The FDA Forgot….You have No Right to Privacy in Contracts

©Doreen Hannes

When the FDA answered FTCLDF (Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund) in the interstate shipment of raw milk suit, they stated four fully repugnant things. That you have no right to, nor does your child have a right to any particular food, you have no right to bodily or physical health, that you have no right to contract, and that they are “rationally” fulfilling their public health mission. It appears that they forgot to include that you have no right to privacy or free association along with the right of contract.With the recent actions against Rawesome, sting operations against Amish farmers, and the absolute destruction of Morningland Dairy, one can only surmise that the FDA, who pulls the strings on state level equivalent agencies, forgot to specifically deny the right to freedom of association guaranteed us under the First Amendment along with many others.

As many people have been covering these continual affronts to our very right to consume food that we want to consume, I don’t feel as compelled to conduct a full review every time I find myself in the position of covering a new travesty of decency. Maybe that’s laziness in the eyes of some, but the truth is we are against the wall in this country with the most basic of human rights, and it’s too late to be nice about it any longer. If people are still unaware that food is a controlled substance, they are not likely to read this article anyway. Unfortunately, we have another assault that needs to be brought to the attention of those paying attention.

Morningland’s cheese plant has now been shut down for just over one year. They’ve been to court and have filed an appeal on the judge’s order to destroy their wealth, and were taken to court again on June 13^th and found guilty on one of three Contempt of Court charges brought against them for not rolling over and dying when the Milk Board suggested they should. They had to post bond again to keep their cheese from the hands of the destroyers until the legal wrangling is complete. Now the Attorney General says they must give up the names, addresses and phone numbers of individuals who are members in their private association. Denise Dixon says she will go to jail before that happens.

At the first trial, on January 13^th 2011, the principals of Morningland of the Ozarks LLC, Joseph and Denise Dixon, notified the Attorney General’s office, the Missouri Milk Board, and Judge David Dunlap (although he rec’d his notification via mail) that they had closed Morningland of the Ozarks LLC, and had formed a private membership association that they hoped to be able provide with their own cheese once this issue was resolved. In the interim, they purchased cheese from two licensed, inspected facilities and cut it and shipped it to their membership. The Dixons drove to these cheese plants (one in Wisconsin and one in Kansas) and picked the cheese up. This takes the private group completely out of the accepted realm of commerce.

In his original ruling against Morningland of the Ozarks LLC, Judge Dunlap stipulated that the LLC was the only entity involved in this action. The Attorney General’s office made no move to personally enjoin either one of the Dixons from either making or selling or cutting or wrapping or eating cheese themselves. The Dixons even applied for a tax id number as Morningland Dairy, not Morningland of the Ozarks LLC.

But that doesn’t matter. Trying to make an independent living is now illegal.

The state is the Judge. The Judge says there can be no jury. The state is the Executioner. After all, this is the land of the free the home of the brave, where agencies steal and destroy property with impunity and if we don’t like it, we can leave. That is, if we aren’t already involved in some legal imbroglio.

I digress. But only a little bit.

Judge David Dunlap ruled that Morningland of the Ozarks LLC is to turn over to the Attorney General’s office all sales records (none), all production records (none), all sanitation records (none), all bacteriological test records (none), and all sales records (again?).

Denise and Joseph Dixon produced the invoices from the companies they purchased cheese from, and also invoices with the names redacted of the people they had sent cheese to from Feb 23^rd through present. This wasn’t good enough. The Missouri Attorney General’s office claims that they must have the names, addresses and phone numbers of the private membership association or there will be a $100 per day fine ascribed to a defunct entity, and a defunct private membership association for failure to produce documents. That fine assessment began on August 22^nd as per a letter from the Attorney General’s office.

Joseph and Denise are ready to go to jail before they will turn the names and addresses of the association members over in this action. They mean it. They are asking the court to reconsider their ruling to divulge the members names…but there are things that have to be clarified before they go to jail.

These things make no sense to me in the legal realm of this case. We are dealing with four entities. One is the subject of legal action, that being Morningland of the Ozarks LLC (d/b/a Morningland Dairy). One is Morningland Dairy, the private membership association. The other two are scripturally one, being Joseph and Denise Dixon. The Court, and the Attorney General’s office have stated repeatedly that Morningland of the Ozarks LLC is the only entity involved in this legal action. However, they are comfortable finding a defunct entity, with no income or production, to be in contempt. They are also comfortable with forcing a private association to disclose their membership list in conjunction with a legal proceeding against a separate entity and with requiring the procurement of production records from other entities over which they have no jurisdiction.

