Raw Milk crackdown

October 19, 2009

Kristine,

This one I was able to read. I sure hope some of those local lawyers pony up to help this guy! What a mess this could be. I cannot believe how the state treats people like criminals over these things! A few years ago (within the past 5, I lose track of time), there was an Amish woman who would open up her home on Sundays for whoever showed up to eat, and she would have a home cooked meal, replete with homemade bread and real butter. People were not charged, but everyone left a donation. This woman had been doing this for like 15 years, and then somehow, the state found out, raided her farm, and shut her down as she was "illegally" running a restaurant. Because she didn't have refrigeration, electricity, or other modern amenities, she is unable to get a food license by the state. She bought all of her food fresh the same day she made it, and the people who came numbered around 15-20. This woman could have 100 people come every week and eat for free and she would not be violating any laws, but because people left a donation (there were no listed prices!), she was shut down in violation of law. It is obvious that the only "violation" was the state's inability to collect taxes on this woman!!!! I am hoping she has found away around state law.

I know this is different than the confiscation of milk, but in many ways it is not. The state should not be allowed to come in and shut down a business that is not illegal (making food and accepting donations should not be illegal, or distributing milk bought legally in another state), and it just shows how ridiculous our laws have become.

In the Middle Ages the people of Europe lived under a feudal system where everyone was a slave and had to abide by all laws set forth by the feudal king. It was even illegal for a serf to bake their own bread, and many had to walk all day in order to pay the baker to bake their bread! We have become a feudal system in America and the populace have become the serfs of the state.

I'm afraid these issues get my hackles up and I get on my soap box!

Lori

"I feel ashamed that so many of us cannot imagine a better way to do things than locking children up all day in cells instead of letting them grow up knowing their families, mingling with the world, assuming real obligations, striving to be independent and self-reliant and free." - John Taylor Gatto

herbal remedies From: kristine.hathawayDate: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:25:17 -0700Re: {Herbal Remedies} Raw Milk crackdown

Lori, I think you have may to have a facebook account and be logged in,for that site to work. It did say at the bottom of the note to feel free to forward, so I have copied and pasted it below for you. Again this is from bobbie's link to here:http://www.facebook.es/note.php?note_id=172919931227 & ref=mfKristine~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ALERT: LEGAL Raw Milk from SC Seized in GA (tag someone and pass along...spread the word)

El vie a las 7:13

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive." - C.S. LewisFollowing is a message from the Athens Market Manager explaining what happened.Hello! It's late and I'm exhausted, but I wanted you all to know what happened today at our Athens Locally Grown (www.locallygrown.net) pickup.When we arrived, we were greeted by three badged inspectors from the Georgia Department of Agriculture who were there waiting for us. "We read about you on the Internet," they told me.I explained to them what Athens Locally Grown is, how we work, discussed that I've been diligent to make sure all of the growers who sell through the market have the appropriate licenses when needed, and so forth. The inspectors were very friendly during this time and everything that followed — I do not fault them in any way.They talked to the growers as they arrived. They were particularly interested in the meat, and indeed found all of that to be legal.When my wife arrived with the raw milk ordered by ALG members directly from the Cows R Us dairy in South Carolina (A USDA Grade A dairy fully licensed to sell raw milk), the inspectors entered our truck and began opening our coolers.To be clear, I did not give them permission to enter or search my truck, and they did not have a warrant to do so. When they discovered the coolers to be full of clearly labeled raw milk, they immediately began calling their supervisors. They chain of calls made their way up to Peggy Gates, the director of the Dairy Division of the Consumer Protection Division of the State Department of Agriculture. She immediately gave orders to seize the entire load of milk.I did try to explain to her all of the very strict rules that we follow to keep things legal. She was very gruff with me and was not at ll interested in hearing what we do. "I know exactly what you're doing" she told me. She told me what we were doing is a Federal offense (it is not, and of course she has no jurisdiction over Federal statute). In the end she declared all 100 gallons an "imminent health hazard" and ordered it seized.Oddly enough, the inspectors could not seize it themselves, as they only had several small sedans. So, it was impounded in place on my truck, and I was ordered not to disturb the milk in any way, or else I "would be guilty of a felony".The inspectors and director Peggy Gates herself personally will be coming to my house Monday morning to witness my "destruction" of the milk. I am hoping they will not be also coming to arrest me, but they do have that power.Let me reiterate that I believe we have not violated any laws whatsoever. What we are doing is also being done by thousands of groups and individuals throughout the country, and I have been extremely careful that we are doing what has legal precedent. Namely:You order via the website directly from the dairyThe dairy receives the orders without any intervention from me. They have a name for every carton of milkWe pick up, on your behalf, exactly the cartons that have been pre-ordered. We have a name for every carton of milkYou meet us at the pickup location and get your milk.We do not store it beyond the pre-established pickup time.Given those steps that are followed to the letter (and those of you who ask me every single week "can't you just bring an extra gallon or two with you?" can attest that they are), I do not believe that the Georgia Department of Agriculture has any authority over those cartons of milk. We are not violating federal law. We are not violating state law.So where do we stand? Right now, raw milk can no longer be offered through Athens Locally Grown. I have 110 gallons of milk sitting on my truck until Monday morning, when a team of officials will be coming to my house to witness its destruction (and hopefully nothing more). Until Peggy Gates changes her mind (which seems unlikely), that is that. It may well take a court order to change things. I know our membership includes a fair number of lawyers, and if any of you wish to help in this, please let me know. I really don't know where to even begin.I've taken a big financial hit today too, so please forgive our putting out a tip jar next week. I paid the dairy $440 for the milk on the customers' behalf (and yes, I'm a customer too. I've got two gallons of my own sitting on the truck) and since the market operates on a break even basis (during the best of times), I don't have that sitting in the bank.I'll keep you all informed. I'm surprised it took so long for them to harass us, and I'm also surprised by how unsympathetic they turned out to be. And by "they", I really mean director Peggy Gates, who issued the order. Her website address ishttp://agr.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,38902732_0_40971722,00.html and her office's phone number is (404) 656-3625. Please don't harass her, but it may help if they do hear your stories, why you order raw milk, and why you are a member of Athens Locally Grown.I know many of you were relying on your milk delivery today, especially since our truck's engine problems kept us from bringing a full load last week. I'm sorry. Hopefully something will happen soon to make them loosen their grip and allow us to once again bring your milk that you ordered directly from the dairy to you.Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you see fit.-eric

