Pitchfork-Wielding Farmers Rally Against Birthday Party Fine (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Friday, August 10, 2012, 6:40 AM
Pitchfork-wielding farmers rallied against a birthday party fine in Virginia.
FOX News reported:
Pitchfork-wielding Virginia farmers rallied to support a woman who claims local officials came down on her for, among other things, hosting a children’s birthday party on her spread.
Martha Boneta, owner of Liberty Farms in the northern village of Paris, was threatened with nearly $5,000 in fines when for selling produce and crafts and throwing unlicensed events, including a birthday party for her best friend’s child. She told FoxNews.com she wasn’t doing anything are farmers haven’t done for generations, and at a recent zoning board meeting, her agrarian friends literally showed up with pitchforks to show their support.
“It’s rather odd that I’m the only farmer in the county having these issues,” Boneta said. “It’s customary to do these things. It’s done through on farms throughout Virginia to help farming and agriculture.”
Boneta was told that she did not have the proper event permits for the party and other events including wine tastings, craft workshops, and pumpkin carving.
“Why I would need a permit for a pumpkin carving?” she said.
Boneta was also threatened with fines for selling produce and products not grown or made on the 70-acre farm in a small store she had on the property. But she said she already had a special license issued to her in 2011 that allowed her to run a “retail farm shop” where at the time, she made it clear that she intended to sell handspun yarns, crafts like birdhouses in addition to fresh vegetables, eggs, and herbs.
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Cargosquid commented:
They brought the wrong weapons. LAWYERS are much more dangerous. Everyone should carry one.
surfin' bird commented:
We need to support more pro liberty organizations like the Institute for Justice, http://www.ij.org, and take the fight against this encroaching government.
Stella Baskomb commented:
“It’s rather odd that I’m the only farmer in the county having these issues,” Boneta said.
Well, then what’s the explanation ?
Lance o Lot commented:
Just outside Upperville, Va., (aka UppityVille) sits Paris. Besides Great Meadows State Park, the village is surrounded by many large, expensive estates which are home to some very wealthy people. To them, estates are for horses. Farm use involving actual dirt-busting and retail not centered on antiques is well beneath their dignity. These fine citizens really don’t like little people or new-comers. What would you bet that Martha Boneta falls into at least one of those two categories by the standards of her neighbors?
madtntaxpayer commented:
The name, “Liberty Farms” says it all; the PC/leftist
crowd wants her out of business.
C-Christian Soldier commented:
SUE-that is what she should do! and start a group – of like minded Freedom lovers- and sue sue sue-
\C-CS
NeoKong commented:
I seen this before. It is usually two or three people who have just enough authority to cause trouble. All you need is one crazy person on a zoning board and another who is a town official.
They are petty, jealous and angry.They want to be in charge of everything.
They do this all at no cost to themselves but can force the owner to rack up thousands of dollars in fees and fines.
coolidgerules commented:
Just the beginning. Stand tall and proud for your rights, because these wanna-be totalitarians are going to be coming for all of them-take that to the bank. King Putt has given all of this sh*t the green light for the last 4 years.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque commented:
It’s way past time to replace the politicians. Every single one, national and local.
Sheriff Joe fan commented:
“we’ll huff and we’ll puff and we’ll blow your farm in”…The pimp has had 3-1/2 years to ramp up his goons…and they’re taking every advantage. Remember this at the voting booth…
Jack commented:
I’d have to call it an ad hoc Tea Party event whether they realize it or not. Just like the Chik-Fil-A event was.
bg commented:
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S510
more here & here & here & here, n connecting links & threads..
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bg commented:
++
December 19, 2010
US Senate UNANIMOUSLY Passes the Food Safety Bill
scroll comments, connecting links, etc, and/or google for more..
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valerie commented:
Find out who wants to buy her land, cheap.
Darwin Akbar commented:
This is exactly the sort of thing that is needed on the local level. Every time one of these pencil-pushing morons tries to stifle free enterprise, or shut down a kid’s lemonade stand or ban a bake sale, they should be challenged by an angry citizenry. As Mark Steyn is fond of saying, King George III wouldn’t have done this to us, so what did we fight a revolution for?
Paul A'Barge commented:
Before folks get all cranked up about this, please use maps.google.com to locate the town where this problem is taking place. Now, use maps.google.com to determine how far this town is from the Wash. DC Beltway. Hint: it’s about 1 hour.
In other words, these folks live within a reasonable commute radius from Wash DC.
I hope you get my drift. If you live with neighbors who are Big Government types, the people who run your local government are likely to be infected with the Nanny State virus.
Moral of the story: get the f’ out. Move. Find somewhere else to live. Move to someplace where the local Nanny-state government types are walked on a short leash.
Vote with your feet. And your Ryder Truck rental receipt.
JKB commented:
“If you live with neighbors who are Big Government types, the people who run your local government are likely to be infected with the Nanny State virus.”
Distance doesn’t matter. The government control types have infected everywhere but now they are being opposed by many of the hippy types who had illusions about agri-life until they moved rural.
Francesca commented:
That man was excellent in explaining why this is an important issue. He is apparantly an immigrant who understands America better than the zoning board. Could he be another Joe the Plummer? His remarks would make an effective campaign ad for us. Someone should get this to the Romney group as well as to other people running for local office.
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