Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 17:08:07 -0500 Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Mark Murray Subject: Bishop Case - Radio/Web interview w/Gov.Gilmore This Tuesday - Call/Write Dennis Bishop Case - Gov.Gilmore Radio Interview This Tuesday Morning. Governor James Gilmore (Va) will take live questions Tuesday Morning (10-am ) on Washington D.C.Radio WTOP (listen www.wtop.com) on any topic, a perfect opportunity for you to ask/write him about why his office didn't investigate both sides of the story behind the firing of Ag agent Dennis Bishop. You can call the station free (1-877-628-9867), or you can write him a note ahead of the interview (at http://www.wtopnews.com/ask_gov.shtm). He needs to know your views. He needs to follow-up by FULLY investigating this matter. As most of you know, Bishop exercised his first amendment rights last September by writing a letter to the editor with his personal views supporting organic agriculture, while questioning the views of ag writer Dennis Avery. A few days later he was fired by the State's ag extension service; he had previously received an excellent performance report. Case is in court. Again, if you can't call in to WTOP, you may write your "live" comments & questions ahead of time (e.g. now) for the Governor's radio interview, at http://www.wtopnews.com/ask_gov.shtm . You can also listen to the radio show via the web at www.wtopnews.com live audio link. <><><><><><><> The following article about the fired Virginia extension agent is forwarded from the Agnet-L Mailing List. ------------------------------------------------------------------- VA.TECH EXTENSION OFFICIALS SAY LETTER WASN'T REASON AGENT LOST HIS JOB February 2, 2001 Free Lance-Star Pamela Gould www.Fredericksburg.com Attorneys for Virginia Cooperative Extension say a letter written by former Stafford County agent Dennis Bishop damaged the program's credibility, but was not the reason he lost his job. Papers filed in U.S.. District Court in response to Bishop's law-suit seeking reinstatement claim that his performance so deteriorated in the month following his annual evaluation that he would have been terminated even without publication of the letter to the editor in the Aug. 31 edition of The Free Lance-Star. Bishop's "publication of the letter is one example of [his] violation of the terms of his employment in that it had the effect of adversely affecting the mission of the Virginia Cooperative Extension in providing competent educational and technical assistance ... in matters relating to horticulture, agriculture and management of natural resources," Senior Assistant Attorney General Guy W. Horsley Jr. wrote in his Jan. 22 response to the lawsuit. Bishop received a favorable first-year evaluation from his immediate supervisor Aug. 14. On Sept. 11, Northern District Director Beverly Butterfield notified him he was being placed in a terminal six-month position. In between, The Free Lance-Star published a letter from Bishop criticizing traditional farming methods and stating that they "rape the earth." The letter came in response to an Aug. 13 opinion piece critical of organic farming, but Bishop said he wrote it from home and did not identify himself as an extension agent. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed suit Dec. 13 against Virginia Cooperative Extension officials and Virginia Tech, which administers the extension program. The federal suit claims Bishop was fired in retaliation for his published letter and seeks his reinstatement on the grounds that his free-speech rights were violated. The response from the Virginia Attorney General's Office states that extension agents have a duty to advise farmers and others in the traditional agricultural community and that Bishop showed a "pattern of ignoring and violating the clear expectations of the terms of his employment," thus justifying his reassignment. But Bishop said he was never told of any problems with his performance or attitude. And Cooperative Extension officials admit his personnel file does not contain any complaints or reprimands. "My opinion is they went digging for dirt after the letter to the editor," Bishop said this week. Bishop was hired as an environmental horticulturist for Stafford County in August 1999. In his first year, he helped launch the popular First Saturdays in the Garden program and worked with Downtown Greens Community Gardens, gaining a loyal following among local gardeners, who protested his dismissal. After being transferred to the temporary position, Bishop submitted a one-month notice and resigned in October. He now works on the grounds staff at Mary Washington College. Kent Willis, Virginia director of the ACLU, said the state's response has had no impact on the group's allegations. "We stand by our case," he said. "And we believe that, as our complaint said, he was demoted because of his letter." A trial date for the lawsuit has not yet been set. <><><><><><><><><><> Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 08:02:13 -0500 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Mark Murray Subject: Ag.Extension Agent Responds to Dennis Avery Article, Speaks Positively of Organic Farming, then Fired. Update Comments: To: "SANET Sustain.Ag.Net." , "GMF-news@scope.educ.washington.edu" , Biotech Activists Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" From FarmPowerNews@Starpower.net Daily Brief, 2 February 2001 Ag Agent Bishop Responds to Dennis Avery Article, Speaks Positively of Oganic Farming, Then