If the logic employed by the Missouri Attorney General’s office and Judge Dunlap of Howell County Circuit Court is to apply to all of us (as it will if all of this is upheld), should you purchase some male performance enhancement herbs from anyone, and one of their suppliers is involved in a dispute with say the FDA, then the FDA will have the right to know that you bought such a product, and maybe they will even call you to find out how it worked for you.

Pleasant thought, isn’t it?

The AG’s office makes no bones about their assertion that the Dixons formed their private membership association solely to engage in unlawful activity. They think the Dixons are such hard nosed criminals that they are flaunting the law by letting the Milk Board, the Court and the AG’s office know that they are running a private association under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution. Obviously, the Dixons are criminal because they believe they have the right to provide people with food that the people want and to try to make some money to pay for the electricity to continue to hold their arrested cheese for the inevitable destruction. In the Missouri Attorney General’s eyes, there can be no chance that the Dixons simply want to do what they have been dedicated to doing all along…..Provide living food to living people who share their continued interest in, ummm, living.

I guess we need permission for that now.

 

You’d think it was drugs the Feds were after

Rawesome has been raided for a second time. This time by 9 agencies. Several links for you to read. [all links open in new tab]

Breaking news: Multi-agency armed raid hits Rawesome Foods, Healthy Family Farms for selling raw milk and cheese. Read it here at Natural News.

Thecompletepatient.com – Major New Escalation in War on Food Rights As Federal and Local Agencies Team to Arrest 3 in CA on Criminal Charges Associated with Rawesome Food Club

Estrella Family Creamery blog post, with a video

 

It is totally outrageous.

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• FEDS Treat Raw Milk as Crack – Raid Amish Farm (friendseat.com)
• Breaking news: Multi-agency armed raid hits Rawesome Foods, Healthy Family Farms for Selling Raw Milk and Cheese (newsworldwide.wordpress.com)
• When The Thugs Come Marchin’ In (h3roich3alth.wordpress.com)
• Government Raid of Rawesome (Take 2) (liberationwellnessblog.com)

Prose About the Cons…

Prose About the Cons…
Or, How to Gang Rape a Family Business Government Style

When the California Department of Food Drugs and Agriculture, the FBI, the FDA, the Los Angeles Police Department and their co-conspirators, raided Rawesome Food Club in Venice, California at gunpoint last June, they were intent on one thing: controlling people’s access to food of their choice.

When the CDFA tested cheese seized in the raid 55 days later and “detected” pathogens in the cheese, a freight train of destruction began to run down Morningland Dairy. This family business had been in business for thirty years with no complaints or illnesses associated with consumption of their cheese.

The owners of the company, Joseph and Denise Dixon originally thought the agencies in charge of the investigation were actually interested in helping them address a problem if the investigation showed there actually was a problem. They thought that the Missouri Milk Board was interested in helping them get back into producing their highly desired cheese.

Unfortunately, nearly a year later, those naïve original thoughts are as absent as cheese making activity at their virtually abandoned cheese plant.

Apparently, the government paid enforcers of truth, justice and a controlled food supply will not rest until the object of their fear, $250,000 of cheese, is destroyed. With the destruction of that cheese will come the destruction of another family farm.
If actions are any indication of intent, the intent of the Missouri Milk Board with Morningland Dairy has been annihilation from the beginning of the investigation.

As one might imagine, when you are faced with the destruction of your livelihood, potential loss of your farm and home, complete loss of your business, accusations of wrong doing and ill will, along with separation of your family due to the inevitable continuing saga of bills that must be paid despite the circumstances, you might have some feelings about it. Especially when no one has been harmed by your product.

The following prose asks the ineffable question of “How Many Goons (Bureaucrats) Does it Take to Destroy A Business?”

FDA, Team 1: 3 Goons…..Impress Them

Arrive at the business dressed in full camouflage fatigues and serve inspection paper. Make ignorant statements like, “I don’t know how many times a week you milk your cows, but….” and despite the statements that show your ignorance, make them believe you have the authority to decide if their operation runs properly.

