Judge denies water sampling at Larson Acres
JANESVILLE — A Rock County judge denied a request Thursday from the town of Magnolia to take more water samples from the Larson Acres property.
Tensions that have build during more than five years of court battles between the town and the county’s largest dairy farm came to the surface during the two-hour hearing before Judge James Welker.
“I think what’s happened is people have gotten their hackles up,” Welker said. “Mr. Larson takes the position, ‘Township, you want to enforce your legal rights, then by golly I will enforce my legal rights,’ and so we’re standing toe-to-toe.”
Welker suggested it would be good if everyone could get along, but town attorney Glenn Reynolds said the parties would be in court for years.
“This lawsuit may not be over for five years,” he said. “Let’s be honest about it.”
Ed Larson’s attorney, Eric McLeod, said the town’s request to take water samples violated the family’s constitutional rights.
“Mr. Larson and Larson Acres have been … stuck in the eye repeatedly and repeatedly by the town in a way he doesn’t appreciate,” McLeod said. “That’s why he’s standing up for his rights.”
The town and a group of neighbors are appealing a state livestock siting board decision, which overturned some conditions the town board had imposed on the farm as part of a conditional-use permit for the Larsons to house up to 1,500 heifers in a barn.
Welker denied Reynolds’ motion to collect water samples from the farm on County B. Welker said the town did not have probable cause to believe a violation was occurring.
“I did allow the testing on one occasion. I’m not even sure I should have done that. But I did allow it, and apparently there was nothing there which rose to the level of some kind of a violation that could be enforced,” Welker said.
“I can appreciate the thought that, ‘Well we want information because we want to share it with other people,’ but I don’t think that trumps Mr. Larson’s Fourth Amendment right,” Welker said.
Reynolds said the town wanted to test the water so it could provide information to the public. He said past tests have shown the amount of nitrates in the water around the farm violate the state’s Clean Water Act and Groundwater Protection Act.
Welker questioned Reynolds about what the town would do with the water test information. Reynolds said it would be shared with the public and state agencies because it’s in the public’s best interest to know the condition of the water.
The town board is “toothless,” Reynolds said, because the state has removed control from town government. Reynolds told Welker that if he denied the motion, the town might file a nuisance lawsuit against Larson Acres.
Town chairwoman Fern McCoy and board member Dave Olsen, who attended the hearing, said afterward they didn’t know what the town would do next.
“We’ve got to protect the water, and that’s very important,” Olsen said.
He said the town would continue testing water in the public right-of-way.
McLeod said the town presented no legitimate legal basis other than the town wanting information.
“The government doesn’t have the ability under the Fourth Amendment to ask for information because it’s interested,” he said.
May 30, 2008 at 9:24 p.m.
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Here I go again; clean water is important for everyone. All surface water in the state is public domain. If the wells downstream of the farm are experiencing nitrate problems now, then the farm could be suspect. Does anyone have the details on the wells downstream from the farm?
I recognize the plight of the farmers downstream who desire a sustainable land ethic for their farms, and how this is an important issue that must be addressed immediately if it is occuring. Who has the data confirming the need for more testing of the Larson farm?
May 30, 2008 at 8:26 p.m.
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I say we shut the farm down. We can't have hippy/yuppy shmucks living in an unhappy situation. They might have a protest/crying vigil. So shut the farm down. Those capitalists have no right to try and make a buck off of their fellow American's hunger. Wonder what I'm going to have for dinner tonight.......
May 30, 2008 at 8:03 p.m.
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It's to late to worry about large corporate farms taking over folks. The horse is out of the barn. All voters have let the government leaders to be bought out by lobbyist's until the small farm has disappeared. Now, we have a farm bill that pays millionaire farms even more and it's your money!! Railroads were distroyed by the oil industry. Next being targeted is small businesses and the auto industry. There will soon be only the rich and then the poor working class to keep the rich thriving. All super powers have fallen throughout history. Read it, study it, it's all there. I am not anti american just a realist. The only other business doing well with great pay and benefits are government workers, and they give themselves and then their colleagues the raises no matter how deep the government debts are, right?
May 30, 2008 at 6:36 p.m.
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I challage every non farm resident to take a good look at what they fertilize thier lawns with and contact the county extention office to compare what they use to what a farmer uses per acre. You will find out that that you use 50-200 times more per acre then any farmer out there.
Now???????? Who is causing more water pollution??????????