Gets "Fired for Telling About Dangers of Corporate Farming." Virginia Tech University Files Defense in Alexandria Virginia Disrict Court (below) as ACLU Takes Case. Upset Master Gardeners & Citizens Protest. Bishop's Original letter (A) below. Several excellent published responses at (B) below. Contact Points For Your Letters in (C) below. Legal Update on the Case (article 2 February 2001) in (D) below. (A) Here is the Original Letter to the Editor, by Dennis Bishop: Traditional Farming is Unnatural, a Rape of the Earth (by Dennis Bishop). (Fredericksburg, Virginia, 31 August 2000) Being neither an organic farmer nor a student of organic agriculture, I feel unqualified to respond to the specifics of Dennis Avery's recent bashing of organic farming ["Natural food not always a safer choice," Aug. 13, 2000]. However, I am a horticulturist and I am greatly concerned about the doomed road that traditional, chemical agriculture has taken in its relationship with the Earth. Traditional, chemical agriculture is doomed because it has plowed through the Earth without giving thought to where it is going; and it is doomed because it has used and raped the Earth unceasingly without giving back. How long can any relationship endure which gives little thought to its course and uses and abuses the other party without giving back? Nature knows what is best for herself; therefore, every honest discussion of this topic should start by accepting that all agricultural practices are unnatural and are detrimental to the health of the Earth's ecosystem. Nature does not devise monocultures of any kind-never planting anything in a row. If nature had her way, there would be no vineyards, no orchards and certainly no corn fields, but there would be manure, compost and many natural toxins. These elements are all part of a system that renews the Earth and provides the checks and balances of a healthy planet. Therefore, despite my ignorance, I take the side of the organic growers. They give greater thought to maintaining a healthy planet; for example, they practice the use of green-manure crops to renew the soil. Organic growers give thought to where they are going and they give back. Dennis G. Bishop Stafford (Virginia, USA) (B) Citizens and Master Gardeners Protest Firing with some moving Letters to the Editor at: http://www.thefreelancestar.com/ (search in quotes "Dennis Bishop." Dozen-plus articles). (C) Address Your Letters & Comments to: (1) Honorable James S. Gilmore, Governor of Virginia, 804-786-2211 State Capitol Building, Third Floor, Richmond, Virginia 23219. E-Mail via web http://www.thedigitaldominion.com/contact.cfm (2) Charles W. Steger, President, Virginia Tech Institute and State University, 540-231-6000 . Names of Regents: http://intra.vt.edu/govern/bov.html and http://www.unirel.vt.edu/president/index.html (3) ACLU Voice Mail: 804-644-8080. (4) Letters to Bishop & the News Editor, Fredericksburg Free Lance Star, Mr. Chris Muldrow: cmuldrow@fredericksburg.com (D) Va.Tech Extension Officials Say Letter Wasn't Reason Agent Lost His Job (2 FEB 01, by Pamela Gould, The Free Lance-Star) www.Fredericksburg.com . Attorneys for Virginia Cooperative Extension say a letter written by former Stafford County agent Dennis Bishop damaged the program's credibility, but was not the reason he lost his job. Papers filed in U.S. District Court in response to Bishop's law-suit seeking reinstatement claim that his performance so deteriorated in the month following his annual evaluation that he would have been terminated even without publication of the letter to the editor in the Aug. 31 edition of The Free Lance-Star. Bishop's "publication of the letter is one example of [his] violation of the terms of his employment in that it had the effect of adversely affecting the mission of the Virginia Cooperative Extension in providing competent educational and technical assistance ... in matters relating to horticulture, agriculture and management of natural resources," Senior Assistant Attorney General Guy W. Horsley Jr. wrote in his Jan. 22 response to the lawsuit. Bishop received a favorable first-year evaluation from his immediate supervisor Aug. 14. On Sept. 11, Northern District Director Beverly Butterfield notified him he was being placed in a terminal six-month position. In between, The Free Lance-Star published a letter from Bishop criticizing traditional farming methods and stating that they "rape the earth." The letter came in response to an Aug. 13 opinion piece critical of organic farming, but Bishop said he wrote it from home and did not identify himself as an extension agent. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed suit Dec. 13 against Virginia Cooperative Extension officials and Virginia Tech, which administers the extension program. The federal suit claims Bishop was fired in retaliation for his published letter and seeks his reinstatement on the grounds that his free-speech rights were violated. The response from the Virginia Attorney General's Office states that extension agents have a duty to advise farmers and others in the traditional agricultural community and that Bishop showed a "pattern of ignoring and violating the clear expectations of the terms of his employment," thus justifying his reassignment. But Bishop said he was never told of any problems with his performance or attitude. And Cooperative Extension officials admit his personnel file does not contain any complaints or reprimands. "My opinion is they went digging for dirt after the letter to the editor," Bishop