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Questions for MRJ

mrj

Well-known member
Tex-econ, the misdeeds of the Natzi' were PROVEN.

Your charges against NCBA are simply your own misguided OPINIONS, possibly shared by a few people eager to believe ANY 'mudslinging' against that organization.

mrj
 

Mike

Well-known member
Leadership from that level of education and expertise in the beef industry has cost us how many dollars in lost sales to Japan and Korea?

I think the total is just over $12.5 BILLION.

Chicken Feed. :roll:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Mike said:
Leadership from that level of education and expertise in the beef industry has cost us how many dollars in lost sales to Japan and Korea?

I think the total is just over $12.5 BILLION.

Chicken Feed. :roll:

Must be if you're an NCBA member-- or own a bank--- or both :shock:
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Maxine's leaders didn't lead, they just followed the USDA and AMI - and we all lost and are still losing - and they keep following....
 

Tex

Well-known member
mrj said:
Tex-econ, the misdeeds of the Natzi' were PROVEN.

Your charges against NCBA are simply your own misguided OPINIONS, possibly shared by a few people eager to believe ANY 'mudslinging' against that organization.

mrj

mrj, if common sense came in the form of tissue, you wouldn't have enough to blow your nose (I cleaned that up just for you).

My charges of the NCBA/packers are not opinions, they are observations. Something you have a hard time with.

By the way, the largest meat producer has over 70 felonies. That is an observation that anyone with a lick of sense could surmise as to character.

Re read what I said about common sense.
 

mrj

Well-known member
Tex/econ, you wouldn't know your own opinion from an observation if it bit you!

You post as though you truly hate capitalism and big business and want to dismantle the very systems that have made the food availability and distribution in this country and world wide the envy of the rest of the world.

I've never indicated in any way approval of criminal activity, and IF the "largest meat producer" truly does have all those felonies, why have they not been prosecuted?

Don't know as I've attributed any particular "character" to any particular "meat producer" as you imply, either. However you appear to believe NO big "meat producer" posesses ANY moral "character", which is silliness, at best.

Sandhusker and OT, you may as well blow at the wind! NCBA leaders, USDA, nor AMI caused BSE, did they?

BSE is what caused the US export market to plummet, not anything those groups individually could have done.

Those groups DID work together diligently and with considerable success to allay consumer fears about BSE, preventing a devastating drop in consumption of US beef in this nation.

They have also worked together, with success to dramatically cut the rate of e coli incidences for a number of years until the recent outbreaks. It seems unreasonable to blame these groups for the ability of bacteria to change to overcome protocols which successfully stopped the earlier version of e coli. But that is a subject for another thread, simply used here to illustrate GOOD instances of these groups pooling their resources to solve problems for the entire cattle/beef industry, when warranted.

NCBA does NOT work for, follow, or do the bidding of any other group unless the members believe it to be for the good of the cattle industry, first, and the beef industry when it will prevent harm to the cattle industry.

I realize you boys will never accept that fact, but there may be some reading this site who are unfamiliar with NCBA and the fact that it is membership driven, contrary to some of you, envious of successes of that organization, like to claim.

mrj
 

Tex

Well-known member
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2003
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
ENRD
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

TYSON PLEADS GUILTY TO 20 FELONIES
AND AGREES TO PAY $7.5 MILLION FOR CLEAN WATER ACT VIOLATIONS

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tyson Foods Inc., the world’s largest meat producer, today pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City to 20 felony violations of the federal Clean Water Act at its Sedalia, Missouri poultry plant and agreed to pay $7.5 million to the United States and the State of Missouri. The guilty pleas were announced by Thomas L. Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, Todd Graves, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, and the State of Missouri.

Under an agreement with the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Tyson admitted to having illegally discharged untreated wastewater from its poultry processing plant near Sedalia into a tributary of the Lamine River. A consent judgment between Tyson and the Missouri Attorney General’s Office that resolves allegations of state environmental violations over the same discharges also was entered today in Pettis County Circuit Court.