Impress them.

When they question your demands for information unrelated to to your inspection, make obvious note of their “failure to cooperate”.

Impress them.

When you fail to find any contamination, even though you dug deep to insure that you would, be sure to downplay that failure and continue to impress them with more investigation.

When they attempt to limit your ability to confiscate their product, threaten them with an invasion by your sister, the U.S. Marshall.

Impress them.

When you close your investigation, be sure to inform them that you will be back to open up another investigation.

They’ll be impressed.

FDA, Team 2-1 Goon: Strong Arm Them

Call the plant. When you find that the owners are not there, impress upon the Plant Manager the need to recall all of their product for the entire year.

Push! Push!

Email them with your outline of exactly how to do the recall. Never mind that the owners are not present. Never mind that there has never been an illness or complaint connected to their product. Never mind that the test from another state looks extremely suspicious and mishandled.

Push! Push!

Hound the Plant Manger. By phone, by fax, and email. Even on the weekend. Get that recall done before the owners arrive!

Push! Push!

When the owners arrive at the plant before the recall is complete and ask why such a recall is necessary before the ‘facts’ are substantiated, threaten them that you’ll have to issue the recall for them if they do not!

Push! Push!

After you’ve forced them to recall, when the owner informs people you forced them to do it, deny it! But don’t fret; your job is completed.

Missouri State Milk Board- 3 Goons: Deceive Them
 
Arrive at the plant and pretend to be concerned about the ‘situation’, and assure them that you’ll help them get back in business soon. Make them think you are concerned over the apparent obvious lack of proper procedure performed by the other state’s officials, though you will not make any effort to question the other state.

Deceive them.

When they try to conscientiously test some of their product, introduce them to the testing facility that you have used for years, and with whom you have such a relationship that you can call them up and change things to your specifications even if the test is not yours. Tell them that you don’t know this testing facility, that you just learned of them recently, that you will ‘loan’ them the business card you ‘happened’ to have in your wallet to make a copy but that you’ll need it back in case you might want to contact this facility yourself.

Deceive them.

Make them think that you regret that they must do a recall
When the owners insist that the other state’s procedures be investigated, tell them you will look into it, but first, they must do the recall. You really care.

Deceive them.

When they question the integrity of your testing facility, end especially when they find out that you and the facility are buddies, make them think you are saving them from poisoning sooooo many people! Make them believe that it’s not important to do a valid scientifically proper test of their product. Make them believe you are doing all that you can do. Make them believe that their healthful product is not even fit to feed to dogs. Make them believe that you do not want to destroy their business.

Deceive them.

When they dare to fight the planned destruction of their business, testify in court that you had been concerned by the inspections you had previously performed at their plant.

Deceive them.

Do not testify that you had repeatedly told them that you had noticed their efforts to improve the plant, or of the fact that you had recently approved the owner’s plans to expand the plant.

Deceive them.

When you have the opportunity to help the judge decide upon the improvements to require the owners  to implement  before resuming production of their product, be sure to list expensive changes that are not required in other facilities like theirs. Make the judge think that such changes are necessary.

Deceive them.

MISSOURI COURT/ATTORNEY GEN.’S OFFICE – 3 GOONS – AWE & BURY THEM

Twist the truth to achieve your goals and disregard any who insist upon proper procedure.

Play God.

Invent false, damning accusations and run with them so you can destroy the already injured business, even though you have absolutely no proof of such accusations. You don’t need it.

Play God.

Ignore the truth that you hear from testimonies that support the business; you needn’t bother heeding it because as “god” you make your own “truth”.

When you’ve destroyed the small business, don’t stop there. Grind them into the ground by inventing ways to find them in contempt of court. Pay no attention to the rules and regulations they might quote; you’re on a roll and you’re fully convinced of your deity not, right?

Okay, let’s see. Well, it looks like Ten. Ten Government Goons, with government funding, have killed a family farm business, and in less than a year. This family business supplied a delicious raw milk cheese that is easily digestible and provides live beneficial nutrients. They supported their families and employed six people, and they shipped their cheese all over the continental U.S. grossing approximately $600,000 a year.

Guess that made them a threat to the government.

Next?

