One Brave Sheriff

From Moonbattery: One of our last lines of defense against an increasingly tyrannical federal government is principled local law enforcement — like Sheriff Brad Rogers of Elkhart County, Indiana:
David Hochstetler of rural Middlebury distributes raw milk to people who buy into his herd of Jersey cows. That action has drawn the ire of the Food and Drug Administration, which wants to inspect his farm because it believes it is the source of a 2010 bacteria outbreak in Michigan. But Sheriff Brad Rogers has a message for the FDA, which is “get a warrant.”
The conflict between the local and federal authorities came to a head two weeks ago when Hochstetler was summoned to testify before a federal grand jury in Detroit. He declined to appear, invoking his 5th Amendment right. Sheriff Rogers also notified the Justice Department attorney that if FDA agents tried to inspect Hochstetler’s farm without a signed warrant, they would be arrested on trespassing charges.
Since then the federal subpoena for Hochstetler has been withdrawn, according to Rogers.
The sheriff sees his action as protecting a local Amish resident, who he called “an honest man,” from being harassed by federal officials.
The reason the feds have wasted the funds to conduct a two-year sting operation on an Amish farmer just trying to make a living is that he has been selling raw milk, which is among the many activities the Nanny State has unnecessarily banned. Those who choose to drink it anyway for health reasons get around the ban by buying shares in herds of cows. Big Government is a jealous god that does not like to be mocked.
“This isn’t about raw milk,” Rogers said. “It’s about fundamental rights.” …
Rogers said his whole point in confronting the FDA is to protect the Constitutional rights of local residents. He indicated he wants the federal agency to go through the court system and present its evidence to a judge, who could then decide if there was enough evidence to justify the issuance of a warrant allowing the inspection of Forest Grover Dairy.
Our federal overlords are predictably enraged at this recalcitrance. They have threatened Rogers with a three-year prison term for interfering with a federal investigation. http://moonbattery.com/?p=5893

This is another case where a Federal agency is out of control. We continually see the Fed's out of control behavior with the TSA, EPA, DEA, DOJ and the rest of the alphabet Federal government.
One hopes that the Fed's will back off and leave the Amish and the Sheriff alone.

h/t Dad 29