Raw milk crusader didn’t hurt anyone

From Denis Langlois, in the Owen Sound Sun Times:

Michael Schmidt and supporters, leaving the Newmarket court after the sentencing last month.

“Raw milk crusader Michael Schmidt plans to appeal both his Sept. 28 conviction and subsequent sentence for producing and distributing unpasteurized milk.

Karen Selick, the Durham-area farmer’s lawyer, said the law has “inflicted an injustice” in the Schmidt case.

Michael Schmidt sentenced to pay $9,150 but an appeal is on the way

Canadian Press story, via the Kitchener-Waterloo Record:

Flanked by supporters and television cameras, the self-described Godfather of raw milk, Michael Schmidt, raises a toast following his sentencing last Friday in Newmarket court.

“NEWMARKET, ONT. — Raw milk crusader Michael Schmidt was handed a $9,150 fine and one year of probation Friday on convictions related to selling and distributing unpasteurized milk.

In an interview after the sentence was handed down in a packed Newmarket, Ont., courtroom, Schmidt said he would not be paying the fine.

“I’d rather go to prison than pay the fine, and that’s a matter of principle,” he said. “If I pay the fine, then this is almost like an admittance of guilt.”

Is a $9,000 fine for selling raw milk appropriate? — asks a CBC poll

From Community Team on CBC news:

Dairy farmer Michael Schmidt, shown drinking raw milk outside a Newmarket court Friday, has been fined $9,150 for distributing and selling raw milk. (Jasmin Seputis/CBC)

“An Ontario dairy farmer guilty may be experiencing the bitter taste of defeat after being fined $9,150 for selling and distributing raw milk.

In September, an appeal court found Michael Schmidt of Durham guilty on charges related to the production and sale of unpasteurized milk.

It’s illegal to distribute raw milk in Canada — unless it’s to the farmer’s immediate family.

B.C. homeowner “fined” $5,200 for growing cucumbers in his basement?

Yet another case of regulatory excess — story by Sam Cooper of The Province, as published in the Abbotsford Mission Times:

Len Gratto on his property in Mission on Sat. Jan. 8, 2011. Len Gratto is ready to join an "imminent class action" law suit against Mission, for hitting him with a 5,200 grow op inspection fee. The 67 year old says he and his wife were growing cucumbers in the basement, he never grew pot, and he and many other Mission residents are being unfairly searched and fined. Photo by: Les Bazso, PNG

“There’s no way Len Gratto is paying a $5,200 fine to Mission city hall for growing cucumbers in his basement.

Gratto – a 67-year-old who has lived for 30 years with his wife in their Mission home – says he’s raring to join an imminent class-action lawsuit attacking the municipality’s grow-op bylaw inspections.

Raw Milk Producer Fined $55,000 — Globe and Mail readers speak up

Sun media reporter interviews a cow share member on the question of raw milk rights, October 20th, 2008, following the guilty verdict for farmer Michael Schmidt.

The Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper is one of many media outlets carrying the Canadian Press story about Michael Schmidt’s recently announced fine for contempt of court. Here’s an excerpt from the story, followed by a selection of reader comments:

“NEWMARKET, ONT. — Ontario raw milk producer Michael Schmidt has been fined a total of $55,000 by a judge after being found guilty in October of contempt of court charges.

The judge fined Mr. Schmidt $5,000 on the charges and told him he had to pay $50,000 in court costs incurred by York Region in prosecuting him.

It was $3,000 less than the prosecution had been seeking.

Mr. Schmidt told Bayshore Broadcasting news he has no intention of paying the fine or the court costs….”