Update! Morningland Dairy Goes to Court for Contempt of Court

Morningland Dairy Goes to Court for Contempt of Court

©Doreen Hannes

On June 13^th, Morningland Dairy will be in court again despite the fact that the final disposition of their $250,000 cheese inventory is, as yet, undecided. [Click to read  Verified Second Amended Application for Order to Show Cause 5-23-11. It is a pdf.]

Earlier this spring, Howell County Circuit Court Judge David Dunlap found for the State in the first trial and Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund is appealing his decision to a higher court.

At the trial in Howell County in January, Morningland Dairy of the Ozarks LLC noticed the judge, the Missouri Milk Board and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office that they had closed the LLC and would no longer operate in the public venue. Instead Morningland Dairy would operate entirely in the private sector through a private association operating under the 1^st and 14^th Amendments to the US Constitution.

After the trial, Morningland began the process of buying cheese from similar licensed suppliers and repackaging and selling this cheese to their private association buyers.  They purchased a separate refrigeration cooler for the new cheese  to  ensure segregation from the cheese held under embargo by the Missouri Milk Board since August 26^th, 2010.

The Inspectors Get to Inspect –Just not Everything

On April 13^th, Don Falls and Roger Neill of the Missouri Milk Board showed up at the Morningland Dairy plant intending to conduct an inspection of the facility.  Plant Manager Jedadiah York and the eldest Dixon son were there and called Joseph Dixon to inform him of the Milk Board’s presence. Joseph Dixon states that he spoke with Don Falls, and said  “You can inspect the cooler which still holds the Milk Board embargo tag and the cheese in that cooler, but you are not to inspect or go anywhere else in the plant as it is not under your jurisdiction.”

Joseph also says that he did give Don Falls a little piece of his mind, which, from a human standpoint, is completely understandable.  Joe says, “Don Falls stated in court that the amount of cheese in the embargo cooler was his count. He didn’t count the cheese. He just took the FDA count and said it was his. He also stated that the cheese samples sent to Microbe Inotech were his samples, but they were not. So I called him a liar and also told him he couldn’t count, as the FDA count he claimed as his own is way off from our count.” Since Joseph has effectively lost his business, had to leave his family and go to work out of state, lost all of his savings, lost nearly a full year of production and a year and a half of sales, one can understand having some animosity to the regulator in charge of the action.

Charges Levied

Three charges are being levied against Morningland on Monday June 13^th. They are Failure to Allow Inspection, Failure to Implement Required Practices and Unlawful Sale of Embargoed Cheese Product.  One dangerous thing about these charges is that this seems to draw the Dixon’s private association into the State suit against Morningland Dairy of the Ozarks LLC.  The only thing left of the thirty year old company Morningland Dairy of the Ozarks LLC is the cheese under embargo in the cooler.

Joseph says, “Apparently even though he was allowed to inspect the cooler with the embargoed cheese in it, and said that it looked like it was all there to our son and Plant Manager, Don Falls yet again changed his mind and his story after talking to his superiors. Or maybe he just got mad because I called him a liar.”

Styrofoam is Evidence of a Crime

At question in the allegations now being charged against Morningland is whether or not there are any clear jurisdictional boundaries that the State or Federal government cannot cross. If cutting and repackaging cheese is now manufacturing cheese then several families could not go together on a forty pound block of cheese and divide it up amongst themselves without being licensed and inspected.

The “evidence” that Morningland is selling the embargoed cheese is that a member of the private association who runs Clover’s in Columbia Missouri, sold cheese with a Morningland label to Don Falls and Roger Neill.  (Batman and Robin of the Missouri Milk Board?) Also cited in the court filing is that there were bits of styrofoam on the packing room floor which leads to the cooler that is under arrest by the Milk Board.

While the packages of cheese might seem damning, one must remember that Morningland LLC closed down and agreed to not sell any of the embargoed cheese until the legal proceedings were complete. As stated earlier, they also informed the Court, Milk Board and Attorney General’s Office that they had formed a private association.  Considering these things, do styrofoam pieces plus packages of cheese really add up to selling embargoes cheese?  What about the inventory? Is anyone going to check that?

The really funny thing about the inventory is that in the court records there are three different inventory counts offered. Don Falls says 29,000 pounds, Denise Dixon says closer to 39,000 pounds and the judge cites 20,000 pounds. Does anyone really know?  If all the cheese is destroyed, will it matter how much there really is? If it were your livelihood, I would think it would matter to you.

