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Up one levelOzark Poultry Growers Symposium Tuesday April 27
Poultry producers and poultry company representatives will be able to view many new innovative products and hear programs concerning producing poultry at the annual 2010 Ozark Poultry Producers Symposium Tuesday, April 27 at the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center in Fayetteville . Doors for the free trade show will open at 2 p.m.
Defense: Oklahoma ignoring own law
By Robert J. Smith Friday, February 19, 2010 TULSA — Defense attorneys on Thursday criticized Oklahoma for asking a federal judge to cut poultry manure’s use in the Illinois River watershed when the state has the ability to do it on its own but has not changed it. Gary Weeks, who represents Springdale-based George’s Inc., made an impassioned plea to U.S. District Judge Greg Frizzell during arguments that closed a 50-day trial to determine if sixpoultry companies have polluted the watershed with the manure. Weeks told the judge it’s wrong for Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson to ask Frizzell to limit the manure’s use to fields where phosphorus is below 65 pounds per acre across the watershed that includes portions of Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas.
Judge asks Oklahoma for full tests from chicken farms
by: JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS Associated Press Writer Wednesday, December 09, 2009 12/9/2009 2:32:56 PM; posted www.tulsaworld.com. Oklahoma's pollution case against the Arkansas poultry industry suffered another setback Wednesday, when a judge blocked the state from introducing soil test records that reportedly showed high phosphorus levels at 50 chicken farms. Citing fairness, U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell instead ordered Oklahoma to hand over the complete soil test records for the operations going back to 1998, when the record-keeping began. "I want to see the history," Frizzell said, siding with poultry company attorneys who accused the state of "cherry-picking" tests showing higher pollution levels. "That's why I want to see all the records, because they may cut either way here."
Geologist Says He Hired Children, Friends For Expert Report
Last updated Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:23 PM CDT in News By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS; TULSA, Okla. — A geologist said Thursday he hired his three daughters and family friends to do legwork for a report that became the backbone of Oklahoma's pollution lawsuit against the Arkansas poultry industry. J. Berton Fisher, one of the state's expert witnesses, testified he hired at least eight family members and friends, including the daughter of one of the attorneys handling the state's 2005 lawsuit.
Police gathered poultry evidence
by: CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writer Friday, October 09, 2009 10/9/2009 4:47:47 AM A dozen off-duty Tulsa police officers, most of them detectives, drove the back roads of eastern Oklahoma for months, taking thousands of pictures and generating thousands of reports based on what they observed, all as part of the state of Oklahoma's poultry-industry pollution lawsuit, testimony in the trial indicated Thursday.
Cherokees to appeal judge's poultry decision
by: JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS Associated Press Writer Friday, September 18, 2009; The Cherokee Nation is appealing a federal judge's ruling that blocked the tribe from joining Oklahoma's water pollution lawsuit against 11 Arkansas poultry companies. Cherokee Nation Attorney General Diane Hammons filed a notice of appeal Thursday that the tribe would take its case to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Judge blocks Cherokee Nation intervention in poultry case
by: CURTIS KILLMAN World Staff Writer Tuesday, September 15, 2009; A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by the Cherokee Nation to intervene in a lawsuit involving the state and several poultry companies. In turning back the tribe, District Judge Gregory Frizzell said he would have “been pleased” to grant its request had it been timely. “Unfortunately, it is not,” Frizzell said, following a morning hearing. The ruling leaves the trial for the state’s pollution case against the poultry industry on track to begin Monday.
Judge rules state can’t seek monetary damages
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: July 23, 2009 in the Daily Oklahoman TULSA — Oklahoma can’t pursue monetary damages in its environmental lawsuit against a dozen Arkansas poultry companies because it didn’t name the Cherokee Nation as a plaintiff, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a major blow to the state. Oklahoma had hoped to collect more than $611 million from companies it claims polluted the Illinois River watershed with bird waste. But the 1-million-acre river valley lies in an area set aside by the federal government for the Cherokee Nation, and Oklahoma doesn’t have the authority to seek damages on the nation’s behalf, U.S. District Court Judge Gregory K. Frizzell ruled.
Money wrung from poultry lawsuit
Money wrung from poultry lawsuit BY ROBERT J. SMITH Posted on Thursday, July 23, 2009 A federal judge on Wednesday forbade Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson from pursuing $611 million in damages against Arkansas poultry companies because he failed to include the Cherokee Nation in a lawsuit. Judge Greg Frizzell said Edmondson's claims for money "should not, in equity and good conscience, be allowed to proceed among the existing parties" and without the Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized Indian tribe based in Tahlequah, Okla.
