Over the last two
weeks, Andrea Elliott has been writing emails to farm associations, her
Congressman, and members of the U.S. House and Senate agriculture committees--
-all urging that the upcoming farm bill not include funding for the National
Animal Identification System (NAIS). She and her husband, Jim, own a dairy
farm in the Catskill Mountains of New York, and she made it
plain in her notes that she is adamantly opposed to registering the farm's 80
cows under the federal program.
Recently she received a call from an inspector with the New York
Department of Food and Markets in Albany that he planned to come by the farm for
a special inspection, based on "a complaint" made to the department's Division
of Milk Control and Dairy Services.
Andrea couldn't
imagine who might have complained, and what the complaint might have been
about. Her farm, Crystal Brook Farms, sells nearly all its milk to a local
creamery for pasteurization. She sells a few gallons of raw milk
occasionally to individuals who stop in with their own containers, under
New York rules
that allow sale of 25 gallons a month without a permit.
Today (Tuesday), the inspector,
Bradley Lyle Houck, arrived from Albany, two hours away, together with her
regular local dairy inspector, and Andrea was prepared. As soon as they arrived,
"I turned on my video camera. I think that made them a little
uncomfortable. "
Then, she says, "I asked the
state inspector to fill out my form." Her form is a three-page "public
service questionnaire" that asks for the inspector's identity, his principal
reason for doing the inspection, how the information he gathers will be used,
and other such data. "He shook his head and refused," says Andrea. "He
said, 'I have to be authorized by Albany.'" He tried to make a call on his cell
phone, but couldn't complete the call because the farm area has no cell
reception.
Andrea persisted. I said, "This is our property and I can
require you to fill it out." He offered his state ID and
badge.
Andrea moved on. "I asked him why he was here and he
said a complaint was received in Albany. "What was the complaint? "He said
he couldn't tell me."
Who filed the complaint? "He wouldn't tell me.
He just wouldn't go any further. He said all complaints that come
into Albany are
treated as confidential. "
"I asked
him what statute allows a complaint to be treated as confidential. He said
he couldn't quote a statute." At that point, the inspector asked if
they could talk off-camera. Andrea declined.
"He said,
'I guess the best thing would be for us to come back another time." The
two got back into their car and took off.
Andrea
adds, "At no time did I deny him the inspection. I didn't ask him to
leave. All I did was ask him for specific reasons for the inspection.. .I
have a right to know who my accuser is."
Andrea
seems to have added an entirely new dimension to the agricultural
inspection. Especially one with such an intriguing coincidence connecting
it to NAIS.
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Did Andrea win a small victory, you
bet. Because she resisted. Will the inspectors be back?
Probably. Is Andrea prepared? Of course, because she believes in the
sanctity of her property and God-given property rights and is willing to defend
them by challenging and questioning the government enforcer/inspectors'
authority.
Now here is another reason you'd better
start resisting. Read the linked article below and start
thinking seriously about where America is headed. To Hell, is where
it is headed and organizations like ours and other American patriots are going
to be targeted, if another new law is passed, that Congress is
considering. You won't believe what is contained in the Bill, as described
in this article. The source and the writer are
credible.