Life Goes On….Kind of

Denise Dixon is going to be the only principal in court on Monday the 13^th. She will be flying back from Ohio where she and her younger children are currently staying taking care of her elderly parents. Joseph is working in Alabama and cannot take time off work to be present at the proceeding.

If the State ultimately fails to destroy the cheese that represents the wealth of this family, they have succeeded in destroying the family’s forward progress and robbing them of their peace. All over cheese that in thirty years never had a complaint of illness or upset associated with it. 

  ===  You can still donate to help the Dixon’s keep their farm and cheese plant so they can hopefully begin making cheese themselves once this court battle is complete.

Stay of Execution on Cheese is Granted!

Stay of Execution on Cheese is Granted!

Morningland  Moves on to Appeal

March 9^th 2011

In a surprisingly fast decision, the Judge in the Morningland of the Ozarks LLC’s case has ruled in favor of a “stay of execution” on destruction of the cheese in the farmstead cheese company’s refrigerated cave.

Yesterday at 1pm, there was a teleconference regarding  Morningland counsel’s request for a stay on the State’s desire to destroy all of the cheese that has been held under embargo since August 26^th. The Judge had issued his Order for Judgment for destruction and had also issued a Permanent Injunction on Morningland LLC to stop them from making or selling cheese until a very untenable set of criteria were met by the company. Counsel Gary Cox requested a stay on destruction and asked the judge to dismiss the counter claims brought by Morningland LLC in their case with the Missouri Milk Board.

Today, March 9^th, 2011, the day the Milk Board wanted to begin destroying the cheese, Judge Dunlap issued a five point ruling in favor of the Stay and now the case to destroy the cheese moves on to Appeal.

Morningland of the Ozarks LLC , has been in business for 30 years with no incidence of illness ever surfacing. Despite the history of companies like Morningland, the FDA issued a notice to consumers the same day the decision to grant a stay was being heard saying that raw dairy may “Pose a Health Threat”.

While Morningland of the Ozarks LLC has been put out of business by the seizure and complete halt of selling or producing cheese at the cheese plant, Morningland intends to move forward as a private health food association and hopes to make cheese again soon. Joseph and Denise Dixon, the prior principals of Morningland LLC said, “If we can just hold on until spring fully hits, when the grass comes in and the cows don’t need to be fed, we think we can weather this, and hopefully produce living, healthful food for our members again.”

Update: A Decision Expected on Monday

Today was the teleconference where the judge heard more information regarding the stay. He will make this decision on Monday.

What seems apparent from the documents – and you can read them below – is that the Missouri Attorney General’s office is scared that the cheese will get away. They even asked that the Dixon’s post a bond of $250,000.00, which was later reduced to $2,000.00. [At this point in this post, let me remind you to donate some money, some more money, via Pledgie because they really, really are in need. ]

This is the Memo in Oppostion Defendent’s Petition [opens as a PDF]. Can you count how many times the Plaintiff [state of Missouri] claims their rights? How one sided is that?

Here’s what the Memo says in regard to their fear that the cheese will sprout feet and abscond:

If a stay is granted and the cheese continues to remain undestroyed, Defendant [the Dixons] will retain control over it and the risk to the public remains great. Should the Defendant remain in control of the cheese, the cheese might be shipped out of state, stolen and consumed, or donated as food to a food pantry.

This is Exhibit A – Rescission of Activities and Practices Involving Production, Sale and Marketing of Raw Milk Products. This is where the Dixons tell the court that they are going private and will only sell to private members. This is the main reason that they need more donations. In order to stay alive and keep the farm running until the final judgment is rendered.

Here is Exhibit B – Request for Judicial Notice, where Joseph Dixon makes his claim, and rightly so…”follow the teachings and precepts of scripture as the absolute and final authority in heaven and upon the earth.”

As I understand it, the AG’s office is very uncomfortable with all of the transparency. They’d much rather have everything kept out of the public eye. No kidding. If I were them, I’d want that too.

Where the Cheese Meets the Landfill

This is serious, folks. Some of you have kindly offered to free the cheese, but please, you have to understand the seriousness of that action.

The Dixons have been instructed to send any freedom of cheese suggestions to the proper authorities…obstruction of justice charges will likely result. That means someone would likely go to jail. Doreen, for a time, the Dixon’s for longer. Obstruction of justice is a felony…know what I mean?

