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March 18, 2016 CapitalPress.com 7 Judge: Food industry broke campaign disclosure law No decision yet on penalty By DON JENKINS Capital Press OLYMPIA — The Gro- cery Manufacturers Associa- tion broke Washington law by failing to register as a political action committee and to identi- fy the food and beverage com- panies that contributed $11 million to defeat a Washington state GMO-labeling initiative in 2013, a Thurston County judge ruled March 11. Judge Anne Hirsch, in a written opinion, stated the as- sociation, which has more than 300 members, withheld donor identities to shield companies from adverse public reaction. “The undisputed evidence … shows that the GMA’s in- tent was to create a plan to provide anonymity and elim- inate state iling requirements for contributing members,” Hirsch wrote in granting a motion by the Washington At- torney General’s Ofice to ind GMA guilty based on facts presented in court records. Hirsch withheld judgment on penalties against GMA. The attorney general has asked for up to $42 million, alleging the violations were intentional. Hirsch cited evidence that GMA consulted with lawyers before contributing to the No on Initiative 522 campaign. She ruled penalties would have to be further litigated. I-522 would have required food makers to label products with genetically engineered ingredients. The measure was narrowly defeated after the Capital Press ile The Washington state voter guide spells out the 2013 initia- tive that would have required labels on most foods with ge- netically modiied ingredients. A Thurston County judge on March 11 ruled that the Grocery Manufacturers Association had violated state campaign disclosure laws by not listing members’ donations. most-expensive initiative cam- paign in state history. The Attorney General’s Ofice iled the lawsuit shortly after the election. “This landmark case has been a long ight for account- ability,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a written statement. “This ruling sends an unequivocal message: Big money donors cannot evade Washington law and hide from public scrutiny.” GMA has argued that it was acting within its constitutional rights to represent the political interests of its members. “We believe the ruling to- day to dismiss GMA’s First Amendment claim will hurt the constitutionally protected right of trade associations to engage in political debate in the state,” GMA said in a writ- ten statement. GMA set up a Defense of Brands account in February 2013 and collected $14 million from its members, spending $11 million on the Washington initiative. The attorney general’s ofice suggested that the court base its penalty on tripling the entire $14 million, a penalty that will require a court to rule GMA’s violations were intentional. “The ruling today not- ed that there is evidence that GMA believed its conduct was appropriate under state law, which is an important point in determining any penalty. In the upcoming trial, we believe the facts will show that GMA always intended to comply with the law,” the association stated. At a hearing earlier this month, GMA argued that the campaign against the Wash- ington initiative was just one of the activities funded by De- fense of Brands. Hirsch stated GMA’s com- mingling of funds “does not make the law unclear.” “If there is any confusion, it results from GMA’s actions in creating the DOB account,” she wrote. “The court will not permit intentional acts of the GMA to create a situation in which an otherwise clear law is unconstitutional ...” GMA formed the Defense of Brands account after a bruising campaign in Califor- nia to defeat a GMO-labeling initiative. Hirsch noted that individual food and beverage companies and oficials had suffered a backlash, and even death threats. In another case pending in Thurston County court, the at- torney general’s ofice alleges a pro-labeling group, Food De- mocracy Action, also violated public disclosure laws by not reporting contributions and expenditures. The Attorney General’s Ofice has moved for summary judgment in that case, too. Rancher awarded $246,500 in shooting of guard dogs Bill to codify stock watering Hunters, one a former state trooper, shot protection animals By JAN JACKSON For the Capital Press A jury has awarded a Cen- tral Oregon rancher $246,500 from two hunters who shot and killed three Great Pyre- nees livestock protection dogs. Brothers Paul Johnson of Roseburg and Craig Johnson of Bend were previously con- victed of killing three Great Pyrenees livestock protection dogs owned by rancher Gor- don Clark. Craig Johnson is a retired Oregon State Police oficer. The jury awarded Clark $7,500 for the replacement value of the dogs, $100,000 for emotional harm and $139,500 in punitive damages. Attor- neys for the Johnsons could not be reached. Clark, who owns and op- erates the historic Hay Creek Ranch 11 miles east of Ma- dras, Ore., said he was relieved that the 3 1/2-year ordeal was over. The shootings, which took place Aug. 27, 2012, happened on a grazing allotment in the Ochoco National Forest that Clark has used for the past 20 years. “It was about 9:30 in the morning and my herder was routinely moving about 1,060 ewes from one camp to an- other,” Clark said. “Suddenly someone opened ire and start- Courtesy of Gordon Clark Gordon Clark is seen standing with one of his guard dogs in this undated photograph. Brothers Paul and Craig Johnson shot and killed three of his Great Pyrenees livestock protection dogs Aug.27, 2012. A Crook County jury recently awarded him more than $246,000 in damages to Clark as a result of the shootings. ed killing the dogs.” He said the area was post- ed and the dogs all had collars that gave his contact informa- tion and an explanation of the work they were doing. “My herder had no idea what was happening, except that someone was shooting at them. He was scared because bullets were ricocheting all around him,” Clark said. “The sheep were leeing away from the shooters. He called my camp tender about 3 o’clock and said someone is shooting our dogs.” The camp tender went to the scene and called Clark, who then called the Crook County Sheriff’s Ofice. Not to be confused with herding dogs that are trained to follow the commands of their master, Great Pyrenees work independently. At about seven to eight weeks