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Their editorial board seems to have made no effort to find out the facts or understand the legal issues involved. They certainly didn’t ask for my side of the story.
Contrary to their comments, the reports of my cows getting out actually date back to 2001; so the average is a couple times per year. Twelve wandering cow incidents in seven years is not a crime wave.
We check our fences almost daily and repair as needed, but much of our land is wooded and storms often bring down dead elm trees on the fence, creating openings for wayward bovines. One unruly heifer accounted for most of the reports last year.
This winter, my employee forgot to close the gate a couple times. Cattle love to frolic when they see an opportunity. They did but were herded back shortly. When-ever my cattle have been on my neighbor’s property, I have offered to compensate them for any damage. None have taken me up on that.
Why not just pay the ticket and be done with it?
Here are the reasons:
If a cow walks across a township road, does that constitute a public nuisance? This citation is not like a speeding ticket. No fine is set, and, in fact, the charge is not even specific. I admit I paid the first ticket in January for convenience (mostly because the legislative session was starting) and without talking to my attorney. But it only ended up as a petty misdemeanor because I negotiated that with the county attorney. She realized she didn’t have much of a case for a trial, and so she agreed.
I discussed this ticket with my attorney. He pointed out that the nuisance statute cited requires intent: It had to be my intent to have my cows get out (I can assure you it was not). In addition, the statute requires that a “significant number of the public” be affected. That is not the case, either.
And thirdly, if my cattle have damaged the neighbor’s property, their concern should be correctly addressed as a civil matter in small claims court not as a result of convincing law enforcement to write a nuisance ticket.
So for those three very good reasons, I decided to have my attorney handle this ticket. I don’t think my cows should be held responsible for overloading the local court system.
When I discussed this with a member of the Daily News editorial board, he admitted that it was the “under-funding of our court system by the Pawlenty Administration,” not overuse (whatever that is) that was the real problem. I agree. Our court system is understaffed and underfunded.
Then there’s the issue of real misuse of the legal system by three of my neighbors. If my cattle damaged the neighbor’s property, why don’t they take their concern to small claims court and seek damages? They haven’t. Instead, they call 911 knowing the sheriff’s deputy must by law respond and file a report. They call even when my cattle are out only on my land. Is this what livestock farmers are looking at in the future? Every time a cow gets out, the local law enforcement writes them a ticket?
The three neighbors and I have had property line issues in recent years. In each case, my position prevailed. Two were bitter legal battles. One sued me in 1999 for damages in excess of $50,000 for
cutting brush on what he said was his side of the property line. A survey proved otherwise. My wife has a restraining order against one. If I didn’t have a cow on the place, these neighbors would still try to discredit me politically. People should not waste tax money using the 911 system to advance their personal agenda.
I admit I really love my cattle. My grandfather and his brother-in-law brought the first Brown Swiss bull to our area in 1925. All my cows are descended from that bull. In 2004, one of my cows won the Brown Swiss show at the state fair. She was beautiful. Small farms and small herds of cattle are important in our region. They add a lot to the local economy, so people in southeastern Minnesota should be happy to see livestock around the countryside.
Unfortunately, livestock and much of our heritage are disappearing from southern Minnesota. We all have a stake in protecting our livestock industry. Calling 911 to report a cow standing in a field eating grass is not an appropriate use of our emergency response system, and it doesn’t help our livestock industry.
The Daily News accused me of having “cow-a-bungled” this situation. I don’t think I have at all. It’s not hypocritical to ask for some clarity about what you’re being ticketed for.
I’m sure my political foes think I will be intimidated by the WDN editorial. I’m not. It will soon be on my Web site at www.KenTschumper.org.
Talk about bull, with all the big issues the Daily News could editorialize on, such as the proposed high voltage transmission line for Winona and La Crescent, or the work I have done on the problems of pesticide drift, or trying to get a dangerous pesticide such as atrazine off the market, or my efforts to end our state’s subsidies of biofuels, which are driving up food prices, why is the Daily News so worried about my cows?
Maybe because it’s easier to take potshots at elected officials than to write a thoughtful editorial based on good information.
Tschumper is a state representative from La Crescent, Minn. His district covers much of
Houston and Fillmore counties.
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