Maxwell's Silver Hammer

Maxwell farms' Unionport Nursery in Randolph County has been slammed with a second bout of TGE (transmissible gastroenteritis) plaguing their 16,000-pig nursery, the second outbreak in 5 months, reports the Starpress.com. The disease is HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS, although not a threat to humans according to the Indiana Board of Animal Health:

Denise Derrer, public information director at the Indiana Board of Animal Health said the risk of cross contamination is why the agency preaches the importance of sanitation. Operators of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) usually require visitors to undress, shower and don clothing they provide when inside a barn. Visitors must repeat the showering procedure before leaving,

The state doesn't have an accounting of every case of TGE, Derrer said, as the disease often is diagnosed clinically, rather than with a laboratory test. But Derrer confirmed it is common, and said it's not a risk for humans. (Link to full article.)

Some of you might recall the controversy in Randolph County over CAFOs and CFOs and remember Maxwell Foods from the March 3 Muncie Star Press article:

"Maxwell Foods, one of the nation's largest pig producers, filed suit in Randolph County in early February, hoping to overturn the moratorium that would have blocked its local expansion," the paper reported.

You can read more about the mess happening over in Randloph County through this excellent article over at The Bloomington Alternative. It's a long article, but well worth your time to read.

Meanwhile, Kemplog provided an excellent update with respect to the Randolph County CAFO dilemna (link here).

There's another interesting (though much older) post over at the Berry Street Beacon entitled, "NORTH CAROLINA CORPORATION INVADES INDIANA TO CONSTRUCT CAFOs"

Pause for Thought: I wonder if there is any insurance coverage for situations like this Maxwell thing? If there is, I'm guessing that companies like Maxwell Foods are driving the cost of insurance sky high for all the other CAFOs/CFOs.

Dirty Little Secret About E Coli

There's a dirty little secret about E. Coli, salmonella, campylobacter and other forms of food poisoning that hasn't become common knowledge for the general public -- yet -- and there is considerable cause for concern.

What's the dirty little secret? The news, according to this Associated Press article is alarming some sectors of the health industry:

It's a dirty little secret of food poisoning: E. coli and certain other foodborne illnesses can sometimes trigger serious health problems months or years after patients survived that initial bout. Scientists only now are unraveling a legacy that has largely gone unnoticed.

What kind of health problems? Here's one example from the article:

Consider Alyssa Chrobuck of Seattle, who at age 5 was hospitalized as part of the Jack-in-the-Box hamburger outbreak that 15 years ago this month made a deadly E. coli strain notorious.

She's now a successful college student but ticks off a list of health problems unusual for a 20-year-old: High blood pressure, recurring hospitalizations for colon inflammation, a hiatal hernia, thyroid removal, endometriosis.

"I can't eat fatty foods. I can't eat things that are fried, never been able to eat ice cream or milkshakes," says Chrobuck. "Would I have this many medical problems if I hadn't had the E. coli? Definitely not. But there's no way to tie it definitely back."

Donna Rosenbaum of the consumer advocacy group Safe Tables Our Priority (S.T.O.P.) is quoted saying;

"We're drastically underestimating the burden on society that foodborne illnesses represent."

S.T.O.P.'s newly elected president, Ms. Nancy Donley of Chicago, is no stranger to the effects of food poisoning. Their website indicates that "Ms. Donley, who previously served as S.T.O.P.’s President from 1996-2004, is nationally known for her extensive advocacy work on preventing foodborne illness and death. She became a member of S.T.O.P. and started her advocacy work after the tragic death of her six-year-old son, Alex, in 1993 from E. coli O157:H7-contaminated meat."

Now, if you are really curious to learn more about foodborne illnesses, you really should spend some time on the S.T.O.P. website. There "...is a collection of stories and testimonies given by victims and families of victims of foodborne illness. They bear witness to the fact that existing and emerging foodborne illness ravages victims without mercy."

The Center for Disease Control is aware of the problems relating to foodborne illness. They say foodborne illnesses cause 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths a year. Among survivors, some long-term consequences are obvious from the outset. Some required kidney transplants. They may have scarred intestines that promise lasting digestive difficulty.

But unfortunately, there has been little data collected on what happens to food poison survivors AFTER...

For now, some of the best evidence comes from the University of Utah, which has long tracked children with E. coli. About 10 percent of E. coli sufferers develop a life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, where their kidneys and other organs fail.

