Category: Environment

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Critters Legal, Laws, and Regs

TRO for all horse meat plants set to same date

Update on Front Range Equine Rescue et al v. Vilsack et al:

Responding to a filing yesterday, Judge Armijo agreed to set the expiration date for the TRO for Rains Natural Meats to the same date as the other two plants: October 31, 2013. By that time, Judge Armijo will have a decision in the case.

Rains Natural Meats has asked the court to include it in the bond set by Magistrate Judge Scott. In the meantime, the USDA has filed a Supplemental Administrative Record covering Rains. I have issued a FOIA for the associated documents. I am particularly interested in reading the communications related to not needing a wastewater permit from the Missouri DNR.

You can see all of these documents at Docs at Burningbird.

There was also a hearing in the Missouri court case related to Missouri DNR being prohibited from issuing wastewater permits for horse meat plants. I don’t have access to these court documents, but can guess from the docket filings (available on Case Net) that the purpose of the hearing was to expedite a decision on this case, too.

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Critters

Judge agrees to TRO for Rains in confusing order

horseGood news, and confusing news.

Judge Armijo enjoined the USDA from providing inspectors for horse meat processing to Rains Natural Meats, which is good news. However, she did so in a rather baffling order.

Unlike the earlier Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) associated with Valley Meat and Responsible Transportation, the TRO related to Rains is given a termination date of Oct. 4, with the Magistrate Judge then determining whether to extend it beyond this date. The Judge extended the TRO for the other two plants until October 31, 2013, when she expects to have her decision in the case.

So the TRO for one plant ends earlier than the TRO for the other two plants—all for the same case. And the Magistrate Judge is the one to determine if the evidence is such that the TRO should be extended for Rains, when Judge Armijo was the one to determine the length of the TRO based on the legal merits for the other two plants.

I’m reminded again that I’m not a lawyer, because I don’t see any good and logical reason why Judge Armijo would have Judge Scott determine whether the TRO should extend beyond that date, when she didn’t do so with Valley Meat and Responsible Transportation. Perhaps there’s some hidden logic that requires legal training in order to assess the reasoning for issuing such an inconsistent order.

Or perhaps I just need to hit my head against the wall a dozen times in order to understand.

In the meantime, the USDA FSIS sent me a CD with the documents associated with the Administrative Record index for the case. There’s no direct link between the index and the documents; you’ll have to look up the document number in the left column of the index, and then search for the document in the ordered file list.

Interesting reading, even if the USDA did get a little heavy handed with the redactions.

Categories
Critters Legal, Laws, and Regs

Emergency motion to stop horse slaughter in Missouri

We have confirmation that Rains Natural Meats was attempting to start up horse slaughter operations on Monday.

Bruce Wagman just filed an emergency motion to ensure that Rains Natural Meats is included in the Temporary Restraining Order issued by Judge Armijo. It’s unfortunate that the TRO isn’t against the USDA rather than the USDA in context with all these companies. The action really is against the USDA.

If you look at the attachment for the motion, you can see that Rains was demanding inspectors by the 23rd, and planned to start operation as soon as possible. He actually wanted inspectors today.

You can directly access the court documents for Front Range Equine Rescue et al v. Vilsack et al. The emergency motion is docket number 156. Judge Armijo has asked the defendant for an expedited response to the emergency motion by Friday at noon. In addition, there’s a Monday, September 23, hearing on the Missouri case that’s currently prohibiting the Missouri DNR from issuing wastewater discharge permits to Rains Natural Meats. In my previous writing I outlined how Rains was going to attempt to get around this order.

Previous writing: Will the first horse meat plant open in Missouri September 23?

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Books Critters

Sharing photos

Ringling Brothers: The Greatest Show in Court book coverThe photo for my newest book comes from Shutterstock. It’s not a perfect photo. It’s a little dark, a little blurry and out of focus. But no other image worked for the book. When I saw it, I knew this was the image I wanted for my cover. Authors get funny that way, which is why publishers rarely let us anywhere near the cover.

Thankfully, O’Reilly’s Director of Brand Management and expert on all things book covers, Edie Freedman, kindly volunteered to help me pummel the photo into shape. She also helped educate me on what makes a good book cover. For instance, I didn’t know about needing to leave space on all sides of the cover page. I also wasn’t aware that when you’re a relatively unknown author, as I am, you want to put your name at the top of the page; get a little name recognition going. She helped polish away many of the photo’s distractions, and find a font that, I think, really makes the cover snap—especially in smaller sizes, which is what shows up on Amazon pages.

The cover image is probably the only photo I’ll be using from Shutterstock in my book. Most of the images will come from the court case and investigations the book covers. The others are coming from photos at Flickr made freely available for use with a Creative Commons license. You can use a photo in a book, as illustration, if the CC license permits noncommercial use.

Some of the photos are from folks who have attended the Ringling Brothers circus or the associated animal walks. Others, though, come from the Circus collection of the Boston Public Library. This wonderful institution has not only uploaded extraordinary graphics and photos to its Flickr account, it kindly allows people like me to use the photos in a non-commercial setting (such as within a book for editorial or illustrative purposes). My favorite set of theirs is, of course, the one related to the circus.

I’ve always been reluctant about the Creative Commons license, not the least of which, the licenses are a bit confusing. For instance, it took me the longest time to figure out that using a photo as illustration within a book that isn’t focused on selling said photo is not a commercial use of the photo. Or at least, that’s the interpretation I’ve seen most frequently given, and the one I’m sticking with.

I can now see, though, why having a licensing scheme such as the Creative Commons is so helpful. It wasn’t necessary to have older photos and circus posters in the book…but the added color and history makes it more lively.

Old circus poster

I was so grateful to the Boston Public Library that I decided to upload all of my photos to my new Flickr account and offer them for use. The CC license I picked is very open, other than I restrict commercial use because I don’t have model releases for people and buildings and don’t want to hassle with the potential content copyright issues.

I’ve already had one of my photos used in a Missouri Department of Tourism pamphlet, for illustrative purposes. I don’t claim to be the best photographer in the world, and most of my photos are ordinary. But you never know when one of your photos might help someone, so I just uploaded them all, let folks use them or not.

Categories
Critters Legal, Laws, and Regs

Hearing in the horse case expedited

update

My bad. The Judge did modify the TRO to adjust the wording on August 21. In addition, there will be no oral arguments in the case. Each side will file its motions, and the Judge will rule by October 31st.

Previous

The Judge has agreed to the motion for an expedited hearing based on the merits of the case in Front Range Equine Rescue et al v. Vilsack et al.

The schedule is as follows:

  • The USDA files the Administrative Record on or before August 29 (they have filed it, docket 136-1)
  • The Plaintiffs and Plaintiff-Intervenor will file their Opening Briefs on the Merits on or before September 12.
  • The USDA and Defendant-Intervenors will file their responses on or before September 26.
  • The Plaintiffs and Plaintiff-Intervenor will file a reply on or before October 10, 2013.
  • It looks like Judge Armijo will make her decision on or before October 17th.

I can see nothing on the plaintiff request to modify the TRO and bond amount. I imagine since the case is moving along so quickly, the Judge decided to leave things as they are. If she does issue an amended TRO and bond adjustment, I’ll update the court documents, accordingly.

So, here we go. Unlike other court cases I’m following (such as the ASPCA et al vs. Feld Entertainment and the counter RICO case) that have lasted for years, this case is over and done with, quickly.