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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] NAIS Case
  • Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:36:46 -0600


NAIS Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture
have agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by an Alliance Defense Fund allied
attorney on behalf of farmer James Landis. The department had attempted to
force Landis to submit to having a federal identification number in order
to
continue to do business, in violation of Landis’ religious beliefs.

“The government should not force people to violate their religious
beliefs--especially when accommodating the person poses no hardship to the
government,” said ADF-allied attorney Leonard Brown of the law firm
Clymer &
Musser. “We are pleased that the government has agreed to make this
reasonable accommodation out of respect for Mr. Landis’ religious
beliefs.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture agreed to not require Landis to
obtain a federal premise identification number in order to continue to do
business. Additionally, the department has said it will be notifying all
farmers that they do not need to register for the federal identification
program.

Landis, a Mennonite, raised ducks on his Lebanon County farm for export in
live bird markets in New York for the past 20 years. He voluntarily
participated in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s avian
influenza
monitoring program as a requirement for selling flocks into the live bird
market system. But this year, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture
added a new requirement, mandating that each person register for a federal
identification number for enrollment in the monitoring plan
(www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4161).

In April, Landis received a letter from the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture regarding the new requirement, notifying him that he must
register for the federal premise identification number, in violation of
Landis’ religious beliefs, or face exclusion from the New York live bird
market. Now the agency says it will not force Landis and others to apply
for the number.

“The settlement agreement is not just a victory for Mr. Landis; it is a
victory for all farmers and for people of faith in this country,” said
Brown. “Government must respect the freedoms guaranteed by their state
constitutions and the law.”

A copy of the settlement agreement filed at the Commonwealth Court of
Pennsylvania in the case Landis v. Wolff can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/LandisSettlement.pdf.

ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth
through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.


www.telladf.org





  • [Livingontheland] NAIS Case, TradingPostPaul, 06/26/2007

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