Ten to 20 years after they recover, between 30 percent and half of HUS survivors will have some kidney-caused problem, says Dr. Andrew Pavia, the university's pediatric infectious diseases chief. That includes high blood pressure caused by scarred kidneys, slowly failing kidneys, even end-stage kidney failure that requires dialysis.

"I don't want to leave the message that everyone who had symptoms ... is in trouble," stresses Pavia.

Miserable as E. coli is, it doesn't seem to trigger long-term problems unless it started shutting down the kidneys the first time around, he says. "People with uncomplicated diarrhea, by and large we don't have evidence yet that they have complications."

There are other proven long-term consequences of food poisoning. You can read the article here for more details.

In addition to foodborne illnesses, antibiotic resistance is also one of the top concerns for the Center for Disease Controll.

The "dirty little secret" on foodborne illness comes out following another important article published on January 20, 2008, in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Bacteria race ahead of drugs Falling behind: Deadly infections increasingly able to beat antibiotics"

Now, I'd be remiss if I didn't take you back to the manure issues surrounding CAFOs, considering the above news.

So many, many times before on this blog I've pointed out study after study after study regarding how long these pathogens can survive in our soils and waters. You need only look to our 303d water reports to see the E. Coli problems in Indiana waterways.

My point is this -- if you can't kill it first, you shouldn't be planting it in (or spraying it on) the ground in such massive, concentrated quantities.

BigAg has been on a mission to push farmers to "grow big or get out" for years now. And yet, in all their talks about so-called "nutrient" absorbance capacity of the land in "safe manure handling practices" it simply astounds me that they spend so little time on the health issues relating to factory farming practices that appear to be leaving a dirty trail all the way from the farm to the fork.

And what supremely ticks me off is how their push for BIG has slaughtered so many family farms across this great nation while they -- Big Ag -- keep digging into taxpayer pockets to deal with the issues surrounding their "model" for the future of our food -- to have taxpayers pay to clean up their mess.

They're eager to throw another few billion at the FDA for tighter food safety.

They're happy to see more billions flow to the USDA for greater food safety.

They eagerly wait to see how much more money can go into farm subsidies and the like to deal with everything from........

DANG IT!!! They created the dang mess in the first place... even convincing small farmers, who would have had to quit and lose their farms, to go BIG so they could compete in the industry -- glossing over the unresolved problems tied to this style of Agriculture. AND NOW -- DIG DEEPER INTO TAXPAYER POCKETS ...scare the hell out of them to make them pay more, and more, and more... and... geez. It's time to get responsibility back where it belongs, dangit!!

Sorry. Got a little carried away with this post. (taking a deep breath here)

Gotta run -- but you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be back soon with more on this issue.

Want to do something right now?

Call Rep. Crawford ASAP and request that he schedule HB 1168 for a hearing and vote in House Ways and Means Committee. They're trying to keep it out.

His office number at the statehouse is 317-232-9875.

The toll free number for the Indiana House is 800-382-9842.

You only have until Thursday, by the way. Yeah, they like to slip past these as fast as possible -- my humble opinion.

Neighbors kept in the dark?

I was reading an interesting, and dare I say, revealing article about the State of Indiana tonight. One quote in the "Food security and public health" section of this very long article caught me:

And although Easterly has said that he wants timely resolution of enforcement actions, an investigation by Dan Stockman [see sidebar on pg. 17] published in July in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette found that IDEM's Voluntary Remediation Program is "marked by delays, years-long cleanups and neighbors kept in the dark about the polluted soil and water nearby." [Emphasis added.]

The article reminded me that this 'tis the season when people are very busy, the time of year when many (IMHO) less than savory characters love to hold public meetings for which they believe few, if any, will turn out.

Keeping this in mind, don't forget that Senator Paul has authored Bill 61 (not posted on www.in.gov yet) which you might want to take some time out of your busy schedule to support.

The Bill is said to be the same as the one Senator Gard would not let go to vote last year, and calls for a 3 Year Moratorium on building CAFOs in the State and would be effective July 1.

You'll want to contact Senator Long S16@in.gov to request that this Bill be heard. And don't forget to also email your area Rep/Senator and let them know your feelings with respect to CAFOs and support for the moratorium.

They do track the numbers, folks. So, the more the merrier.