May 30, 2008 at 6:29 p.m.
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PeTA?????????? REALLY?????????? YOU HAD TO GO AND BRING UP PeTA???????????
WHAT A SLAP IN THE FACE TO EVERY FARMER AND PRODUCER IN THIS NATION!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now it is my turn to return the favor tipi16
To every farmer and producer out there PeTA stands for............PEOPLE EATING TASTY ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a life Magnolia Twsp and leave this family alone!!!!
May 30, 2008 at 6:18 p.m.
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tipi16 has been tipping something. Maybe some of that imaginary polluted water.
The point being is the water was tested, and came back within reason rates,
The high nitrate water is coming from some where else .
Peta?
Please he takes better care of his cattle than most people take care of there kids.
This is his lively hood, they are very well taken care of.
I will say it again, I think he should sue these neighbors and magnolia, as they have been able to prove nothing.
They just continue to harass him.
May 30, 2008 at 4:45 p.m.
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Cows that don't graze mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Sounds like animal abuse to me?????? May be PETA should be called. I am fomerly from Magnolia Twsp. Born and raised and still attend church there. Funny the church is surrounded by land owned by the Larson's and the well at the church is too high in nitrates and has to be tested all the time. So do the Larson's have something to hide????????
May 30, 2008 at 4:44 p.m.
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The comments are still there on the news blog version of the story.
http://www.gazettextra.com/weblogs/lates...
May 30, 2008 at 3:55 p.m.
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I came in to read the rest of the comments today and they are gone? Irish girl, I am not an organic wannabe and I have cleaned my share of gutters and stalls and no I don't whine about farm smells. What you are saying is that they don't graze their cattle and they have to put the manure in holding tanks. That to me means they have too many animals on their land for what that land can handle. If those holding tanks leak than what? If they have the water tested so many times a year than why don't they post the results?? Most business people would want to show everyone that their water quality tests were as good as you say. Weather situations such as higher precipitation this year will affect run off and ground water. So farming is an ever changing situation and there should be continual testing with that many animals situated in a small area.
May 30, 2008 at 2:59 p.m.
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POOF *** gone, I was wondering the same thing.
May 30, 2008 at 2:44 p.m.
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Thank you Irish girl and what happened to all the other comments?
May 30, 2008 at 12:16 p.m.
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If you know the other people, then you know that there is more to the story. You are only hearing what they want you to hear. You should know then that there were farms in that area long before the Larson's farm that the cattled grazed on the land, and the manure and run off from that went into the ground. There are people that have moved into that area that want to be organic farmers raising organic veggies, and they fear that the run off from the Larson farm is not going to allow them to have a total orgaic garden. You then also know that the Larson's do not have the cattle graze, and all of the manure goes into holding tanks, broke down, by state standards, and then disbursed where ever it lands, which may or may not be in the ground in that area at all. The Larson's have to test water all of the time, so if they are not doing the proper tests, the state WILL step in and have it tested. It should NOT be up to the neighbors who protest the farm in there area, to take the Larson's to court on a whim and want them to have the judge allow the water to be tested when they feel like it. The Larson's have paid there dues when it comes to there farm on B, you don't hear anyone complaining about the farm on Hwy. 59 where all of the milking is done, just on Cty. B where the calves are raised. Let's let this family do "there" job's and not have people constantly "assuming" they do not test there water, and let life go on.
The Larson's are upstanding people, trying to make a living, no matter how large or small they are. They employee many people and are good to the employee's. They provide milk, butter, cottage cheese, cheese that we all consume, so let's stop with all of this, build a bridge and get over it.
May 30, 2008 at 11:04 a.m.
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Irishgirl, I have a few comments to make in response to your remarks. First, you write, “do you really think that Larson's have the monopoly on polluting the ground in that area. There water is pulled from a well in the ground, not the city water.” THEIR water may be pulled from a well, but their runoff goes into everyone’s wells; it is not a matter of country vs. city water. Second, I will agree that the Larsons do give back to the community via jobs, but at what cost to the rest of the community (i.e. small farms)? Third, I appreciate you trying to stay objective, as it makes this discussion more productive and civil, but when you claim the opposition to the Larsons is coming from “an "organic" farmer wannabe” you leave objectivity behind and move into snarky name calling. I know some of these “wannabes,” and they do not deserve to be insulted, whether or not they are justified in wanting to test the Larson’s water. Also, why do you continually put “factory farm” in quotations? Thank you.
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