When I first read this article……I thought why is this happening in America? What’s wrong with selling your fresh produce, milk or pasture raised beef and chickens to people in your community ? We see that done daily in rural Tennessee. This is an unbelievable story here. A lawsuit has been filed by Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law. I’m including an article by them below the Worldnet Daily article and a video from You Tube of the Stowers family (quote block turned off to conserve space).
Food co-op hit by SWAT raid fights back
Government basically engaged in intimidation’
By Bob Unruh
A LaGrange, Ohio, family whose food co-op connecting local consumers with local farmers was raided by sheriff’s deputies is fighting back with the help of two organizations aimed at protecting the basic rights of Americans.
“We hope that the Lorrain County Court of Common Pleas recognizes that government is overreaching in this case and is basically engaged in intimidation tactics to frighten people into believing that they cannot provide food for themselves,” said Pete Kennedy, a spokesman for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.
The organization, which is intended to protect and defend the rights of farmers and consumers to have direct commerce, has announced it is working with the Center for Constitutional Law at the Buckeye Institute, which has filed a court complaint alleging authorities “made a haphazard unannounced entry into the property with guns drawn, as other officers surrounded the property, with guns drawn,” then “confiscated the family’s personal food supply, personal computers, and personal cell phones.”
The complaint names the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Lorain County General Health District and the state’s attorney general. A spokeswoman at the Department of Agriculture said its officers were at the scene in an advisory role. A spokeswoman at the county health agency refused to comment except to explain it was a “licensing” issue regarding the family’s Manna Storehouse.
Kennedy said his organization works in support of allowing farmers and consumers to have “direct commerce with each other free from government interference and harassment.”
“This is an example where, once again, the government is trying to deny people their inalienable, fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice,” said Gary Cox, general counsel for the FTCLDF. “The purpose of our complaint is to correct that wrong.”
The organizations have reported the raid came at Manna Storehouse, a private food cooperative run by John and Jacqueline Stowers. In a video posted both on YouTube and on the Buckeye Institute’s website, the couple explained how they just wanted to provide a resource for both farmers and consumers.
The complaint also seeks a preliminary injunction against the Department of Agriculture and declarations stipulating that Manna Storehouse and the Stowers are not a “retail food establishment” under Ohio’s Food Safety Code. As a private cooperative, Manna Storehouse is exempted from the Food Safety Code, the organizations said.
Officials with the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nutrition education non-profit, said several of its members had been participating in the co-op, but now their food supplies are disrupted.
The Buckete Institute’s spokesman, David Hansen, said, “The use of these police state tactics on a peaceful family in simply unacceptable.”
He described the situation, “Officers rushed into the Stowers’ home with guns drawn and held the family – including 10 young children – captive for six hours. This outrageous case of bureaucratic overreach must be addressed.”
Raid on Family’s Home and Organic Food Co-Op Challenged
Columbus – The Buckeye Institute’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law today took legal action against the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the Lorain County Health Department for violating the constitutional rights of John and Jacqueline Stowers of LaGrange, Ohio. The Stowers operate an organic food cooperative called Manna Storehouse. ODA and Lorain County Health Department agents forcefully raided their home and unlawfully seized the family’s personal food supply, cell phones and personal computers. The legal center seeks to halt future similar raids. The complaint was filed in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas.
“The use of these police state tactics on a peaceful family is simply unacceptable,” Buckeye Institute President David Hansen said. “Officers rushed into the Stowers’ home with guns drawn and held the family – including ten young children – captive for six hours. This outrageous case of bureaucratic overreach must be addressed.”
The Buckeye Institute argues the right to buy food directly from local farmers; distribute locally-grown food to neighbors; and pool resources to purchase food in bulk are rights that do not require a license. In addition, the right of peaceful citizens to be free from paramilitary police raids, searches and seizures is guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14, Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution.
