Back in 2010, Canadian agriculture authorities launched a campaign to kill and test for scrapie a herd of rare Shropshire sheep owned by Ontario farmer Montana Jones. By 2012, after the Canadian authorities refused all Jones compromise offers and were set to remove the sheep, they mysteriously disappeared. Months later, authorities found the sheep on an Ontario farm, killed and tested them, and found no sign of scrapie. But they charged Jones and Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt, along with two others, in connection with the sheeps disappearance.
In early 2013, Jones and the others were charged with conspiracy and other criminal offenses that have the potential to land them in jail for up to 12 years and result in fines of over $1 million. Jones farm has remained under quarantine even as the criminal case has proceeded at a snails pace, thanks to various procedural challenges by the government. (Further background on the case is provided by the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.)
In just the last few days, an Ontario court has scheduled two weeks of a preliminary trial, to begin next Feb. 17. The seemingly endless legal case has taken a psychological toll on Jones, just as the government intended with its procedural delays. She recently described some of her internal conflicts in a post on Facebook, which I thought worthy of republishing here.
By Montana Jones
Thank-you for holding up, even when I go down…even when I go dark.
I’ve been mostly quiet, waiting. Waiting for light, for inspiration, for renewed spirit, for solutions regarding the future and the farm and waiting for the date to be set for the preliminary hearing.
Don’t have all the answers yet. Forging ahead and trusting they will appear when they will. It’s hard to fathom it’s been four years of varying states of limbo already, since the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) Sheep Siege began. Four years!
The most important realization is that things will happen, things will change. For better or worse, they will change with or without me. Isn’t it better to show up? I’ve felt monumentally supported at times, and at others, whipped myself with blame for being anxious and overwhelmed with the feeling that the CFIA has stolen my simple life. I’ve been self-critical for all the moments of bending to the black weight of their depressing ever presence. Bent, but not broken…pushed around, but not toppled.
So enough waiting. I’m getting back on the horse. This is my life, and this government invasion of it is not a detour, but my opportunity…OUR chance…to shout long and loud about some basic wrongs that need to be righted. I spent a few days at the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense conference (Food Freedom Fest in Staunton, VA) with a group of amazing American Food Freedom crusaders, fellow “AGtivists” who helped remind me why I care so much about making a change. I’m more aware than ever about just how many insane government policies are going unnoticed…Canadian and U.S. and worldwide. Who is going to ensure we have the right to make our own choices if we don’t? You’ve been there for me, and I’ll be there for you. Hold on, push on.
Now that the date has been set for the Preliminary Trial, the real work begins. (A Preliminary Trial is a hearing to determine if enough evidence exists to go forward with a full trial.)
***
I traveled to Switzerland earlier this month to honor Swiss heroes who helped rescue Resistance fighters and Holocaust victims, including my aunt, Inge Joseph, during World War II. She escaped to Switzerland, which was neutral, in October 1943, with important help from Swiss resisters, who worked secretly against official Swiss efforts to prevent Jews from entering the country.
Wouldnt you know I meet a modern-day Swiss food resister at the Holocaust commemorations, a determined man by the name of Frank Paillard (pictured here). My understanding is that he was arrested and fined about $1,000 for protesting a possible move by Monsanto from the U.S. to Switzerland to avoid taxes.
We had some language difficulties, but piecing together the signage he is holding (objecting to Monsanto seeking a free tax ride), legal papers he provided me, and news reports, it seems Monsanto earlier in the summer entertained the possibility of acquiring the Swiss ag corporation, Syngenta, and thereby moving its headquarters from St. Louis to Switzerland, where it would pay much less taxes. The news reports indicate the deal is off, for now. In the meantime, Paillard continues to be amazed he was arrested and fined in the first place, and has engaged a lawyer to appeal his fine. And he serves as a reminder that the struggle over food rights is an international one.
**
Speaking of Monsanto, this evening (Tuesday) I join a group of researchers, farmers, and others questioning the safety of genetically modified (GMO) foods, at a seminar in Manchester, MA, GMO: What Do You Know?
What was he fined for?
Carrying a sign?
Did he hit someone with the sign?
I really do not get this one.
Please explain.
I’m not exactly sure if it had to do with being on private property or expressing negative ideas, but apparently Switzerland doesn’t have the same free speech protections that we do. Because of the language barriers, I had difficulty pinning it down with him, but I did see a letter from his lawyer about the appeal and getting restitution for the fine he had had to pay.