Annual Meeting slated
Poultry Partners will hold its annual meeting June 15, 6 p.m. at the Siloam Springs Community Building. All growers are urged to attend and hear the latest update on the State of Oklahoma versus poultry companies lawsuit. Poultry Partners Attorney Michael Graves will make that update.
Poultry firms win suit over leukemia
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TIMES, written by Robert Smith; Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009. Jurors found in favor of poultry companies on trial in Washington County on Thursday. Poultry companies George's Farms, Tyson Foods and Simmons Foods were cleared of charges levied in a suit in which Michael "Blu" Green and his parents alleged exposure to litter from chickens given the arsenic-containing feed additive Roxarsone caused Green's leukemia in the 1990s. It was 9-3 in favor of the defendants. Civil trials do not require unanimous verdicts.
Appellate court panel denies litter injunction
BY ROBERT J. SMITH and published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 URL: A lower court's decision to let farmers keep using poultry litter as fertilizer in the Illinois River watershed was correct, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled Wednesday.
Missouri firm offers $120,000 to get out of poultry litter suit
BY ROBERT J. SMITH Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 URL: One of eight poultry companies sued over pollution in the Illinois River watershed wants the U.S. District Court in Tulsa to approve a settlement that would drop the firm from the lawsuit. Willow Brook Foods Inc., a Springfield, Mo., company purchased by Cargill Value Added Meats in March 2008, cut a deal with Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson to pay $120,000 as part of a consent decree.
Ozark Poultry Growers Symposium March 19th
Ozark Poultry Grower’s Symposium March 19, 2009 Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center Fayetteville, AR Sponsored by U of A Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service. Winrock International , SAAFA, and Poultry Partners
Growers feel Pilgrim's Pride pain
BY STACEY ROBERTS Posted on Sunday, March 15, 2009, Arkansas Democrat Gazette. Some Arkansas contract chicken farmers find themselves squeezed between the needs of a poultry company fighting for survival and the demands of personal creditors. Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December in an effort to reorganize its debts and emerge as a profitable company.
Agency: Poultry not likely E. coli source
The Oklahoma Department of Health found harmful E. coli strains in three of 17 groundwater wells near Locust Grove that contained the bacteria, but the contamination likely did not come from chickens, the agency reported Wednesday. The findings come a month after Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said chicken farms near the town polluted a restaurant's well and caused an E. coli outbreak last summer.
CSI - Edmondson Editorial
By Rick Stubblefield The release of a report by state Attorney General Drew Edmondson’s office regarding the Locust Grove E. coli outbreak in August 2008 is easily summarized by the first sentence: Edmondson blames chicken manure used as fertilizer near a restaurant for causing a disease outbreak … Only later does Edmondson qualify the initial statement, describing poultry litter as “a possible source” of the bacteria.
Official cites litter in death from cafe
BY ROBERT J. SMITH and published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette Feb. 15, 2009; Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson blames chicken manure used as fertilizer near a restaurant for causing a disease outbreak that led to the death of a man from Pryor, Okla.
Pilgrim's Pride closing El Dorado site
BY STACEY ROBERTS Posted on Saturday, February 28, 2009 and published in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette; Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride Corp. will close three of its remaining 32 chicken plants, including an El Dorado plant that has been hit by job cuts twice in the past year. The three plants, including facilities in Douglas, Ga., and Farmerville, La., employ about 3,000 people. That is about 7 percent of Pilgrim's Pride's remaining national work force. A total of 430 independent contract growers will be affected by the closings, the company said in a news release Friday.
Judge Removes Peterson Farms From Litter Case
FAYETTEVILLE A judge dismissed Peterson Farms from a lawsuit alleging chicken litter caused a Prairie Grove man's cancer. Smith ruled there's not sufficient evidence any of the four defendant companies acted with intent to cause harm, or with reckless disregard, so Michael "Blu" Green and his parents cannot seek punitive damages from Tyson Foods, Simmons and George's.
Judge asks Oklahoma for full tests from chicken farms
Published in the Tulsa World online. By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS Associated Press Writer Published: 12/9/2009 12:32 PM Last Modified: 12/9/2009 2:32 PM Oklahoma's pollution case against the Arkansas poultry industry suffered another setback Wednesday, when a judge blocked the state from introducing soil test records that reportedly showed high phosphorus levels at 50 chicken farms. Citing fairness, U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell instead ordered Oklahoma to hand over the complete soil test records for the operations going back to 1998, when the record-keeping began. "I want to see the history," Frizzell said, siding with poultry company attorneys who accused the state of "cherry-picking" tests showing higher pollution levels. "That's why I want to see all the records, because they may cut either way here."