Under the two pleadings, Tyson agreed to pay $5.5 million in penalty to the federal government, $1 million in penalty to the state, and $1 million to the Missouri Natural Resources Protection Fund to help remedy the harm caused by the illegal discharges. In addition, Tyson has agreed to hire an outside consultant to perform an environmental audit and then to implement an enhanced environmental management program based upon the audit’s findings to assure that the Sedalia facility will remain in compliance with all applicable environmental laws and regulations.

“Violators should know that their failure to comply with the law and their failure to heed state warnings and orders, may result in serious federal criminal charges. Companies that violate environmental laws endanger public health, harm natural resources, and gain an unfair economic advatage over their law-abiding competitors,” said Assistant Attorney General Thomas L. Sansonetti.

Tyson’s Sedalia plant processes approximately one million chickens per week and generates hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater per day. Tyson’s state permit issued under the federal Clean Water Act requires the company to treat the wastewater before discharging it into a nearby stream. The permit also establishes limits on the concentration of pollutants that the wastewater may contain.

Between 1996 and 2001, Tyson repeatedly discharged untreated or inadequately treated wastewater from its Sedalia plant in violation of its permit. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources cited the plant several times and the State of Missouri filed two lawsuits against Tyson in an effort to stop its illegal discharges. Tyson continued to discharge untreated wastewater through its storm drains, in spite of the company’s assurances that the discharges would stop and even after numerous warnings, administrative orders, two state court injunctions, and the execution of a federal search warrant at the Sedalia facility.

“Our people and communities are very concerned about the effects of pollutant discharges on the nation's waters,” said Jim Gulliford, Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7. “It is in the best interests of agriculture and the public that processing plants operate properly. The teamwork between federal and state agencies in this case sends a clear message to polluters that they must prevent illegal discharges to ensure that human and ecological health are protected.”

The violations were initially discovered by Department of Natural Resources investigator Billy Rogers, who then investigated the matter with investigator Terry Ball of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. Rogers is now an investigator for the Environmental Protection Agency. The federal case was investigated by Special Agent David Clark of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Enforcement Division and by Special Agent Julia Jensen of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy Korzenik of the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant United States Attorneys Dan Stewart prosecuted the case on behalf of the federal government.

###








That is just 20 of them, mrj. I am talking about convictions, not just accusations.

Do a little research yourself to find the rest or can you do anything but be a packer backer?
 

Tex

Well-known member
Here is another:





TYSON FOODS
In 1997, Tyson entered a guilty plea on one felony count of attempting to influence the Secretary of Agriculture by giving him more than $12,000 when Tyson had issues before the department.


Also in 1997, Tyson Foods paid out a settlement of $6 million in connection with workplace safety violations, which had caused as many as seven worker deaths in a single year. Seven workers died at plants run by Tyson (or Tyson operators) in 1999 due to workplace safety violations. In February of 2003, a US prosecutor filed new criminal charges against the company, this time alleging that Tyson conspired to smuggle illegal workers into the country from Mexico and Central America to labor in Tyson plants.
 

Tex

Well-known member
More of the same.

Does it count as a felony if you get a pardon?


2. Archie Schaffer

Schaffer, an executive at Arkansas' Tyson Foods, was convicted in 1998 of giving illegal gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. Espy was acquitted, and Tyson Foods Chairman Don Tyson was given immunity from prosecution in exchange for a guilty plea by his company. Schaffer was sentenced in September to a federally mandated one-year prison term.

Schaffer has the support of the entire Arkansas congressional delegation, which is half Republican, and of Arkansas' GOP governor, Mike Huckabee. Schaffer is a nephew of former Arkansas Sen. Dale Bumpers, who made a speech supporting Clinton during his impeachment. Schaffer's wife, Beverly Bassett, was appointed by then-Gov. Clinton to a state board that oversaw Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan, the failed bank at the heart of the Whitewater scandal. Nevertheless, even the Whitewater fanatics at the Wall Street Journal editorial page favor a pardon for Schaffer. Last month Clinton pardoned Phil Winn, a Denver developer who had pleaded guilty to giving illegal gifts to Housing and Urban Development officials.