The French are protesting the building of their first mega dairy. Each of these mega dairies will shut down 10 smaller pasture fed operations. See the video above to appreciate their challenge and see how they are protesting this change. The producers of this video interviewed me at OPDC. I gave them a warning. America has already been there and done that….”stop and think before going Mega Dairy”. Fluid pasteurized milk sales are falling like a rock and smaller specialty operations ( both pasteurized and raw )some with pastures and raw milk bottling plants are popping up everywhere.
Wish I could speak french. I catch about every 8th word.
One of the reasons I retired from paramedic medicine and began organic farming. I saw this kind of macho crap all of the time. This is why current paramilitary police training has attracted literally men with little brains, big attitudes and trigger happy reactions. Just one of the reasons to never ever trust a cop!
When ever arround police…move very slowly and ask them what they want you to do before doing anything. They do not think like normal people. They are paranoid….and some are truly sick. Instead of giving first aid and deeply apologizing as any human would, this cop searches for a drivers liscence. Violation….nothing! This is the mind and the training of our government.
At least the driver did not die and the cop was charged with serious crimimal conduct.
The good news about this type of video (which was on the national news tonight) is that it helps educate the public about what really happens with many citizen-police encounters. Because judges and juries tend to believe the police version of any event, this kind of video helps rearrange people’s thinking, that things don’t necessarily happen in real life the way they do on TV police dramas. Not unlike what’s been happening in the food regulation arena.
So correct….let this be a further lesson to turn on the cameras where events begin to unfold. Sometimes reality is so wildly unbelievable, that only live video and audio can tell and preserve the truth. This video evidence will certainly begin to reshape the telling of the real version of events and yes….it is essential to regaining our food rights in America.. Keep you smart phones ready and turn them on when things get a little weird. You never know when that footage will change our futures.
Guess that must mean all farmers are bad too as so many lie and cheat and sell contaminated foods, all for profit. Just last month at the Baptist church farmers market, the farmer told me to my face, that the small bunch of baby beets I was holding was picked that morning–the tops were wilted and slimy. He must have meant he picked them some other morning….
It’s really a shame that the few asses in any profession cause many people to lump everyone in the same category.
And when crap like in that video happen it really hurts the good cops.
Sylvia, it doesn’t mean all cops are bad, any more than the long-standing notion that cops always tell the truth about “resisting arrest” cases. No, there are bad apples in every bunch. I think cops, because they know they can get away with their B.S. much more easily than most other professions, have become used to getting away with it. The exposure about the bad apples is a good wakeup call, maybe will encourage more cops to act as if a video camera may be secretly recording them.
I did intend to suggest that all cops are bad. But….when bad cops do bad things, the good cops protect them. The blue line is what is bad.
It is my opinion that this new technology of live video will expose this police profession protection, so…in the future there will be no cover for heartless humans that are attracted to becoming police.
With out this video….this cop would have told some kind of cover story that would have criminalized the victim and heaped on the charges to vindicate his actions. This police behavior has now come to an end. Society will benefit, people will benefit, insurance for police agencies will come down and good cops will think twice about backing bad cops. Finally….the people of our nation can start to trust police again. The heart of this cop is now exposed….when he should have been compassionate and provided first aid….what did he do, he handcuffed the person he shot and did not provide first aid. He instead searched for the victims drivers liscence. All of this activity was to send a message that his shooting was somehow excusable. Truly sick!! Truly heartless.
America will become better when the truth becomes mainstream.
Take Jefferson,Mo for example, a town surrounded by St Louis, a town that is predominately black, 67% of the 21000 people. They have what 3 black cops? Has the media sought out why there is only 3, or did they just assume that the whites only hire whites? Perhaps that information about applicants on why they did not get hired is private? Could it be that drug tests couldn’t be passed? (and there are a hellofa lot of whites that can’t pass a drug test) Could they not pass the written tests? Or maybe no one wants to work in the hood? Snitches do get stitches or worse. AND the gang bangers will go after your families if you piss them off. There is a lot to take in when trying to figure out why things are the way they are.
http://www.policemisconduct.net/putting-police-misconduct-statistics-in-perspective/
http://www.targetmap.com/viewer.aspx?reportId=6482
I can say the same about doctors and point out how they get away with killing people, they have carte blanche courtesy of the gov/fda/cdc, etc. Yet, nothing is done, even when the media does print the alarming deaths by medical entities. Why is that? Is it acceptable because it is medicine?
I do believe that if anyone abuses their power, in any profession they should be held accountable, sadly, that is not reality.