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 5:51 AM, Lori Smith <homeschoolmom42 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote:

This did not come through when I tried to go there~do you have anther way to access this site?

Lori"I feel ashamed that so many of us cannot imagine a better way to do things than locking children up all day in cells instead of letting them grow up knowing their families, mingling with the world, assuming real obligations, striving to be independent and self-reliant and free." - John Taylor Gatto

herbal remedies From: bobbiedsmith Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:38:54 -0700

RE: {Herbal Remedies} Raw Milk crackdown

one more:this is an actual email from the man himself -- as to what happened and what is happening mondayhttp://www.facebook.es/note.php?note_id=172919931227 & ref=mfbobbie

Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.

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October 19, 2009

Here in Pennsylvania Raw Milk is legal however raw cream is not (does that make sense?) however friends in Maryland are not allowed to sell it at there CSA but they were able to join together and buy a cow which resides at local dairy. They pay the farmer to take care of the cow and get the milk for free, legal and raw. It works in most states.

"jarusso7" <jarusso7Herbal Remedies <herbal remedies >Sun, October 18, 2009 2:37:11 PM{Herbal Remedies} Raw Milk crackdown

Has anyone heard about the raw milk crackdown? I live in North Georgia where raw milk is only sold as pet milk, in other words, not for human consumption. Many of us drive to SC (where raw milk is legal) and bring it back to GA for our friends and neighbors etc. As you can imagine there are many raw milk co-ops that have formed as well. Friday morning in Athens GA, a large load of raw milk was taken from a small farmer's market by the GA Dept. of agriculture. It is scheduled to be dumped on Monday morning and many of us are planning to drive there to watch in silent protest. However I have recently heard that in Texas, all of the raw milk farms listed on -line as a source for "real milk" were raided last week. Does anyone have more information about this? I can't imagine this is about the money, we can't really be making that big of a

dent in the local commercial dairy profits. This has to be about the bigger picture of government regulation of the food supply. Very scary. I'm going to have to buy a goat!Anella

October 19, 2009

VERY CLEVER !....Mary

Barbara Hamilton wrote:

Here in Pennsylvania Raw Milk is legal however raw cream is not

(does that make sense?) however friends in Maryland are not allowed to

sell it at there CSA but they were able to join together and buy a cow

which resides at local dairy. They pay the farmer to take care of the

cow and get the milk for free, legal and raw. It works in most states.

"jarusso7 (AT) comcast (DOT) net" <jarusso7 (AT) comcast (DOT) net>

Herbal Remedies

Sun, October 18,

2009 2:37:11 PM

{Herbal

Remedies} Raw Milk crackdown

Has

anyone heard about the raw milk crackdown? I live in North Georgia

where raw milk is only sold as pet milk, in other words, not for human

consumption. Many of us drive to SC (where raw milk is legal) and

bring it back to GA for our friends and neighbors etc. As you can

imagine there are many raw milk co-ops that have formed as well.

Friday morning in Athens GA, a large load of raw milk was taken from a

small farmer's market by the GA Dept. of agriculture. It is scheduled

to be dumped on Monday morning and many of us are planning to drive

there to watch in silent protest. However I have recently heard that

in Texas, all of the raw milk farms listed on -line as a source for

"real milk" were raided last week. Does anyone have more information

about this? I can't imagine this is about the money, we can't really

be making that big of a dent in the local commercial dairy profits.

This has to be about the bigger picture of government regulation of the

food supply. Very scary. I'm going to have to buy a goat!

Anella

October 19, 2009

We have this too. It's called a Farm share. I think that they are the very next thing that Ga Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin plans to attack. Anella-"Mary Ostrowski" <mary"Herbal Remedies" <herbal remedies >Monday, October 19, 2009 12:29:49 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada EasternRe: {Herbal Remedies} Raw Milk crackdown