And, though I truly believe it won't do much good, you can haunt the Gov with an email or call on the issue. 317-232-4567

Personally, I'm hoping both he and Becky have ticked off enough people in this State that their reign in the Mansion will be coming to an end soon... you gotta love election years!!! hehehe

Princeton Indiana Mining Deaths

Reports aren't very clear yet, but more news is coming out regarding the 3 killed at a coal mine northwest of the city of Princeton in Gibson County, Indiana earlier today. Here are links to a few reports on the story:

Three Killed in Mine Accident in Indiana

3 killed at southern Indiana coal mine

3 Dead in Indiana Mine Accident

I'm wondering if this is the same mine that Peabody Energy Corp. was planning to use as its source for a proposed new coal-fired power plant near Central City, Kentucky ...a permit for which was recently struck down by a Kentucky Judge. (Full story)

Meanwhile, we noticed "flyash mountain" (read about it here and here) was still present a couple weeks back when we took our visitor on a tour of this region.

WHEN are they going to REMOVE that STUFF?!?

Who knows for certain how much of that arsenic has already leached into waters in this area. Sheesh!



PS: Sorry I've been absent these past couple weeks. I've had tons of writing (for clients) to catch up on after completing the pilot plus 2 partial episodes and the Treatment for a new television series. Now THAT is a HUGE project! I'll tell you more about it in November. Stay tuned.

Another 10,540 cows in Newton County?

The July 17, 2007 "Pending CFO and CAFO Construction Applications" includes a name familiar to many Newton/Jasper County residents. Dan Brugen is the listed IDEM project manager for the NPDES General Construction application from Fair Oaks Dairy Farm, LLC owned by Michael McClosky. The application indicates the construction application is for 10,540 dairy cattle.

Here's another little interesting piece of information. Just a couple weeks ago "Newton County Enterprise" reported this story:

The Board of Zoning Appeals met last Tuesday night to discuss a Variance to Ordinance and a Special Exception. First the special exception was discussed and this pertained to the Fair Oaks Dairy LLC. The Dairy, represented by Steve Ryan during the meeting, needed a special exception to have 1,200 head of calves. Currently, they are housing about 1,200 head but it was not permitted for them to do so. The Dairy, however, did not know that they didn’t have the approval of the board and have had roughly this many calves since 2001.

Ever wonder what that number of calves and calf hutches might look like? Here's an areial view of Calf Land:


Click for larger version.

Notice how nicely those trees and bushes hide those hutches? Reminds me how they managed to hide the HUGE PILE of flyash... but I digress...

Now, just in case you missed it, let's think about this a minute.

The Dairy claimed they were unaware there was no zoning for the 1,200 calves housed there since about 2001 -- they didn't even know a Special Exception Permit was required to do so?!

According to the article, after all this time, now "they just wanted to make it right with the board and do everything legally."

Ahem. 'Nuff said, right?

We-ell... you might think by their representative's comments that they have never run a Dairy Farm of this size and nature before...

Meanwhile, the May 30 edition of The Enterprise reported that the Newton County Council held a meeting with the Commissioners. Their biggest subject was the discussion about Fair Oaks Dairy. Apparently the Dairy is in need of $14 million for their new digester.

The first digester doesn't work so well.

Here's an important quote from the above news item for taxpaying residents in this area:

The Council will not be liable for giving the Dairy money however, nor will they be responsible for paying back the money to the loan lender if the project should fall through.

A public hearing on the issuance of Variable Rate Demand Economic Development Revenue Bonds for the $14 million was to be held 9 a.m., June 8 at the Newton County Government Center, but I just found out about this recently. I'm not sure how things turned out, yet.

Just in case you didn't know, Fair Oaks received a DOE funding in 2002 for the first digester to the tune of $95,723 -- here's the details:

Fair Oaks Dairy Farm will demonstrate the feasibility and document technical and economic performance of a high rate anaerobic digestion process that can be used in dairy and swine flush systems. A state-of-the-art anaerobic digestion facility will be constructed at Fair Oaks Dairy Farm at one specific site which houses 3000 milk cows.

Was the above DOE Funding for the same digester which has failed expectations? If so, I'm guessing the so-called "demonstrate" part didn't go so well.

I won't even go into the subsidies they've received over the past 5 years for growing their own feed. Let's not go there for the moment.

