Got an e-mail from Don Baron. He used to be the Editor of the Country Guide for many years. His new book is about some of the history of the past few years... of some of the shenanigans that prairie producers have gone through. (History, Chas, history!) This is his e-mail:
" JAILHOUSE JUSTICE
My new book, JAILHOUSE JUSTICE is just off the press and the testimonials from knowlegeable growers, media and industry people who have read preview copies are breathtaking. Author and former award-winning Canadian Press correspondent Joe Ralko wrote, "It's a chilling chapter in Prairie history (and) a must read for anyone who...believes in allowing individuals to be paid for what they grow."
Past President Verna Thompson of the Sask. Weekly Newspapers Asoc., and Publisher of the Eston Press Review, writes, "This compelling story of
Prairie farmers fighting for the right to sell the grain they grow …. should
be read by every Prairie farmer, politician and bureaucrat."
Editor M.W. Dorosh of Agriweek wrote, "Don Baron has done it again. Only in Canada can upstanding responsible people go to jail for trying to make a
better living, and in Canada, only western grain farmers face that horrifying
risk. This book shows the human-side impact of this ruthless senseless
dictatorial system on its victims. This is the Canadian Gulag." There are
lots more, and they are included in the book.
This story is a follow-up to my best-selling GRAIN Robbery book and it tells
perhaps the most shameful story in Canada today - how hundreds of prairie
farmers are battling back against Ottawa's grain monopoly which seizes
ownership of their wheat and barley when it comes out of their combine
spouts. They are being arrested, shackled, hauled off to jail, charged, and
are spending months and years fighting those charges and often spending days, weeks or months in jail.
The cover picture is of community-leader and Saskatchewan grower Dave Bryan, photographed behind bars. Before he headed out on his trip to sell his own grain across the US. border to get another dollar a bushel or more to help pay the bills, he sat his two sons down and spoke words to them they will never forget. "Sometimes it's necessary and right for good people to
willingly go to jail to expose an injustice." David certainly paid. He was
handcuffed, tossed into the back seat of a police cruiser and hauled off to
jail.
Similar acts by other growers have been repeated dozens of times across the West in recent years. And in fact, it is growers themselves who have written this story. I have just brought their stories together in what may be one of the most important Canadian books ever.
Let's remember, David Bryan is no hothead. He is by nature a thinker. This is a human rights issue. He was among 39 growers who rallied to support Andy McMechan who had been charged and jailed in 1995 for hauling his own grain across the border. Bryan remembers only too vividly how those events played out. By mid '97, more than 100 growers had been charged in border crossings, some had been jailed and fined thousands of dollars, and the struggle began to grab some remarkable headlines. Thundered a Globe and Mail editorial, "It is high time Ottawa stopped treating the Prairies like a company town."
Yes, the whole purpose of this battle by growers is to shine the public
spotlight on this injustice so Ottawa's Liberal government will relent and
free up growers to manage their own farms and sell their own grain. This book brings their stories together for the first time..
Don Baron "
This is Don's contact address if you want to get a book:
14 Wood Cresc. Regina, Sk. S4S 6J7
ph/fax 306-586-4578, email - donregina@aol.com
Parsley
" JAILHOUSE JUSTICE
My new book, JAILHOUSE JUSTICE is just off the press and the testimonials from knowlegeable growers, media and industry people who have read preview copies are breathtaking. Author and former award-winning Canadian Press correspondent Joe Ralko wrote, "It's a chilling chapter in Prairie history (and) a must read for anyone who...believes in allowing individuals to be paid for what they grow."
Past President Verna Thompson of the Sask. Weekly Newspapers Asoc., and Publisher of the Eston Press Review, writes, "This compelling story of
Prairie farmers fighting for the right to sell the grain they grow …. should
be read by every Prairie farmer, politician and bureaucrat."
Editor M.W. Dorosh of Agriweek wrote, "Don Baron has done it again. Only in Canada can upstanding responsible people go to jail for trying to make a
better living, and in Canada, only western grain farmers face that horrifying
risk. This book shows the human-side impact of this ruthless senseless
dictatorial system on its victims. This is the Canadian Gulag." There are
lots more, and they are included in the book.
This story is a follow-up to my best-selling GRAIN Robbery book and it tells
perhaps the most shameful story in Canada today - how hundreds of prairie
farmers are battling back against Ottawa's grain monopoly which seizes
ownership of their wheat and barley when it comes out of their combine
spouts. They are being arrested, shackled, hauled off to jail, charged, and
are spending months and years fighting those charges and often spending days, weeks or months in jail.
The cover picture is of community-leader and Saskatchewan grower Dave Bryan, photographed behind bars. Before he headed out on his trip to sell his own grain across the US. border to get another dollar a bushel or more to help pay the bills, he sat his two sons down and spoke words to them they will never forget. "Sometimes it's necessary and right for good people to
willingly go to jail to expose an injustice." David certainly paid. He was
handcuffed, tossed into the back seat of a police cruiser and hauled off to
jail.
Similar acts by other growers have been repeated dozens of times across the West in recent years. And in fact, it is growers themselves who have written this story. I have just brought their stories together in what may be one of the most important Canadian books ever.
Let's remember, David Bryan is no hothead. He is by nature a thinker. This is a human rights issue. He was among 39 growers who rallied to support Andy McMechan who had been charged and jailed in 1995 for hauling his own grain across the border. Bryan remembers only too vividly how those events played out. By mid '97, more than 100 growers had been charged in border crossings, some had been jailed and fined thousands of dollars, and the struggle began to grab some remarkable headlines. Thundered a Globe and Mail editorial, "It is high time Ottawa stopped treating the Prairies like a company town."
Yes, the whole purpose of this battle by growers is to shine the public
spotlight on this injustice so Ottawa's Liberal government will relent and
free up growers to manage their own farms and sell their own grain. This book brings their stories together for the first time..
Don Baron "
This is Don's contact address if you want to get a book:
14 Wood Cresc. Regina, Sk. S4S 6J7
ph/fax 306-586-4578, email - donregina@aol.com
Parsley
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