If you want to help, really help, show up on D-Day (currently scheduled for the 9th) with your video cameras, your recorders, signs. Doreen put it best: “Personally, I think that a few hundred people there with signs megaphones, cameras and notice to tv stations would be good. Here we are in a world where there are food riots and tons of reports about food shortages coming soon, and they are going to throw away an awful lot of food.”

This isn’t kindergarten, folks. This is tyranny.

Final Countdown?

In a 3-2-11 Letter to Gary Cox of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, assistant attorney general Jessica Blome stated that “requesting a new trial does not stay execution of the Court’s Final Order of Permanent Injunction and Judgment and Order, entered February 23, 2011. Accordingly, this letter serves to provide your client with seven days notice that the Missouri State Milk Board will assist your client in the destruction of ‘all of its cheese products condemned by the Missouri State Milk Board on August 26, 2010’…Pursuant to the court’s Final Order, three inspectors from the State Milk Board will arrive at Morningland Dairy of the Ozarks in Mountain Grove, Missouri, at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, continuing to Thursday, March 10, 2011, to supervise your client in the destruction of the condemned cheese. The State Milk Board has made arrangements with a local, sanitary landfill for the disposal of the cheese.”

David Gumpert at The Complete Patient says it best in this post yesterday: “And now, smelling blood, the Missouri regulators are pushing for destruction of the Morningland inventory by next week, even though Missouri law and legal precedent allow for an automatic 30-day stay for imposition of sentence. [emphasis mine].

I particularly like the picture David used with that post. Says it all.

Morningland Dairy Trial Nearly Complete

Morningland Dairy Trial Nearly Complete

©Doreen Hannes

On January 13^th, the second grueling day of the Morningland Dairy LLC marathon trial ensued. For those who don’t know, court went on for 10 hours on Tuesday and ten full hours on Wednesday. Early in the Wednesday proceedings there were approximately 20 people in the audience, but as noon approached the attendance grew to nearly 45. Wednesday was almost entirely devoted to defense witnesses with the exception of Sarah Blamely, technician from Microbe Innotech on behalf of the Missouri Milk Board. Miss Blamely testified to the processes she followed after receipt of the samples by courier. She stated that she believed Don Falls of the Missouri Milk Board was a representative of Morningland Dairy and that was why she allowed him to change information regarding batch numbers on Morningland samples.

Following Ms. Blamely was Denise Dixon, General Manager of the farmstead cheese plant. Both General Mangers, Joseph and Denise Dixon, were in Washington State at the American Cheese Society Convention on August 26^th, the day that the Missouri Milk Board embargoed, seized and condemned Morningland’s entire cheese stock. Mrs. Dixon testified about general processes and her training in the operation of the cheese plant, and about her concerns upon hearing of the notice from California Department of Food and Ag regarding their cheese. Mrs. Dixon also testified that there was an FDA recall notice sent out without their authorization and prior to their return to Missouri from the American Cheese Society convention Washington. The Missouri Attorney General counsel, Jennifer Bloome, objected nearly every time a defense witnesses mentioned the  “FDA”, and made no exception to this mention by Denise Dixon. Defense Attorney, Gary Cox of FTCLDF (Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund) indicated that they did indeed have proof of this August 27th recall notice despite the objection of the Attorney General’s office at the admission of this testimony into the court record. Notably, the AG’s office did not object to the testimony of their witnesses, Missouri Milk Board employees Gene Wiseman and Don Falls, stating that they followed all FDA guidelines and procedures in their agency.

Perhaps the most revealing statement made all day was put forward by Jessica Blome the AG’s office in explanation of her objection to referencing the FDA involvement at Morningland. While I do not have the transcript in front of me, I wrote down what I heard her state, and am reasonably certain it is correct. Objecting to a reference of the FDA inclusion regarding invoices from Morningland given to Don Falls of the Missouri Milk Board on August 27^th, she said, “The invoices were procured for a collateral matter and we would like to keep that separate from this case.” It would seem that the FDA and the Missouri Attorney General’s office are working together for further action against Morningland.

