Stowers Food Raid Update- Seized Food To Be Returned

Of all the sinister intrustions and usurpations of Government over the past few decades, the War On Food must rank among the most bizarre.

Included below are updates for the Stowers Family Saga which began almost exactly a year ago and some other background and explanatory links.

All posts can be found in the category Ohio-Stowers Food Raid. (CLICK LINK HERE)
Tantalizing Excerpt:

A Family Finally Gets Their Food Back
By Lynn Walsh
October 8, 2009

A family in northeast Ohio is rejoicing today after a judge has ordered the government to return their food to their home. It was almost a year ago, in December of 2008, that the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County General Health District raided the Stowers home in Lagrange, Ohio. Officers, dressed in S.W.A.T gear, swarmed their small family farm searching for food they believed was being sold unlawfully.

(CLICK LINK HERE) or (CLICK LINK HERE)

New Hampshire Horse Raid- Duct Taped License Plates

Food raids in Ohio, horse raids in New Hampshire. Is this really the country in which You,the People, want to live???

If there is one common theme in all these thousands of isolated incidents, it is the unbelieveable insouciance of the authorities and other participants.

Just barf all over someone’s life with some bogus legal action and if it does not stick, scamper off somewhere else and do it again.

Assume for a moment there were exigent circumstances grave enough to drive into a blinding snowstorm to rescue endangered horses. Why duct tape your license plates? Why not take ALL the horses? Why seal the search warrant? Why consume public resources from multiple communities? Who pays for all this sturm and drang?

Tantalizing excerpt:

On March 9, 2009 the SPCA raided our farm in Candia, NH. Backed by over a dozen cops from three towns, they blocked off the road for a half mile and took 12 happy, healthy horses. Think about this the next time you send your donation to the SPCA.

Edit Update:
Some other questions:

If these horses are desperately in need of quarantine is it a good idea to transport them from pillar to post,potentially exposing other horses along the route to whatever ailment they might have?

How about the farms to where they were transported?

Are they certified quarantine facilities?

And, of course, where was the Constitutional Law Enforcement Authority-the Sheriff?

http://johnjacobh.wordpress.com/2008/06/21/the-county-sheriffthe-ultimate-check-balance/

http://sheriffmack.com/

Ohio Stowers Food Raid Update Update

Two new wrinkles in the Stowers Family Food Raid.

First, there is now a separate category for all the posts here:

http://johnjacobh.wordpress.com/category/ohio-stowers-food-raid/

Second, the Journal of Whole Food and Nutrition Blog has taken up the story with a really good summary and links to the Sheriff’s Warrant and other interesting documents —Click here:

http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/2009/02/21/swat-team-raid-on-homeschool-and-food-and-health-ministry-for-hungry-families/

Update May 2,2009: For some reason the previous link has been disconnected, but here is a new link to some updates:

http://wholefoodusa.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/swat-team-raid-on-homeschool-and-food-and-health-ministry-for-hungry-families/

So those of you who have followed this story from December will now be able to keep up with all the various threads and podcasts and other developments.

Ohio Food Raid Update- Stowers Family Food CO-OP

Injunctive Relief from the Police Raid on the Stowers Family Food CO-Op is now in the competent hands of the Buckeye Institute.

For a well produced overview of the entire situation via podcast click on this link:

buckeyevoices.org/index.php?id=98

A descriptive excerpt:

Buckeye Institute President David Hansen and 1851 Center for Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson discuss Stowers v. Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA). This week the Buckeye Institute took legal action against ODA for an unlawful raid on the Stowers’ home and co-op, and subsequent seizure of their personal property. The institute believes ODA violated the Stowers’ constitutional rights. Listen to Hansen and Thompson explain the issue on BuckeyeVoices.

People interested in a wide variety of Government Related Policy Questions might do well to study some of the other papers and issues covered by Buckeye Institute.

Link here:

buckeyeinstitute.org/

If you wish to examine a really well crafted legal brief be sure to download the PDF file of the petition filed on behalf of the Stowers at the Buckeye Institute Homepage.

Swat Team Gone Wild- Ohio Food Raid Update

The latest development in the Ohio Food Co-op Raid. The Buckeye Institute has taken up the cause.

Jacqueline Stowers husband is currently serving in Iraq and unable to protect his family from predatory government on the homefront.

Contact the “Vote Freedom First” President George W. Bush and ask him how this will look on his legacy!

Grim Excerpt:

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.

Complete Link:

buckeyeinstitute.org/article/1284

Link to Buckeye Institute:

buckeyeinstitute.org/

What The Hell Is A “Food Raid”?

This is a new one on me….
Tantalizing Excerpt:

Swat Team conducts food raid in rural Ohio
By admin on December 7th, 2008

On Monday, December 1, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM. The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.

There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly suspicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family’s possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family’s personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.

Link to complete story:

//www.70news.com/2008/12/07/swat-team-conducts-food-raid-in-rural-ohio/