said this week. Bishop was hired as an environmental horticulturist for Stafford County in August 1999. In his first year, he helped launch the popular First Saturdays in the Garden program and worked with Downtown Greens Community Gardens, gaining a loyal following among local gardeners, who protested his dismissal. After being transferred to the temporary position, Bishop submitted a one-month notice and resigned in October. He now works on the grounds staff at Mary Washington College. Kent Willis, Virginia director of the ACLU, said the state's response has had no impact on the group's allegations. "We stand by our case," he said. "And we believe that, as our complaint said, he was demoted because of his letter." A trial date for the lawsuit has not yet been set. END =================================== FPN Editor Note: Virginia Polytechnics Institute and State University ("Virginia Tech") is the U.S.Government archives repository for all bio-tech research data. <><><><><><><><><><> Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 05:39:20 -0800 Reply-To: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group Sender: Sustainable Agriculture Network Discussion Group From: Misha Subject: Re: Ag.Extension Agent Responds to Dennis Avery Article, Speaks Positively of Organic Farming, then Fired. Update In-Reply-To: <005001c08d18$5d404b00$953a2c42@hitachi> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" Howdy, all-- Mark, thanks for passing the Dennis Bishop info along. What staggers me about this case is that he was writing a letter as a private citizen, but suffered professional retribution. In the spring of '98, I was blasted in an editorial in one of Wisconsin's two weekly ag newspapers. He got wind that I'd been elected to the board of the Wisconsin Rural Development Center, an activist, progressive populist, farm and rural center that focuses on policy and organizing. The editorial asked why I, and two other state ag employees (two of us at the UW, one at the state department of ag), were allowed to take public positions that were "anti-agriculture." He was referring in particular to WRDC's stance that factory farming of animals must be challenged by citizens and if possible, stopped. I had institutional support that Bishop apparently lacks. My boss at CIAS (Rick Klemme), the acting dean of the College of Ag (Neal Jorgensen), and others quickly spoke up, in writing, for my right to do whatever I saw fit, with my free time. I was on the WRDC board NOT as a CIAS senior staffer or a representative of the UW, but as a citizen. I was aware that things could have gone very differently for me. I was reminded of the value of Wisconsin's culture of civic open-mindedness, as well as aware of the privilege I had by virtue of who I knew and what they thought of me. And I always suspected that the editor wrote that piece to accommodate and then silence some unknown industrial-ag-aligned critic who came to him complaining upon learning that state employees were serving on WRDC's board. To remind that person that state workers remain free citizens in their private time, and just because corporations and states own the means of production and the land and the airwaves, doesn't mean they own people. Apparently, the dominant culture in Virginia views human ownership somewhat differently. Industrial ag must be a pathetically weak endeavor, barely cobbled together by seafoam and spit, if one person's opinions or free-time pursuits can pose such a huge threat of blowing it all apart. I seem to recall a particular Virginia native (?) son observing, in 1787, "What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" peace mish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michele Gale-Sinex Home office: 510-525-5683 Home office fax: Same as above, phone first for enabling ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country. --Thomas Jefferson <><><><><><><><><><> Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 00:31:57 -0500 Subject: VABF collaboration with Virginia Cooperative Extension From: Marlin L Burkholder Concerning VABF's response to the Dennis Bishop fireing by VCE: I was one of the first in VABF to hear about it from another list and I immediately forwarded the news to Andy Hankens, VCE agent at Virginia State University, and to Jeannie Nye Harris, president of VABF. Andy sits on our BOD and played a very active part in engaging speakers for our conference. I have known Andy for about 9 years and have a lot of respect for his leadership qualities, maturity, and passion for promoting sustainable agriculture in Virginia. He even did a lot to help me get restarted when I had to bail out of a family dairy farm operation in early 1992 and appealed to him for help. We have discussed VABF's role in responding to this situation at our past two BOD meetings in November and January. From what Andy has shared, apparently someone high up in the echelons of power at Va Tech put pressure on the lady (I didn't remember her name) who hires and fires ag extension agents in Stafford County. Several people who know her testify that she is a very decent person who would never do such a thing on her own. We decided that that our best probable response would be to find out who the key persons are at Va Tech who instigated this fireing, confront them directly, and if necessary, make enough noise to get the attention of the public and perhaps the legislators who were responsible for giving them their jobs. To the best of my knowledge VABF is working on this case.