03/08/07 Farmers Rights

We are supposed to have equal rights in America, aren't we? Yet the fact that two border patrolmen are sitting in prison for apprehending an illegal drug smuggler, who in turn is suing the US should shake us to our core, especially if you are a farmer. Increasingly farmers are loosing the right to farm. Last year the Washington State Court of Appeals made a judgment ruling against a couple of tree fruit farmers who opted to replace their apple trees with more profitable cherries. Sally and Sam subdivision couldn't stand the noise of the cherry guns that kept the birds at bay so they took the orchardists to court and won. But Washington State farmers are fighting back and have rallied an impressive grass roots effort by putting forth senate bill 5076 that is designed to protect farmer's right to work their land from nuisance lawsuits and are urging the support of politicians. I'll be watching with baited breath but won't be surprised if the courts and the legislature fail the ones who feed us, after the way they failed the ones who protect us.