“The Stowers’ constitutional rights were violated over grass-fed cattle, pastured chickens and pesticide-free produce,” Buckeye Institute 1851 Center of Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson said. “Ohioans do not need a government permission slip to run a family farm and co-op, and should not be subjected to raids when they do not have one. This legal action will ensure the ODA understands and respects Ohioans’ rights.”
On the morning of December 1, 2008, law enforcement officers forcefully entered the Stowers’ residence, without first announcing they were police or stating the purpose of the visit. With guns drawn, officers swiftly and immediately moved to the upstairs of the home, finding ten children in the middle of a home-schooling lesson. Officers then moved Jacqueline Stowers and her children to their living room where they were held for more than six hours.
Such are raids are beyond the scope of the purely administrative authority delegated to ODA and county health departments. In enforcing licensure laws, these agencies are only permitted to contract for routine enforcement services. Forceful raids and sweeping searches and seizures are not routine, and exceed the authority granted to ODA and county health departments.
There has never been a complaint filed against Manna Storehouse or the Stowers related to the quality or healthfulness of the food distributed through the co-op. The Buckeye Institute’s legal center will defend the Stowers from any criminal charges related to the raid.
Read the entire article @ buckeyeinstitute.org
3 Comments
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ggita56
chamay0
michelle2005
Mike
I am a retired US vet. I have watched over past 15 years with growing concern the frequency of police abuse rise. I myself filed a IAD complaint over such abuse to no effect. IAD sent me a letter informing me that my complaint was invalid. The officer had arrested me in my own driveway, lied in his report and stated I lived in an apartment, and lied in his report stating I was drunk and a danger to the community and myself. He refused me a breathalizer or blood test to establish my level of intoxication and put me in jail. Once there I asked the jail sergeant for a breathalizer and received one. My test results were .0000 (go figure, I don’t drink and I had no alcohol in my system). When I got to court the case was dismissed of course. However, I still had a loaded gun shoved in my face and spent a night in jail. Very unsettling. This is America isn’t it? I found out from my attorney that the officer had to lie about where I lived. It turns out that I could be as drunk as I want to be on my own property. If I had lived in an apartment and was in the apartment parking lot, then he would have the authority to arrest me. But not if I was on my own property drunk or not. Also, if you are accused of being drunk you can request a test to determine whether or not you exceed the legal limit. So the officer was caught in two lies in a court of law. Based on the court transcripts and documents I filed an IAD complaint. You already know how that turned out.
My prayers are with you. I cannot imagine how you and the children felt having guns pointed at them and being pushed around by the very people we are supposed to call if we need help. Your case is even more disturbing than mine. Not only did they have no right to be there, they most certainly had no right to confiscate private property or terrorize children. Yet they did all these things when, in my opinion, the most they are allowed to do in your situation is cite you and let a judge decide the case.
Unfortunately, as badly as you were treated, your case is not exceptional. It is happening all across this great nation. When you give a group of people almost unlimited power over another group of people and couple that with little or no oversight or accountability, this is what you will get.
My heart goes out to you and your family. Especially those children. Unbelieveable.
Sincerely, William Shaw
Corpseman@msn.com
Thank you so much for your comment Mr. Shaw….it is far more than terrible what is happening in America…..I really hate to think where this is headed…..but it appears to be heading full steam in that direction.
The latest unthinkable police action I know is the BART officer in Oakland,Ca. shooting an unarmed young black man lying on the ground handcuffed. The officer resigned from the police force and so far hasn’t bee prosecuted. One report says the gun went off accidentally, if you watch the actual video, you can see the officer pull and aim his gun.
Here’s an update to this article 30 days later after the raid:
It’s been over a month since a team of 10, heavily armed sheriff deputies, at the behest of county and state agencies, conducted an aggressive mid-day, search-and-seize raid of the home of John and Jacqueline Stowers, owners of an organic food co-op called Manna Storehouse in LaGrange, Ohio — and tore their world apart.
The couple has not yet been charged with a crime, but they don’t have to wait to become defendants in a trial – they’re the plaintiffs in a court action launched by two advocacy groups on their behalf.