An inference was made by the AG’s office that the Dixons were trying to avoid discovery of listeria laden cows in their herd. Ms Bailey-Brown of the AG’s office was questioning Denise Dixon and asked, “Do you expect us to believe that you sold cows after finding you had a listeria problem, and did not pick those cows?”  Joseph Dixon informed me that the cows they sold in the end of September, early October were dry cows due to freshen, and they simply couldn’t afford to continue to feed them, so they were sold, and many went to slaughter at 54¢ per pound. Denise Dixon simply replied, “We were financially stricken.”  The Attorney General’s office pursued this reasoning for what seemed an inordinate amount of time to those of us in the audience remotely familiar with dairying…which was most of the audience.

Jedadiah York, Morningland’s Plant Manger testified next, and seemed understandably nervous. His testimony was mostly rudimentary, regarding the processes involved in making cheese. The most revealing thing in his testimony was that he picked the cheeses to be sampled straight from their cut stock with Don Falls present.  Previously, I understood that an employee had picked the cheese and neither Don Falls or Jedadiah were involved in that process. He also testified that he did not always record the date the first block of cheese from a batch was cut. He attested that the cheeses had always been aged at least 60 days, but he was occasionally busy and failed to make record of the dates certain batches had been cut. This is important because raw dairy cheeses are required to be aged 60 days, while no reports of illness or product complaints have ever surfaced, those lapses in record keeping are not helpful to Morningland Dairy’s plight.

Next came the testimony of Tim Wightman, a dairy consultant, Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund board member and major force in the push for National Raw Milk Standards. While the Attorney General’s office questioned his expertise, they nonetheless had done their research on Wightman and used his own standards to effectively malign Morningland Dairy because of one milk sample where their somatic cell count (SCC) went over the state grade A level of 750,000. Results from one full year of Morningland milk samples were read into the record and the SCC’s were from 160,000 to a single time spike of 1.7 million. The average SCC was 600,000 or lower with only that one spike and several in the 300,000 range. Most dairy people will tell you that the records are indicative of a very well run dairy with good herd health, and the spike was likely due to someone forgetting to turn on the tank to cool the milk. Nonetheless, the AG’s office used Wightman’s standards from his own literature to cast aspersions on the herd health of Morningland. Wightman also inexplicably stated that when you remove cows from the milking line it will reduce your SCC. Wightman testified that his standards require SCC’s less than 300,000 with any spike being indicative of a potentially severe herd health problem, not a potential human error. The push for National Raw Milk Standards is a deep concern for many in the raw milk movement, and the standards expressed by Wightman on the stand in this trial are good examples of the basis for these concerns.

There was only one witness left and that was Dr. Ted Beals, an extremely well educated and highly credentialed medical doctor and microbiologist. Beals was the indisputable star witness in the entire case. Initially, while he was reciting his credentials, Judge Dunlap said, “While we could ask when you received your medical license, that could reveal your antiquity and that is not the habit of the court”, which drew some laughs from the peanut gallery. Dr Beals was articulate, thought provoking ad quite authoritative in his testimony, which centered predominately on the extremely pervasive presence of bacteria in general, and both listeria monocytogenes and staphaureusin particular, in the environment and all over each one of us in the court room. From time to time, Dr. Beals was guilty of falling into narratives, but despite the lessons in bacterial behavior, his testimony remained germane to the topic. Near the end of his testimony, AG Bailey-Brown was attempting to infer that Beals was an anti-government whack job by citing points the AG’s office had harvested from a power point presentation he had given at a raw milk symposium. Bailey-Brown asked a question that began with “Isn’t it true that you believe that….” which was so long and meandering that no one could follow it, and to which Cox entered an objection and the Judge replied, “As long as it isn’t to the truth of the matter and only to the beliefs of the witness, the witness can answer the question….That is, if he can remember the question.” Beals asked her to re-state the question, and not too surprisingly, she couldn’t recall it either. It definitely provided some much needed comic relief. One of Beals’ responses (among many) that bears repeating was, “There are millions more bacteria in and on humans than there are cells in the human body…..”  Kind of like, “Auuugh! Nature! It’s all over me!”  And also, when the AG evidently (okay, I’m being generous here) misinterpreted some of Dr. Beals’ testimony given in deposition regarding listeriosis resulting in 100% fetal mortality, he corrected her cleanly. His response was, “No, that is not what I said. I said that if listeriosis resulted in abortion it would cause 100% mortality in a fetus”

