Double H Farms have gotten about the friendliest possible court ruling, Rob Seal writes in today’s Daily Progress. Richard Bean and Jean Rinaldi had expected the worst after their bizarre SWAT-style arrest on a labeling offense back in September, but the judge who OKd dropping nearly all of the charges and the fine actually volunteered that farming laws just don’t make any sense, and that the legislature should fix them. They had to plead guilty to a single count of transporting uninspected meat for sale, and they’ve had to agree to comply with all state and federal farming regulations.
Incidentally, none of the 127 bills pre-filed for this January’s General Assembly session address farming. But there are thousands more bills to come, so it’s certainly not too late.
The real tragedy in this whole situation would be if the public no longer had access to some of the healthiest and best tasting pork there is. I’m glad that Bean and Rinaldi are able to keep maintaining their livelihood and I’m glad there’s a judge down there in Nelson who decided to side with freedom of choice when it comes to food instead of sticking up for big business. I knew there was a reason I liked living there. I only hope the Charlottesville charges have at least this good a result, if not better.
It would be one thing if this were simply a matter of choosing between two philosophies when it comes to eating. But, agribusiness is intentionally trying to put local farmers out of business, and government has so far been complicit. Here’s hoping that begins to change in the upcoming session.
As soon as I hit submit, I’m pulling some celebratory Double H bacon out of the freezer!
Great news!
Of course, in my limited understanding of this, part of the regulations that affected them were federal so I’m not sure there’s a whole lot the State can do. If there is though, then I’m totally behind reforms. After all, I’m also sick of elderly couples being fined for not having digital scales and all the other nonsense.
Where’s the Farm Bureau when you need them? (Or are they too busy lobbying for Developers to actually help farmers?)
I’ll bet a number of the 127 bills will be ways to spend more money and none to spend less by reorganization of government services or elimination of no longer effective programs.
The reason the nuts and bolts of government are left to rust is because Richmond does not have the time to really investigate the thousands of bills that are introduced each year. It’s too bad we don’t have a “None of the above” option in our balloting. If we did, you’d better believe the “representatives” would be paying attention to the Double H customers.
You’d lose that bet. :) There are a bunch of bills that reduce taxes which, naturally, reduce spending, since our constitution mandates a balanced budget.
Waldo,
Oh, you…
Thanks, I’ve bookmarked and will keep a watch.