Chester Organic Gardener Offers Opportunity for Tea Party Activism

Last updated on 2012.12.15

Allen Unruh thinks the Tea "Party" had a "great victory" in Tuesday's South Dakota GOP primary. He's wrong about any conservo-fundie progress on more than one level...

...but rather than beat Allen up, I'd like to invite him and my Ron Paul-loving cousin and other conservatives to turn their Tea inclinations to practical activism. Linda Krsnak of Linda's Gardens grows a variety of organic veggies near Chester. She sells a lot of that produce in and around the Sioux Falls metro area.

On Monday, Krsnak filed an appeal with the South Dakota Supreme Court against the Brant Lake Sanitary District. Linda's beef: the Brant Lake folks want to build a 12-acre sewage pond well within nose-shot of their property... and possibly close enough to contaminate their water. (See my February post on Krsnak's plight, as well as Krsnak's extensive documentation.)

Allen Unruh should care gastronomically: he enjoys buying lots of safe, home-grown, chemical-free chow. He and his Teabagging friends should also care politically. Consider the title of their Dakota Rural Action press release: "Linda's Gardens Livelihood Threatened by Government." Some highlights that ought to mobilize Unruh conservatives:

"This is our only means of making a living, and the proposed sewage pond constructed this close to our vegetable crops will drive us out of business," says Linda Krsnak....

The Krsnaks stated they have been unable to find someone in either County, State or Federal Government who has any interest in helping them save their family farm and livelihood from being negatively impacted by the proposed sewage lagoon. The Krsnaks have made multiple requests to nine different county, state, and federal governmental agencies to intervene, but all defer to DENR. Not a single one of the governmental agencies has contacted the Krsnaks to better understand their concerns or to help with a solution.
The Krsnaks have been proactive and have suggested other locations for the sewage pond that would not affect any other residences, but the Brant Lake Sanitary District has so far declined to entertain or discuss the issue.

The only avenue left to the Krsnaks to save their business, Linda's Gardens, the value of their property, and their quality and way of life is to retain attorneys and bring forth a series of lawsuits [press release, 2012.05.11].

Come on, Allen. This is a perfect conservative issue. A private landowner, an entrepreneur, faces the loss of her property rights at the hands of expanding and non-responsive government. You should be on this conflict like flies on sewage! You should be organizing a letter-writing campaign to her state legislators (who include Senate Majority Leader Russell Olson, who surely can find it in his Republican principles to oppose this encroachment of more big government on family farms). Heck, you could even come up and dump tea in Brant Lake!

Unruh's Tea friends and other arch-conservatives make a nice show with the rallies and election posturing. Now how about they build their activist cred and help a farmer in real need of protection from government?