But hey, we're not the only State dishing out cash for McClosky/den Dulk related farms. For example, the Ravena Farm (owned by Timothy den Dulk) in Michigan was "awarded a million dollars to build a bio-digester plant" there. According to the news article, the digester should be operational and producing power by October 2007. (link to full story)

Really, it should be no surprise to any of us when we see our taxes keep going up ...and up ...and up ...here in Northwestern Indiana. By all accounts, the BZA is actually helping to make that happen when you consider how careless they are about trashing a Triple AAA (in my humble opinion) subdivision (which could have brought many more taxpayers into the region) by allowing yet another calf operation into the region -- to be built right on that subdivision's doorstep.

In other news, we have another Canadian visitor staying with us, this time from Ottawa, Canada. We'll be escorting him on the CAFO tour later this week. Stay tuned.

Storms Chasing Through Indiana

Whew! What an afternoon! Our little guy was just getting of the Kindergarten bus when the edge of the storm hit our area. Although one lightning strike hit one of the trees over our house, we luckily had no major damage.

The storm systems to the south and to the north of us in Indiana were much more brutal. Valporaiso got hit pretty hard -- check this story out in the Post Tribune.

Speaking of storms, have you heard about what's brewing on "Flyash Mountain" over at the Schuringa/DenDulk calf CAFO? I'll bring you an update soon.

Also, check out what's been happening in Delaware:

No results have been released from the unannounced inspections in March and April by the Environmental Protection Agency. The inspections have sparked concerns from state agricultural officials, including those on the Delaware Nutrient Management Commission.

Here's a link to the article.

Meanwhile, the "wheels of justice" are turning slowly on the IDEM vs. DeGroot Dairy LLC and Johannes DeGroot case. Check out more here.

In personal news, something truly incredible entered my WAHM world yesterday. Not sure where it will lead, but it could mean a remarkable change in direction for my writing career -- a small door opening on a lifelong dream. I'm still "pinchng" myself while I wait for the package to arrive.

A lot of writers out there would sell their souls for an opportunity like this ...and I gotta tell 'ya... I feel truly blessed and humbled all at the same time. I'll tell you more about it in a couple months. Can't say anything more right now.

Meanwhile, I'll be back tomorrow with one of the 5 articles I mentioned in WAHM Monday. Stay tuned and stay safe.

Birthday Thanks and IDEM getting Sued?

It's my birthday today... and the flowers and gifts started arriving late yesterday. Just wanted to let everyone know how pleasantly surprised I am. You've all truly made this an incredible day -- and it's only just begun!

I'll be writing each of you but just wanted to post a
BIG THANK YOU
here, too. I'm truly blessed to know such wonderful people!

What's happening at IDEM?

I was going to leave this news story for tomorrow, but thought it should be posted while the story is still new...

Most of us here in Jasper County don't get the LaGrange News from LaGrange, Indiana but a friend forwarded me a scanned copy of this story published yesterday, (Friday, May 11/2007):

Local group sends notice of intent to sue IDEM (by Rochelle Schlemmer) -- A group of LaGrange County residents has sought legal counsel and has sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) under the Citizen Suit provisions of the Clean Water Act.

The suit stems from the group's claim that IDEM is considering granting a Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) permit for a fictitious entity "Toll-Tail Diry, LLC."

The application for the CAFO submitted by Aart-Jan Venema stating the applicant's name as Toll-Tail Dairy, LLC was signed under the penalty for perjury by Venema on June 27, 2006.

Toll-Tail Dairy, LLC was not in existence at that time, according to the news article.

Documentation from Secretary of State Todd Rokita certifies the "Toll-Tail Dairy LLC" has filed the necessary documents to commence business activities in the State of Indiana on April 23, 2007 and is authorized to transact business in the State of Indiana on April 26, 2007.

The intent to sue notification states that the LaGrange County residents have "instructed the initiation of a federal lawsuit seeking de-certification of IDEM's authority to administer the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) in Indiana.

The document goes on to state, "Whether this suit is filed depends on how IDEM handles the illegal CWA NPDES application for the fictitious entity 'Toll-Tail Dairy, LLC'"

There is more mentioned in the article, including questions into "...a pattern of other fictitious CWA NPDES applications associated with underlying developer Vreba-Hoff..."

So the big question was raised:

If IDEM fails to penalize Toll-Tail Dairy LLC (and others who have committed similar perjuries), does this create an environment where applicants are aware that no legal action will be taken against them for providing false information?

I said it before, and I'll say it again... I like to believe we are entering an era of accountability and responsibility.