On the downside for Schaffer: A pardon would affront Robert Ray, one of Schaffer's prosecutors, who is now the independent counsel deciding whether to indict Clinton when he leaves office.
 

Tex

Well-known member
Another, don't know about the felony part:





News Update: OSHA Fines Tyson Foods $339,500 for Alleged Violations
OSHA has cited Tyson Foods Inc. for serious, willful, repeat and other-than-serious violations of safety and health standards. The agency is proposing penalties totaling $339,500. 7/13/07
 

Tex

Well-known member
The Tyson illegal alien story: NOTE: This man was knocked off some time ago.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/28480.html
 

Tex

Well-known member
More on the Epsy story:

The Espy Probe: Key Stories

Mike Espy/AP
Michael Espy (file photo)

Key Post stories on former agriculture secretary Mike Espy and his acquittal on charges brought by independent counsel Donald C. Smaltz:

A Harsh Verdict for Espy's Prosecutor
December 4, 1998
The jurors who acquitted former agriculture secretary Mike Espy had sharp words for independent counsel Donald C. Smaltz, saying his $17 million corruption case was an outrageous waste of taxpayers' money and an unfair assault on a man they felt was a motivated, effective leader.

Espy Acquitted in Gifts Case
December 3, 1998
Former agriculture secretary Mike Espy was acquitted of 30 corruption charges brought against him by an independent counsel whom Espy likened to a "schoolyard bully."
• Espy Loss Puts Prosecutor's Tactics on Trial
• Espy Probe at a Glance

In Closing, Espy Lawyer Calls Charges 'Garbage'
December 1, 1998
The seven-week trial of former agriculture secretary Mike Espy came to a close with a rhetorical assault on independent counsel Donald C. Smaltz by Espy's defense lawyer, who derided the corruption case as "a joke" and "a bunch of garbage."

Judge Dismisses Part Of Espy Gifts Case
November 25, 1998
A federal judge dismissed part of the corruption case against former agriculture secretary Mike Espy, ruling that prosecutors had failed to show criminal conduct in his acceptance of Super Bowl tickets and a Waterford crystal bowl from two corporations that had business dealings with USDA.

As Espy Trial Ends, Its Insight Into Gifts and Favors Is Murky
November 23, 1998
The trial of former agriculture secretary Mike Espy has been a primer into the way Washington works. While some maintain the law requires public officials to keep a professional detachment from lobbyists and the interests they regulate, others contends that public officials can enjoy friendships with corporate officials and lobbyists and still make decisions fairly.

Prosecutor: Espy Aware of Ethics Breach
October 2, 1998
Former agriculture secretary Mike Espy knew he wasn't supposed to accept plane rides, sporting tickets and other gifts from lobbyists, independent counsel Donald C. Smaltz said in opening arguments at Espy's trial.

Espy Corruption Trial Set to Begin
October 1, 1998
Former agriculture secretary Mike Espy is scheduled to face trial on 38 felony counts of corruption.

Two From Tyson Convicted in Espy Probe
June 27, 1998
A Tyson Foods Inc. executive was convicted of making illegal gifts to then-agriculture secretary Mike Espy in 1993 and the company's chief Washington lobbyist was found guilty of lying to the FBI and other investigators about the favors.

Court Reinstates 3 Charges Against Espy
June 17, 1998
A federal appeals court reinstated three felony charges accusing former agriculture secretary Mike Espy of violating the Meat Inspection Act of 1907 by taking gifts from two companies he regulated.
 

Tex

Well-known member
More on the illegal alien smuggling case---all charges dismissed when key witness found dead and no other witnesses will testify.


Chattanooga Grand Jury Indicts Tyson Foods
posted December 19, 2001

A Federal Grand Jury in Chattanooga has returned indictments against Tyson Foods, Inc., and six of its managerial personnel on charges involving illegal aliens.

