A22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 2,1980
Letters To
The Editor
Dear Editor;
The letter from M. Martin
m your July 12 issue merits
response
Martin depicts me as a
disgruntled former em
ployee of Eastern Milk
Producers seeking revenge.
That’s the general line
adopted by the cooperative’s
leaders...their best answer
to the senes of articles
depicting how screwed up
things are within Eastern
Milk Producers in my
publication, “The Milk
weed,” and a year ago in
“Farm Journal’’. As
someone formerly
associated with Eastern (a
long time ago), I do have
some insights mto the
overall workings of the
cooperative.
Eastern Milk Producers
members need look only at
their most recent milk
checks and the letter from
Mr. McDonald explaining
how Eastern lost 66 cents per
cwt., marketing May milk in
Order 2 to know something is
very wrong.
Had Eastern assessed the
full 66 cents per cwt.,
marketing loss (instead of
assigning to future “profits”
from the mozzarella plants),
an Eastern member
producing 50,000 pounds for
May would have incurred
nearly $lOOO in marketing
losses and assessments for
the month (if such a
producer chose to pay the
full share of the $2.5 million
assessment in one lump).
That is money farmers need
for their families and their
farming operations.
During the last year or
two, statements by Mr.
McDonald and Mr.
Tewksbury about Eastern’s
financial condition seem
highly inaccurate. Members
must question if they knew
what was going 0n...0r were
honest in their reflections of
the co-op’s financin' status.
Eastern’s leaders have
sought to intimidate the
news media and members
who questioned the
cooperative’s situation. The
Co-op has a $24 million
lawsuit against members
who brought the class action
suit seeking an accounting of
Eastern’s finances. All those
members wanted was an
accounting of the co-op’s
finances for the last few
years...to know where the
millions and millions of
dollars went.
Eastern has a $l5. million
libel action pending against
the Sayre, Pa. “Evening
Tunes.” Earlier this year.
Eastern’s legal counsel
searched everything I’d
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written about the Co-op for
possible libel...to no avail.
One former director,
William S Johnson of
Orange County, NY, had a
phony antibiotics charge
brought against him in the
spring of 1979. Johnson was
an agitator, the Co-op walled
off its boardroom with
concrete blocks because
Johnson ranted and raved
about the need to do things m
a business-like manner. And
Max Lonstem, who recently
retired from the board of
directors, was subjected to
much personal abuse for his
attempts to bring honesty to
the CoHip's affairs.
The cooperative
movement in Order 2 is a
mess. The losses and
shennamgans at Eastern are
driving members out in
droves. Real economic
progress in the region’s
dairy industry will come
only through solid, honest
cooperatives, and that goal
seems further away each
day.
I feel sorry for dairy
fanners who are “trapped”
into a milk market with an
ineptly run cooperative.
That is a modern day form of
serfdom.
If there’s some good news
at Eastern, it is that the new
president, Mr. Korona,
appears to be of an in
dependent mind and is
trying to shake things up.
Let’s hope it’s not too late.
The Lepnno contract...and
the penalties for un-
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320 Kinf St
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dersupplymg it by Eastern
members, hang over
members farms.
Everywhere else in this
country, dairy cooperatives
are basic assets to members’
dairy businesses. Why not in
the New York-New Jersey
milkshed? Because too often
farmers have selected their
leadership poorly and failed
to demand economic per
formance from cooperatives
similar to the rest of the
business world.
When the dust settles at
Eastern Milk Producers,
people will better un
derstand why a few dozen
members, a few former
directors, and a journalist or
two have contended
something stinks.
Pete Hardin, Editor
The Milkweed
A single 150-lb hog yields about $ll.OO of fertilizer
value a year Multiply that by the number of hogs you
raise and you have a substantial supply of h, R K you
don't have to buy
But it has to be managed That means the right
handling and spreading equipment Calumet vacuum
tanks are built to last with heavy-duty components and
a choice of two vacuum pumps both engineered to
load fast and run cool
To get the most value from hog manure, pair your
Calumet vacuum tank to a Calumet 2 or 4-shank
soil injector and put
manure where it does the
most good
Take advantage of the
value produced by your
living fertilizer factories
with Calumet manure
management equipment
The Calumet Company, Inc.
CALUMET &
NESSETH
DISTRIBUTOR
F. ERNEST SNOOK
RD 3 - Box 84, Mifflinburg, Pa. 17844 - Phone: 717-966-2736
Dear Editor:
I am constantly amazed at
the erratic statements
concerning airport zoning in
reports by Sheila Miller.
In the July sth issue of
Lancaster Farming Mrs.
Miller uses the heading
“Farmers win battle,
township denies airport
rezonmg,’’ where is the
battle 9
This is a false heading.
There was no battle as far as
Reigle Airport is concerned.
The airport owners asked for
that which they are entitled
to; they will continue to do
so. What farmers?
Reference here must have
been made to Harold &
Gladys Brandt who caused
trouble for 40 years.
Miller also states rezonmg
USED TANKS
2000 Gal. Hesston
V 2250 Clay
would have created an
airport hazard zone. Ab
solutely not true. The zone is
already there; it is an open
safety approach to the
runway at either end.
She further states that
fanners could > not build
structures higher than 35
feet. That is already true m
R-l zoning. She doesn’t know
too much about zoning.
What’s her point?
Mr. Editor, I am a farmer
and I never went along with
the statement “dumb far
mers”. However, if your
farmer readers believe Mrs.
Miller’s comments, I shall
have to admit there is truth
m the saymg, “dumb far
mers”
Ada R. Reigle
Reigle Airport
R 2 Palmyra
s3ooo
3000 $2BOO