{"id":2191,"date":"2012-03-06T12:02:38","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T18:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realfoodhouston.com\/?p=2191"},"modified":"2012-03-06T12:11:02","modified_gmt":"2012-03-06T18:11:02","slug":"vernon-hershberger-bravely-stands-for-food-rights-where-do-we-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/2012\/03\/06\/vernon-hershberger-bravely-stands-for-food-rights-where-do-we-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Vernon Hershberger bravely stands for food rights, where do we stand?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n[The music video of the rally\u00a0to support Vernon Hershberger is really upbeat, and I loved the song,\u00a0“Raise Your Glass.”\u00a0 It’s fun and\u00a0can be downloaded<\/a>.\u00a0 Please watch and then forward the video to\u00a0everyone\u00a0you know\u00a0who loves raw milk and\/or believes in food freedom.]<\/em><\/p>\n

With brave but calm resolve “not to join in their game,”\u00a0Vernon Hershberger faced the Wisconsin judge last Friday, March 2, after a delay to determine if the hearing could be videotaped by Hershberger’s son Andrew.\u00a0 Finally\u00a0taping the proceedings\u00a0was approved, but only if filmed by David Gumpert, author and blogger,\u00a0who was seated in the media section, although the judge did agree to allow Andrew to stand\u00a0beside\u00a0Gumpert to\u00a0show how to operate the camera.\u00a0 According to Gumpert, “When faced with a defendant who was prepared to stand up for his right to have the hearing be a matter of public record, the judge became personally involved in negotiating an arrangement that allowed Hershberger to have his camera in the courtroom.”<\/p>\n

The judge did not revoke Hershberger’s bond because the state had not properly filed a motion for the court but had sent a letter complaining that Hershberger was not complying with the terms of the bond.\u00a0 The judge said, “The court isn’t going to respond to letters. The court takes action on properly served and filed motions . . .”<\/p>\n

Although Vernon Hershberger was not arrested or penalized last Friday, David Gumpert reminds us that “Because there was a big crowd watching, the judge gave way to do what he knew he was obligated to do, and spoke soothingly to Hershberger in the courtroom.\u00a0 But that will only continue happening so long as the big crowds keep showing up, and keep watch.”\u00a0 There were about 300 people attending a rally outside the Saulk County Courthouse to support Hershberger.<\/p>\n

David Gumpert describes Hershberger’s court appearance: “I don’t think it’s far-fetched, when you look back on this in 20 or 30 years, that this will turn out to have been a pivotal event because he’s the first person to really challenge this on a human rights basis.\u00a0 He’s the first person to be willing to put his body on the line and say, ‘OK, throw me in jail.'”\u00a0 Joe Orso, writing for the LaCross Tribune, says, “But whatever your personal beliefs about raw milk, it’s important to remember this:\u00a0 The debate is primarily about the right to choose your food. . .”\u00a0 Orso concludes his report by saying, “How we tell Hershberger\u2019s story in the future will depend not only on his actions and not only on the convictions of his staunchest supporters. Rather, it will depend on whether those from the broader community who hear his story believe his rights have been violated and whether they then feel empowered enough also to stand with him and, if necessary, resist with him.”<\/p>\n

We all need to continue to support Vernon Hershberger and all the others who are willing to take a stand to defend our right to choose to eat\u00a0the foods we believe are healthy and good for us.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

David Gumpert, In the game within the game, Vernon Hershberger is rapidly emerging as the master<\/a>
\nJoe Orso, Raw Milk’s Rosa Parks<\/a>
\nFarmer Accused of Selling Raw Milk Stays Free<\/a><\/p>\n

For more detailed information about the hearing and food rights rally read Declaration of Food Independence<\/a> on Hartke Is Oonline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[The music video of the rally\u00a0to support Vernon Hershberger is really upbeat, and I loved the song,\u00a0“Raise Your Glass.”\u00a0 It’s fun and\u00a0can be downloaded.\u00a0 Please watch and then forward the video to\u00a0everyone\u00a0you know\u00a0who loves raw milk and\/or believes in food …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14,16,11,6],"tags":[26,25,24,124],"class_list":["post-2191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-access-to-real-food","category-food-freedom","category-food-rights","category-raw-milk","tag-food-freedom-2","tag-food-rights-2","tag-raw-milk-2","tag-vernon-hershberger"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p70SEj-zl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2224,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2191\/revisions\/2224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realfoodhouston.com\/wp-files\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}