(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Conservative big government kills a nine-year-old girl's goat [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-02 “First, they came for the goats.” Politicians, both conservative and liberal, believe in big government — different versions certainly, but big either way. American liberals think the role of government is to provide a social safety net; equal treatment of everyone, regardless of their inalienable qualities; protect people from corporations; and be free from the theology of any religion. American conservatives think that government should protect the rich; promote straight, white Christian interests; and make lives miserable for the powerless. Jessica Long discovered this when Shasta County, CA, law enforcement worked with petty bureaucrats to kill her 9-year-old daughter’s goat. To set the scene, consider this. In the 2020 general election, Shasta County, despite being in one of the most Democratic states in the Union, voted for Trump by 29%. Its Congressman, State Senator, and State Assemblywoman are all Republican. It is safe to say the place is solidly conservative. These Northern Californian MAGAs — despite winning every election — even went so far as to cancel their contract with Dominion Voting Systems. Shasta is where the Long Family lives. Here is their story. (The details come from a SaramentoBee article headlined, “9-year-old California girl wanted to save her goat from slaughter. Then came the search warrant." The commentary is mine.) In April 2022, Jessica Long bought a goat for her 9-year-old daughter. The daughter (whose name is unknown, probably because of her age) fed and cared for the goat. Unsurprisingly, she bonded with the animal, a juvenile white Boer goat with chocolate markings framing its face. A lawsuit, later filed by the family, said, “She loved him as a family pet.” Despite this affection, the family entered Cedar into the Shasta District Fair junior livestock auction on June 24, 2022. Here young farmers put up animals for auction as part of a “terminal sale” in which they are sold for their meat – “no exceptions,” according to a brochure. The grave reality of the goat's fate caused the Long family to change their minds. They tried to back out before Cedar hit the auction block. The fair officials sadistically said that was not allowed. The sale proceeded. And on June 25, a representative of State Sen. Brian Dahle won the animal with a $902 bid, with $63.14 going to the fair and $838.86 meant to go to the Longs. By now, the daughter was sobbing in the goat’s pen and telling her mother she did not want her pet slaughtered. Jessica, reacting to her daughter’s distress, took action. She said in a June 27 email to the Shasta District Fair. “It was heartbreaking. The barn was mostly empty and at the last minute I decided to break the rules and take the goat that night and deal with the consequences later.” “I knew when I took it that my next steps were to make it right with the buyer and the fairgrounds.” The goat's buyer, Sen. Dahle, was sympathetic to her plight. His office did not object to taking the restitution Jessica had offered. “I will pay you back for the goat and any other expenses I caused. I would like to ask for your support in finding a solution.” However, unlike the reasonable people at Dahle’s office, Shasta District Fair CEO Melanie Silva was a complete shit. Her offer was no offer. She emailed Long and said, “As a mother I am not unsympathetic regarding your daughter and her love for her animal. Having said that please understand the fair industry is set up to teach our youth responsibility and for the future generations of ranchers and farmers to learn the process and effort it takes to raise quality meat.” “Making an exception for you will only teach our youth that they do not have to abide by the rules that are set up for all participants.” This miserable person added that CDFA (California Dept. of Food & Agriculture) had informed her that, “for the good of all we have to stick to the State Rules.” And “Unfortunately, this is out of my hands, You will need to bring the goat back to the Shasta District Fair immediately.” That sounds suspiciously like, “I was just following orders.” What follows is a little murky. It seems the goat was destined for a community BBQ and that, according to Silva, the organizer of the BBQ told her he “has contacted her lawyers regarding the theft of the goat donated to the bbq.” I suspect Silva is probably blowing up a gentle request from the BBQ organizer and making a mountain out of a molehill. Silva then sicced B.J. McFarland, livestock manager at the Shasta District Fair, on Ms. Long. He texted her on June 28, “We need to make arrangements to get goat back today. If not law enforcement is going to be brought in on this.” And “The fair has instructed me to contact you to get the goat to the fairgrounds by 10 am Wednesday June 29. If this does not happen they will be forced to contact authorities.” Silva also piled on by saying, “Should we involve CHP [California Highway Patrol] next?” Then the shit hit the fan. Two weeks after Long had liberated the goat, Shasta Detective Jeremy Ashbee filed a search warrant affidavit seeking permission to seize it. The search warrant targeted the Bleating Hearts Farm and Sanctuary, a non-profit rescue group in Napa, and included a detailed description of the property and the goat. It permitted officers to, “utilize breaching equipment to force open doorway(s), entry doors, exit doors, and locked containers in pursuit of their target.” And allowed a search of “The residence, including all rooms, attics, basements, and other parts therein, the surrounding grounds and any garages, sheds, storage rooms, and outbuildings of any kind large enough to accommodate a small goat.” By then, Shasta County Lt. Jerry Fernandez and Detective Jacob Duncan were already on their way to the sanctuary, having stopped at an Arbuckle truck stop to purchase $95.64 of gas — $32.50 more than the fair district would have received as its share of the auction proceeds for Cedar — money which Long had already offered to repay. The goat was not at Bleating Hearts. It had never been. The law only thought it was because the sanctuary had posted support for Cedar and its owner. The sheriff’s department is not good at processing information. Instead, Cedar was at an unnamed Sonoma County farm, which Long had told the fair in an email (she has gone out of her way to be aboveboard) “was a farm to donate my daughter’s goat to where he would clear land for fire prevention. The farmer has contracts with CalFire, elementary schools, and other important agencies.” “This resonated strongly with us as a beautiful solution since we moved here shortly before the Carr Fire and almost lost our home to it.” The authorities did not care that a small goat might be useful in mitigating disaster. Lt. Fernandez and Detective Duncan went to the farm to take Cedar into custody. They then drove Cedar more than 200 miles back to Shasta County, stopping again in Arbuckle for another $94.95 in gas. The goat was delivered to the fair “for slaughter/destruction” even though the warrant required them to hold it for a court hearing to determine its lawful owner. Cedar’s fate is unknown. Although Long’s lawyer says, “At this time we don’t have that specific information and we can only speculate. While it hasn’t been confirmed as a factual matter, we believe the goat Cedar has been killed.” There are 2.55 million goats in the US. But eating one of them instead of Cedar would not have taught a nine-year-old girl a lesson. A lesson that seems to be, “fuck with the state, and we will kill your pet.” Is this how fascism starts? 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