DATCP Posts Incorrect Email Address on Website

This is an update to the post yesterday about Wisconsin and DATCP.

We want to tell DATCP that signing up farmers and other animal owners against their will under proposed rule changes ATCP 10, 12 and 17 – Wisconsin's Animal Health Rules is unconstitutional and they need to stop their proposed rule changes relating to implementing NAIS in WI. The Amish and others who object for constitutional reasons do not want to be added to a National Animal ID System, and have rights guaranteed by the constitution to not submit to a government sponsored ID program. As some one emailed me a few days ago, he just got it, this is Real ID for animals, and property. Many have been emailing that DATCP website has been posting the incorrect email address. While this email was taken directly from the their web site, it has been found to be incorrect and has bounced. Some people report that an alternate address works.

On their site it is listed as melissa.mace@wi.gov and the correct address is melissa.mace@wisconsin.org, or at least that is an address that has been getting through and not bouncing back for some people. This is inexcusable, and I would like to know what can be done and how my legislators can assist, so I have asked them. I urge you all to ask yours. Attached is also a snapshot that I took of the page that proves this information has been out there as incorrect.[I have not included this file - Henny]

http://datcp.state.wi.us/ah/agriculture/animals/health/index.jsp is the full link. Take a snapshot (control+S on a PC) and save this email to send to WI legislators and let them know that DATCP is denying you your right to submit information. I would suggest that anyone wishing to submit comments use the web site today, https://apps4.dhfs.state.wi.us/admrules/public/Search enter (Enter CR07-107 as the search term as directed by DATCP on the same page), but when I try it, it yields no results as well.

If you do an open search for Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection, you can find ATCP rule 17, where you can then log in, and submit comments. Why would we log into a government website? And who knows if the snail mail address is correct? We cannot get our information to the correct people, without compromising our beliefs, so how can we speak?

Or perhaps that is the point.

I don't know about you friends, but I am tired. Not tired enough to lie down, but sick and tired of not being heard, what part about NO to NAIS are these people missing? My parents raised me to respect No, and NO means NO. That is a value that I intend to pass along to my children. Reason number 4309 to keep fighting.

Important Wisconsin Information

Happy New Year, dear readers. Hard to believe it. Just two more years until North American Union is designed to kick in. Read more about it here, a Google News link for North American Union.

But there is something more urgent to tell you about this evening.

Please visit Family Farm Defenders for more information.

The Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) recently announced a series of hearings for early Jan. 2008 to receive public comment on their proposal for the next implementation phase of the federal National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in Wisconsin. We strongly encourage folks to participate in these hearings and to spread the word to others who will be affected by this draconian state surveillance program that is unprecedented - at least in U.S. history.

For the official DATCP hearing notice that includes these NAIS provisions,click here

If you can not attend in person, you can also submit written comments to DATCP. Better yet is to contact your elected officials, write a letter to your local paper, call into talk show radio, and otherwise publicly express your opposition to this program. Based upon our experience organizing farmers and their allies, if even one person speaks up there are about a dozen others who feel the same and then find the courage to add their voice, too.

DATCP's Hearing Dates and Locations:

Monday, January 7, 2008 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Fox Valley Technical College 1825 N. Bluemound Drive, Room A160 Appleton, WI 54912

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection 2811 Agriculture Drive, First Floor – Room 106 (Boardroom) Madison, Wisconsin 53718

Thursday January 10, 2008 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Department of Natural Resources West Central Region Headquarters 1300 W. Clairemont Avenue – Room 158 Eau Claire, WI 54701

As many of you may know, Wisconsin has become a national battleground state on NAIS. DATCP and its partner WLIC (which actually administers the program as a private subcontractor) have received millions in taxpayer funding to bring this program into existence, and now many bureaucratic jobs and corporate contracts depend upon its implementation. When over 10% of WI dairy farmers refused to voluntarily register their premises, the state was unable to make good on their threat to pull milk licenses since the state's economy could not afford to criminalize so many productive farmers overnight.

Nonetheless, DATCP is now denying milk licenses to new dairy farmers, including many Amish who strongly oppose NAIS for religious reasons, even though grass-based Amish dairy operations are one of the fastest growing segments of the entire industry. The proposed rule change would also allow the state to register farmers against their will and without their knowledge.

Worse yet, we know that DATCP/WLIC intend to move towards mandatory RFID chipping, phase two of the federal NAIS program, despite recent scientific studies revealing that RFID chips cause cancer, and thus pose a health threat to both livestock and people. A farmer in MI recently had sheriff deputies under state orders enter his land to place RFID chips in his cattle against his will. And then there is the disturbing story of the Faillace family in VT, documented in the book "Mad Sheep," where a USDA led SWAT team invaded their farm to seize and destroy all of their animals wrongly suspected of harboring some prion type disease.

Family Farm Defenders has been an outspoken critic of NAIS for years now, and recently helped form an organization called Free Wisconsin Pastures with the purpose of filing a lawsuit against DATCP/WLIC if necessary to stop this absurd program from destroying the future of farming in our state.

Of course, we would rather NOT have to take this issue to court, which is why it is so paramount that family farmers and others concerned about the future of agriculture in WI exercise their democratic freedom to express their opinion and let our elected officials and DATCP bureaucrats know that NAIS is not acceptable in any form.