the pups are put in a sheep pen, where they stay without any other dogs for two to three months. From the sheep pen, they go out with the herder and begin a work- ing life. The value of a trained guard dog is about $2,500. The Johnson brothers, who deputies identiied as the shooters, were bow hunting in an area where grazing sheep, guard dogs and campers have co-existed for decades, Clark said. In addition to their bow hunting equipment they car- ried a .223-caliber rile and a Glock pistol. They irst denied they knew anything about seeing sheep, then said they thought the dogs were chasing elk and inal- ly claimed they thought their lives were in danger, according to Clark. Clark had nothing but praise for the Crook County Sheriff’s Ofice and his attor- ney. “Deputy David Bottoms and attorney Greg Lynch were unstoppable,” Clark said. “In the beginning, the Johnson brothers were only given pro- bation, a yearlong ban from hunting, $500 ine, 80 hours community service and a for- feit of irearms,” Clark said. “Had Deputy Bottoms not con- tinued to gather hard evidence in the face of all the false tes- timony, we wouldn’t have the brothers’ footprints that were mingled with the sheep prints and the bullets that matched their rile.” rights ruling on agenda By SEAN ELLIS side because the BLM doesn’t own livestock and therefore can’t put the wa- ter to beneicial use, Justice Dan Eismann, who wrote the court’s decision, told ranch- ers during an Idaho Farm Bu- reau Federation water rights conference in January. Eismann said “water rights on federal land are ap- purtenant to the person who is watering the stock.” If Boyle’s bill passes, “From this point forward, you cannot apply for stock water- ing rights unless you put it to beneicial use,” said IFBF Director of Governmental Affairs Russ Hendricks. Boyle’s bill would not only prevent the federal gov- ernment from iling for in- stream stock watering rights in Idaho, it would also seek to take back the thousands of stock watering rights decreed to the BLM during the SRBA and give them to the ranchers who initially iled overlap- ping claims. “Under (the court) opin- ion, they can’t put it to bene- icial use so they can’t legiti- mately have the water right,” Boyle said. “And the ones who are putting it to benei- cial use are the ranchers with the leases.” Lowry applauded the ef- fort to transfer those rights to the ranchers “because the BLM wound up with all those rights essentially by default because those ranch- ers couldn’t afford to defend their rights.” Capital Press BOISE — An effort to codify in state statute an Ida- ho Supreme Court ruling on who owns in-stream stock watering rights on federally administered land is still on the legislative docket for this year. The 2016 Idaho legislative session is winding down — lawmakers hope to adjourn by the end of March — but a bill that would codify that land- mark ruling into Idaho law will be introduced this year, said Rep. Judy Boyle, a Re- publican rancher from Mid- vale who is leading the effort. “We’re going to do it this year,” she said. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and thousands of ranchers in Southern Ida- ho iled overlapping claims to in-stream stock watering rights on federal land during the state’s Snake River Basin Adjudication. All but two of the ranch- ers capitulated when they realized ighting the BLM in court would cost a lot of money. But Owyhee County ranchers Tim Lowry and Paul Nettleton refused to back down, and in 2007 the Idaho Supreme Court ruled in their favor. But they were left with $1.5 million in legal bills be- cause the court didn’t allow them to recover attorney fees. The court ruled on their Post Falls farmer to sell automated tractors By JOHN O’CONNELL Capital Press POCATELLO, Idaho — A Post Falls, Idaho, seed pota- to farmer has announced he’s building driverless tractors and will deliver the irst machine to a Southern Idaho farmer with- in 60 days. With no cab, steering wheel, seat or gauges, David Farb, founder of Farb Guid- ance Systems, said his innova- tion will require just 75 horse- power and will be roughly half the size of a modern, conven- tional tractor. Farb expects to build about 60 units in 2016 and has al- ready received commitments for 100 units. He plans to step up production in 2017. The purchase price for one of his tractors will be from $160,000 to $170,000. He’s working with equipment dealers around the state, including a large dealership in Southern Idaho, to provide a network to main- tain the machines. A second machine will be delivered to the Southern Ida- ho farm shortly thereafter, with tweaks made based on perfor- mance observations. “We think that once these get in the dirt that it will be an explosive type market,” Farb said. “It’s pretty hard to say no to it at the cost and what it does for you.” The tractors will have sev- eral sensors to alert farmers in the event of an equipment prob- lem. They’ll be guided by GPS maps, and Farb said they’ll be capable of pulling “the smaller end” of existing implements. Farb also has driverless equip- ment in development, believ- ing automated technology will soon render tractors — even those with no cabs — obsolete. Farb also expects automated planters, harvesters and other equipment will be much small- er than current equipment — and far cheaper. Farb explained machines have evolved to be bigger, more powerful and more ex- pensive to enable a single op- erator to cover more ground. With driverless equipment, his company calculates growers will achieve the greatest re- turn on investment with multi- ple, smaller machines. Smaller equipment will have added beneits for precision agricul- ture. With big equipment, grow- ers must utilize large zones for their variable-rate applications. Farb anticipates automated sprayers of the future will use single nozzles to treat individ- ual plants. “We believe we can get it down to the plant scale,” Farb said. “That’s not precision agri- culture. That’s surgical agricul- ture.” Farb’s company is initially ordering components and as- sembling tractors in-house, but eventually hopes to work with another company on manufac- turing. Here’s what Ag teachers say about our NIE Program. “Students use the Capital Press for research on Ag current events and FFA speaking competitions. 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