It was interesting that the Attorney General’s office seemed intent on showing some kind of collusion by inquiring of every witness for the defense as to their membership and/or position in the FTCLDF organization. As if being a member of this group somehow was akin to being a card carrying member of  a terrorist group or something. Obviously Denise Dixon, is a member of the group as Morningland Dairy is being represented by FTCLDF Lead Counsel Gary Cox, and you must be a member of the group to be represented by the groups attorney. Is it really that much of a surprise that an organization designed to represent the interests of farmers and farmstead producers would use it’s own experts in a trial? It appeared that the attempt to deride the testimony of the defense witnesses on this basis held little weight with the judge as his facial expression didn’t change a bit when everyone admitted to some type of an affiliation with the organization.

The 7:00p adjournment time was met with no time for oral closing arguments. Judge Dunlap, whom, as I’ve said previously, is a very unorthodox judge, allowed that if the State wished, they could bring in their own medical doctor as an expert to rebut Dr. Beals’ testimony, with the ability of the defense to depose as well. Barring developments in that realm, closing arguments are to be presented in written format. Gary Cox asked if there was to be a page limit, and Dunlap replied, “I guess 40 pages….Holding to the law and consonant arguments, explain why your side wins.” The written closing arguments are to be submitted to the court on January 28^th. Meanwhile, the judge will go over the testimony.

Barring any further developments on the potential suit involving the FDA as alluded to by Missouri Attorney General Jennifer Bloome, there may not be any updates on Morningland Dairy’s crises for an entire week and a half. As always, I will keep you apprised if this fluid situation changes…..Meanwhile, please do visit the UnCheese Party and make any donation you are capable of making. If you haven’t grasped it before now, our nation is in a serious crisis for real food. If we have no real farmers, we certainly will not have any real food.

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I’d like to ask a favor of you, dear reader. Doreen has done so much work, spent many hours doing research and going to the trial,  could you find it in your heart to donate some money to her? If you click through this link to her blog, Truth Farmer, and on the right side bar you’ll find a PayPal donate button. Show your appreciation of her efforts fighting for us all to continue having Food Freedom. ~ Sharon

Morningland Dairy Trial Starts Tomorrow

MORNINGLAND DAIRY TRIAL SET for JANUARY 11 & 12

On Tuesday, January 11 a trial will begin at the Howell County Courthouse in West Plains, Missouri to determine whether 50,000 pounds of cheese held at the facility of Morningland Dairy LLC will be destroyed despite no reports of illness. The cheese has been under embargo since August 26; Morningland was also ordered to cease all cheese production on that date. Morningland is a farmstead cheese operation located in Mountain View, Missouri that has been in business for over thirty years without any reported illnesses from the consumption of its products.

On October 22, the Missouri State Milk Board filed a petition for a condemnation order that will be heard on Tuesday. On October 1, the Milk Board had issued a letter informing Joe and Denise Dixon, owners of  Morningland, requesting that the dairy destroy their entire cheese inventory because cheese samples sent off for testing on August 27 by Morningland came back positive for Listeria monocytogenes (L. mono.) and Staphylococcus aureus (Staph aureus).

Also to be heard at the trial by the judge are counterclaims filed by Morningland Dairy asking the court to lift the August 26 embargo and to vacate the October 1 destruction letter. For background details, read the November action alert “Cheesemakers Under Attack” posted at: http://www.westonaprice.org/action-alerts/2010-alerts/2054-help-stop-destruction-of-raw-cheese-inventories.html

SUPPORT MORNINGLAND AT THE HEARING – BRING VIDEO CAMERAS

Those who are able are encouraged to attend the trial starting at 9 a.m. CST each day, January 11 and 12 at

Howell County Circuit Court, Court Square, West Plains, Missouri 65775

GENERAL DIRECTIONS:  Taking U.S. Hwy 63 (business route) into West Broadway and turning south onto Washington Avenue will take you to Court Square. Go to
GoogleMaps for more details at http://bit.ly/googlemap-howell-court

DONATIONS TO HELP THE DIXONS
Those wanting to help the Dixons through the financial hardship they have suffered as a result of the Milk Board’s actions may make a donation at
http://pledgie.com/campaigns/13790.

To learn more about Morningland Dairy, visit the Uncheese Party at
https://uncheeseparty.wordpress.com/