Charged with conspiracy to violate, and violation of, various immigration laws prohibiting the importation and transportation of illegal aliens, and the use of fraudulent identification documents in the hiring of those illegal aliens are:

Tyson Foods, Inc., headquartered in Springdale, Arkansas

Robert Hash, a Vice-President at headquarters over the Retail Fresh Division

Gerald Lankford, former Human Resources Manager in the Retail Fresh Division

Keith Snyder, Complex Manager at the Tyson Plant in Noel, Missouri

Truley Ponder, former Complex Manager at the Tyson Plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee

Spencer Mabe, former Plant Manager at the Tyson Plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee

Jimmy Rowland, former Complex Personnel Manager at the Tyson Plant in Shelbyville, Tennessee

Tyson Foods is currently on criminal probation as a result of the corporation pleading guilty to bribery of former Secretary of Agriculture Espy, a felony, on December 29, 1997, a prosecution mounted by Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz, in federal court in Washington, D.C.

All defendants are charged in 36 counts of the 57-page federal indictment returned in Chattanooga on December 11. Tyson Foods and the six managers are accused in the indictment of conspiring to cause the importation and transportation of illegal alien workers from the Southern border of the United States to work at Tyson plants throughout the United States. The indictment charges that the defendants at Tyson Foods cultivated a "corporate culture in which the hiring of illegal alien workers . . . was condoned by Tyson management because it was more important for Tyson to meet its production goals and to cut its costs to maximize Tyson profits than for the defendants to comply with the immigration and other laws of the United States." According to the indictment, the defendants requested the delivery of illegal aliens to work at Tyson plants and aided and abetted them in obtaining false documents so that they could work at Tyson poultry processing plants "under the false pretense of being legally employable."

Tyson Foods and the six managerial defendants are further charged with conspiracy to obstruct the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in the enforcement of immigration laws, along with numerous substantive violations of those laws associated with the undercover deliveries of illegal aliens to various Tyson chicken processing plants. Notably, the charges of importing illegal aliens into the United States for commercial advantage implicate a statutorily imposed five-year mandatory minimum sentence, without the opportunity for probation or parole. In addition, the indictment seeks forfeiture of the financial gain realized by Tyson Foods and its managers as a result of the violations charged.

The United States Attorney's office praised the two-and-one-half-year undercover investigation conducted by the INS which provided the basis for the charges contained in the indictment. The investigation of the case was carried out by a task force composed of INS agents from around the country under the supervision of Al Garcia, Supervisory Special Agent, Task Force Coordinator, U.S. Border Patrol, San Angelo, Texas; and Tina Tucker, Supervisory Special Agent, Asset Forfeiture Coordinator, Dallas, Texas. The United States Attorney's office expressed appreciation to Robert Wallis, Regional Director, Central Region, INS, Dallas, Texas; James Cole, Associate Regional Director, Central Region, INS; Paul M. Berg, Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Border Patrol, Del Rio, Texas; Anne M. Estrada, District Director, INS, Dallas, Texas; and J. Scott Blackman, Regional Director, Eastern Region, INS, Burlington, Vermont.

The Task Force also included agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and local law enforcement in the Shelbyville, Tennessee area.

According to the United States Attorney's office, "This prosecution signals a new approach to enforcing our immigration laws through targeting the corporations and their executives who recruit and exploit illegal alien labor. We believe that this approach affords a strong deterrent to violation of the immigration laws of this country."

The cases arising out of the nationwide investigation of Tyson Foods' hiring practices are being prosecuted by several Assistant United States Attorneys around the country, who have served on the task force under the coordination of the lead prosecutor, Assistant United States John P. MacCoon, Chattanooga, Tennessee, who may be contacted for further public information at (423)752-5140. Trial Attorney Stephanie Thacker of the Criminal Division, Department of Justice, Child Exploitation Section, serves as co-counsel, along with Assistant United States Attorneys Matthew T. Morris and Tammy Owens Combs of the United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Tennessee.
 

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