Health Impact News

The federal government has continued to spend energy and resources in hunting down Amish raw milk farmers. Raw milk advocate David Gumpert recently reported about a federal effort to prosecute two raw milk farmers by requiring them to appear before a federal Grand Jury in Detroit:

Though Peanut Corp of America has been cited for responsibility in nine deaths and more than 700 illnesses from Salmonella in its peanut butter, its president, Stewart Parnell, has remained seemingly immune from prosecution nearly three years after the fact. Same with Austin “Jack” DeCoster of Wright County Egg, which was linked to as many as 1,700 illnesses from Salmonella in its eggs in 2010. But a relatively small 2010 Midwest outbreak of 25 illnesses (and no deaths) from Campylobacter in raw milk seems to have brought the ire of law enforcement down on the owners of two tiny farms in Indiana and Michigan. A federal grand jury in Detroit is investigating bringing criminal charges against an Amish farmer David Hochstetler in Indiana who produced the milk, and a Michigan farmer Richard Hebron who helped distribute it to several private food clubs. (Full article here)

Today, Kentucky Food Club leader John Moody reported that the scheduled grand jury date for Amish farmer David Hochstetler in Detroit was canceled, and that Hochstetler has been released from his subpoena. What happened to cause this turn of events? According to Moody:

Local Sheriff Brad Rogers, stepped in to the situation and notified the DOJ that if they wanted to have any dealings with those under his protection and jurisdiction, they would have to go through him. He also warned the DOJ that if they continued to visit David’s farm/property without a proper warrant, he or his officers would arrest them for trespassing. (Full article here)

Moody goes on to report that the Justice Department “threatened Sheriff Rogers with a FELONY ARREST for doing his job and fulfilling his oath of office.” Gumpert gave some details as to the exchange between Sheriff Rogers and the DOJ’s Mr. Goldstein:

Rogers emailed Goldstein that there had been “a number of inspections and attempted inspections on (Hochstetler’s) farm…” He warned that “any further attempts to inspect this farm without a warrant signed by a local judge, based on probable cause, will result in Federal inspectors’ removal or arrest for trespassing by my officers or I.”

That prompted Goldstein to cite the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause,” which he said “has been interpreted since the earliest days of this nation to mean that federal law trumps state law whenever the two conflict.”

Goldstein argued further that the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act allowed federal agents “to enter Mr. Hochstetler’s property…without a warrant at all–pursuant to a long line of federal cases…” Moreover, he warned the sheriff that federal agents could arrest him– “that the ‘refusal to permit entry or inspection as authorized by section 374’ is in itself a federal criminal offense, which under certain circumstances is a felony punishable by imprisonment for up to three years…”

The Goldstein letter prompted Rogers to reply, in a letter just being sent today, “When you assert that federal law trumps state law, it is a distortion of the intent, content and extent of the supreme law of the land–the U.S. Constitution-seen through a myopic and misunderstood view of Article VI, section 2 (The Supremacy Clause).”

He also asserted that “the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act could be deemed unconstitutional if and when challenged vis-a-vis the Tenth Amendment juxtaposed with The Commerce Clause.”

He added that “our form of government was based on the principle that all officials exist to secure ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’…Your ‘cosmetic’ regulations will never ‘trump’ those principles. The citizen in question is a good man and has committed no crime. He is an upstanding member of this community. He does not have to allow you access to his property for the FDA to conduct random inspections.” (Read the Full Article Here)

So what’s with this Sheriff Brad Rogers standing up to the federal government? Is he some kind of renegade Sheriff?

Actually, no. Sheriff Rogers is part of a large and growing movement across America of Sheriffs standing up for the constitutional rights of the citizens in their district, and standing against the federal government and its effort to infringe upon States rights and citizen’s constitutional rights. Unlike federal bureaucratic departments like the FDA, the EPA, U.S. Forest Service, etc., Sheriffs are elected officials that take an oath of office to uphold the constitution.

Sheriff Rogers is part of the County Sheriff Project started by Sheriff Richard Mack, who challenged the Clinton administration on the implementation of the Brady bill in Arizona, all the way to the Supreme Court, and won. You can learn more about Sheriff Rogers in this video:

Could the elected county Sheriffs across America be our last hope of protecting our freedoms as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights? When the federal government comes and tries to implement its agenda without due process of law and outside the bounds of the Constitution, do we have any recourse? As the County Sheriff Project website states:

The solution is in your hands, it is within your own backyard, it is right in your own county.  The solution is state sovereignty and each county acting in accordance with the principles established in the 10th Amendment. It’s you working with your county sheriff and locally elected officials to stand up for the Bill of Rights and to stand against the out of control federal government and it agencies.

The bottom line answer is your county sheriff. Ultimately, he is the one who will decide what is and what is not enforced in your county. He has the authority and is oath bound duty to interpose himself on your behalf to protect you from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. He is the people’s protector.

The County Sheriff Project is here.

See also: Northern California Sheriffs Form Coalition Against Tyranny