Amish farmer victim of raw milk sting

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http://blog.case.edu/jeffrey.quick/2006/03/09/amish_farmer_victim_of_raw_milk_st\

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Amish farmer victim of raw milk sting

From Cleveland's Journal of Bourgeois Marxist Culture:

http://www.clevescene.com/Issues/2006-03-08/news/firstpunch_2.html

" Meet sburg farmer Arlie Stutzman, who's had a Grade B

dairy license for 12 years, allowing him to sell milk to local cheese

factories. On September 20, an undercover ag agent visited his farm

and asked to buy a gallon of milk.

It's a no-no for a farmer to sell milk directly, so Stutzman

offered to just give it to the man if he were truly in need. But the

guy insisted on leaving two bucks. The agent then fetched an unmarked

container from his car and had Stutzman's son fill it with milk.

For the sin of selling in an unlabeled container, Stutzman had

his license yanked. At an administrative hearing, he argued that the

Amish faith taught him to share food with anybody in need, and asked

that his penalty be reduced to a 60-day license suspension. His plea

was rejected by department director Fred Dailey, who's also mean to

baby deer and people in wheelchairs. Stutzman now faces additional

fines if convicted at an April 17 hearing.

" I never realized that being generous and sharing food is a crime

in Ohio, " says Stutzman. "

I met Arlie last year, at a meeting on free-range poultry sponsored

by Geauga Family Farmers. He didn't seem " quite there " , though that

might have been his soft-spokenness. (How do you know when an Amish

man is losing his temper? He's not whispering.) Certainly, he should

have seen this sting. " Well, sir, since you have $2, I suggest you go

to the store if you need milk. " If he had $2, he wasn't in need, and

nobody " needs " raw milk; just ask the State of Ohio.

But...as abuse of government power, this one takes the cake. Let's

start at the beginning: it's Arlie's cow, and the consumer's body. If

somebody wants raw milk, by what right does the State of Ohio tell

them they can't trade? A lot of consumers are figuring this out, and

a brisk trade is developing in " brucellosis, listeria etc. " ...except

we aren't seeing a lot of sick people. I don't know if Arlie was

suspected of being part of that trade; possibly he was singled out

for being Amish, a group known for low tolerance for bullshit laws,

and for being, let's face it, a little naive. " We gotta show those

damn Weston Pricers and other granola-munching hippie types who's

boss. " So they had A STING. Yes, a non-law-enforcement agency tempted

somebody to break the law. And to top it off " an administrative

hearing " yanked his licence. So here's this guy who is probably going

to have to sell his herd and take a loss, maybe lose the farm, and

his fate is being decided by a bunch of bureaucrats, ALL of whom work

for the D of A. What happened to his right to a trial by jury?

Fred Dailey (another lovely Taft appointee) might need a wake-up call.

Ohio Department of Agriculture

8995 East Main Street, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068-3399

Main Line: (614) 728-6200

Toll Free: 1-800-282-1955

Administration (614) 466-2732

Fax 614-466-6124

administration@...

(This is Fred's office number, but there's an " administrative

assistant " who in 8/04 was Connie Ellis.)

Dairy Division (614) 466-5550

dairy@...

Enforcement (614) 728-6240

enforcement@...

--

Quick

www.en.com/users/jaquick

http://blog.case.edu/jeffrey.quick/

" Don't be evil - just co-operate with evil. " -- Google's new motto