Activism Opportunity for Manna Storehouse
By Monica @ 7:26 PM   
The Stowers family is pleased to announce that you can follow their case through their attorney's website, The Buckeye Institute. The press statement can be seen directly at this location. For those unaware of the raid on Manna Storehouse, I've written about the incident here, here, and here. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Stowers' legal fund is encouraged to make it to the Buckeye Institute. The Buckeye Institute is an independent research and education group and does not perform contract work or accept government grants: "To maintain the highest degree of intellectual integrity, we need the support of the people whose lives we're seeking to improve through sound public policy. We thank you in advance for your support. " I received an email requesting people to write letters, especially to the Governor of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County Health Department. If anyone has experienced a similar tale of government abuse, please leave it here in the comments and I will forward it to the Stowers', as they would like to hear about it.
Will you please join me in writing these three government offices? We need to send a clear message to the officials in Ohio -- and other government agencies in the country no doubt following this case closely -- that these types of actions are completely unconstitutional and unacceptable. Here is my letter. Feel free to adapt it to your needs. Dear __________, I am extremely disturbed at the strong-arm tactics displayed in the raid on the Stowers home in late 2008. Not one complaint of illness has been made against Manna Storehouse, nor has any evidence been offered that the products of the Stowers farm are dangerous. Would this type of action have been acceptable in America in 1808 or even 1908? No. Then why is it acceptable in 2008? It is not.
People have a constitutional right to enter into contractual agreements that harm no one, and they have a right to do so without government permission slips. For too long now, a government official has been responsible for deciding what is healthy. The current regulatory scheme drastically decreases choices available to consumers and forces them to buy food products as the government sees fit -- regardless of their own judgment or unique circumstances. This is a complete anomaly in human history. For thousands of years, even well into the history of the United States, humans have survived and lived perfectly healthy lives without a government dictating their food choices.
The members of the Manna Storehouse coop are informed consumers. As for the possibility of food-borne illness, there are no guarantees of safety even from federally inspected items, including pasteurized milk, beef, chicken, tomatoes, sausage, spinach, and alfalfa sprouts -- despite what government agencies would like us to believe. All Americans need to be more informed about their food choices -- not lulled into a false sense of complacency about a particular product simply because it is deemed "safe" by a state or federal health agency. Americans must have the right to eat the food they choose. Should situations of harm to consumers arise, Americans will always have a recourse: the courts.
Yet there wasn't even a case of food poisoning as an excuse for this raid. No one complained or became ill from purchases from the Manna Storehouse coop. No one's rights were violated until the Stowers home was forcibly entered. Why was there a need to raid the Stowers home and confiscate thousands of dollars worth of food, including private supplies as well? This type of action resembles something out of a Soviet Politburo handbook. It is most certainly not our founders' vision of the United States. The Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County Health Department should be ashamed of themselves.
Ohioans, indeed all Americans, should be allowed to to make their own decisions about the food put into their bodies -- without any government interference whatsoever. The government should not be able to unlawfully seize peoples' very sustenance because of minor code infractions. Government agencies appear to need continual reminders that it is they who serve American citizens -- not the other way around. This outrageous action against the Stowers family is a clear violation of the fourth and fifth amendments of the Constitution of the United States, and all such raids need to come to an end.
Monica Hughes, PhD, founder of Free Agriculture -- Restore Markets (fa-rm.org)
Labels: "Safety", Farm Raids, Individual Rights
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