John and Jackie Stowers are suing the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Lorain County General Health District over the raid on their “Manna Storehouse,” an organic food co-op that operated in LaGrange. The case focuses first on the “paramilitary style execution of a search warrant against a peaceful family” whose only alleged crime was not getting a state permit. The second is a challenge to government claims the cooperative is a retail food establishment.
The Stowerses and their 10 children and grandchildren were detained in one room of their home for six hours while sheriff’s officers confiscated 60 boxes of fresh farm food, computers, phones and records, including USDA-certified meat from the children’s mini-farm, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs.
The state and county are accused of 119 counts, including unlawful search and seizure, illegal use of state police power, taking of private property without compensation, failure to provide due process and equal protection and a multitude of constitutional rights violations, including the right to grow and eat one’s own food and offer it to others.
At what point do we wake up and realize that we don’t need a permit to exercise rights. The right to eat seems to be as inherent as any other right but yet the government insist on having its hands on the process. Where does it stop?
The worst part of it all were the tactics employed:
The confrontation began developing several years ago when local health officials demanded the family hold a retail food license to run their co-op. Thompson said the family wrote a letter questioning the requirement and asking for evidence that would indicate they were operating a food store. The Stowers family members simply “take orders from (co-op) members … then divide up the food,” Thompson explained.
“The health inspector didn’t like the tone of the letter,” Thompson said, and the result was that law enforcement officials planned, staged and carried out the raid on the family’s home.
The “sale” of the eggs to the undercover agent was entrapment, the family’s lawyers have contended, since the family members had told him they didn’t sell food to the public and couldn’t help him. Eventually, when he refused to leave, the family gave him a dozen eggs to hasten his departure, Thompson explained.
And that was enough. Was this family threatening to, well, anyone? No. But if given the excuse to dust off the SWAT team the Ohio Department of Agriculture will jump at the chance. So remember, next time someone doesn’t like ‘your tone,’ they may just execute a paramilitary operation in your private residence in the name of justice. Even if all you are trying to do is ensure you and your neighbors get the best price on healthy food.
