of him. " At that

point, apparently, they had designated one of the marshals to stick close to me

and dog my footsteps. He followed me as I walked toward the house. I went in the

house quickly and told my wife a few words to let her know the situation, then

immediately came back out of the house before the marshal had time to follow me

in. When I came back out, they were inspecting all the coolers sitting out. They

spent about a half hour digging through the packed coolers filled with milk and

other food – all private property – taking pictures.

>

> At one point during the cooler inspection the state trooper said to me, " You

have a nice farm. " I responded, " We're trying to be sustainable, but they don't

want to let us. "

>

> While they inspected the coolers, I read the warrant. Among other things it

said that any search was to be conducted " at reasonable times during ordinary

business hours. " When I exclaimed, " Ordinary business hours! " and pointed this

out to the marshal who was dogging me, he said, " Ordinary business hours for

agriculture start at 5:00 a.m. " I challenged him that the warrant does not say

agriculture hours, it said ordinary hours. He replied, " That's what the

government told us. "

>

> Then they started looking around, as though in search of something in

particular. They went up to one door that had a clear No Trespassing sign on it,

specifically including government agents, and they did not go in the room,

though they shone their flashlights around in it. Then they asked me, " What is

on the other side of the door in that [same] room? " Agent Schafer asked

this. I looked him in the eye and did not answer. When they saw I was not going

to answer, the other FDA agent said, " Okay, come on, " to agent Schafer, and they

went into the room and through the closed door on the opposite side. I had

another one of those signs on my walk-in cooler adjacent to my freezer, so they

went through that door also. They spent probably another half hour rooting

around, like a couple of pigs, in the freezer and cooler area and took many

pictures.

>

> When they came out, they asked me where I keep my containers and jugs for

milk, and I refused to tell them. I figured they could look for themselves. Then

they were walking all over the farm, checking everything out, everything except

the house. Agent Schafer even opened my dumpster and inspected inside it,

as though he thought I was hiding something in it. At that point I went and

started milking my cows – it was way past milking time.

>

> When I was just about done milking, Schafer and the other agent came in the

barn and wanted me to answer some more questions. I told them I would not. The

second agent said, " Are you gong to deliver those coolers to Bethesda and Bowie

land? " I just looked at him. Then Schafer made a gesture and said, " The

stickers with those towns names are on the coolers, " as through to say, you

might as well tell me.

>

> I replied, " I told you I won't answer any questions. " After that they said,

" We are done for today. You'll be hearing back from headquarters. "

>

> Then they got in their car and left. The state trooper and the marshals had

left already.

>

> They came in the dark, shining bright flashlights while my family was asleep,

keeping me from milking my cows, from my family, from breakfast with my family

and from our morning devotions, and alarming my children enough so that they

first question they asked my wife was, " Is Daddy going to jail? "

>

> THE NEXT MORNING Allgyer received an overnight, extremely urgent Letter of

Warning from the FDA stating that " Failure to make prompt corrections could

result in regulatory action without further notice. Possible actions include

seizure and/or injunction. "

>

> ACTION: Please call and write the number and address below. Express yourself.

Tell them that you support Dan Allgyer. If you drink fresh, unpastuerized milk

tell them that. Tell them that more people every day are drinking fresh milk and

this is going to increase. It's not going to stop no matter how many farmers

they persecute. Tell them the government has no place between individuals and

the farmers from whom they get their food.

>

> Philadelphia District Office

> Serves Delaware and Pennsylvania.

> Food and Drug Administration

> U.S. Customhouse

> Second and Chestnut Streets, Room 900

> Philadelphia, PA 19106

> (215) 597-4390 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Easte

>