It is obvious in your video that Officer Quickdraw lacked maturity and brains. I don’t know why he panicked, he shot towards gas pumps, fueling cars and other people. It is amazing that no others were injured and that the victim was not hurt more than he is. He did NOT tell the man NOT to go back into his car, the cops mistake there. Listening to what was said, it appears that is what may have triggered his panic. He may have thought the guy was going for a gun, poor communication and reading of the scene is the cops fault.
Do I think this cops heart is black? No, just stupid. We all know stupidity knows no bounds.
for those ready for strong meat, view Jarod Taylor’s website < American Rennaisance website >
understanding that this raw milk controversy, is only one relatively minor battlefront in the communist agenda for imposing laws to dictate with whom we can associate – or NOT associate – is crucial for framing resolution of it
don’t want to talk about “race” in polite company? Your racial enemies, La Raza, don’t flinch from doing so .. and look how they’ve Californicated what was once America’s dream. If you don’t participate in politics, you let someone more stupid than you, run the country.
My error….a big one. I intended to say, NOT all cops are bad. In fact, I know many great peace officers that really do care and think consciously with a big heart.
I wish this blog had an edit key like it used to.
Those that want to be police should automatically be disqualified from the carreer. Service to all is juxtaposed to control and power over people. For some reason the police profession is a magnet for bullies and hot heads. Just the opposite of what is needed for peace making and negotiation. The recent video and news coverage of Ferguson MO where military type machine guns are aimed at citizens peacefully protesting says it all. What is needed are compassionate peacemakers. Citizens respond extremely well to this human level peacemaking. Saw this a million times. So many times I would simply stand in front of a police hot head and use reason and compassion….away went the stress and anger. The magic of a smile, warm touch and compassion is mostly missing in modern police training. It is intensive in paramedic training. All cops should serve five years as paramedics before ever being considerd for peace officer role. Just a old thought from the streets.
cop-arrested-prostitution-sting-set-get-10579-month-paid-leave
So Glendale is rewarding this guy because the attorneys involved THINK it’s the best deal they can get and that fighting it might end up costing the taxpayers more in “retirement” for the guy. Is this backward thinking, or is it just me? Attorneys shouldn’t even BE involved – they caught the guy pretty much red-handed and yet we cater to him. It’s ridiculous. Do you think the guy knew beforehand that he would be rewarded rather than punished? Of course he did. That’s the way our society works now. Disgraceful.
http://libertycrier.com/cop-arrested-prostitution-sting-set-get-10579-month-paid-leave/
http://www.glendalenewspress.com/news/tn-gnp-glendale-police-sergeant-charged-with-soliciting-undercover-vegas-cop-20140819,0,1972709.story
“Mardikian, along with four other current and former officers, filed a federal lawsuit against Glendale in 2010, claiming discrimination and harassment because they are Armenian. “
Then he should go back home. PERIOD. Helllllooo Armenia!
In fact, IMPHO, no one should have blinked an eye, he should have been shipped home with his walking papers and a no-repeat visa/port of entry admission. But that’s just me.
He should not have been able to file any sort of lawsuit. He was literally caught red-handed and in my book that makes him guilty no matter what some judge or jury would think.
please get back to this forum when you stand corrected.
Then have the guts to voice that “native-ist” sentiment, when it’s warranted … especially = against a bunch of commies playing the race card to shake-down a white community, or, in the case of your president – the whole nation.
Stop pointing a crooked finger because you obviously did not read the articles posted. If you did, you didn’t understand them, IMPHHO.
Here is a little different version of the Food Forward episode called Modern Milk.
This episode requires a pre-quil and explanation. The CDC added slides that are an attempt to instill fear of raw milk. Let me provide this additional information before viewing to put the CDC warnings into proper political perspective:
Pasteurized milk and pasteurized dairy products haev killed at least 77 people since 1972 and sickened 422,000 or more.
Raw milk has killed none and sickens about 29 per year with huge benefits including relief from Asthma. Asthma currently kills 9 people per day in America!!
This episode of Food Forward was heavily edited at the hand of WA DC CDC agency officials. More than 20 hours of interview was taken at OPDC and none of the testimonial benefits or science from EU published and peer reviewed research was allowed into this episode. Clearly…we are fortunate to have PBS do an episode on Raw Milk, but clearly we must be vigilant and continue to educate about raw milk as we embrace the best practices to assure its safety. The CDC and other agenies of goverment do not appreciate the medical value of raw milk and refuse to invest in the pioneering technologies that are now available to assure raw milk safety while not damaging its healing qualities.