Discuss: Pesticide Drift

People will never get a healthier environment. Not before authorities do something radical to change ongoing nature destruction.

Am also interested in the drift catchers. Please indicate where they might be available.  Drift is becoming more obvious in this area and affecting vegetation and trees.  Perhaps the slow response to drift problems could be that those responsible for monitoring and regulating pesticide drift are the same people who benefit greatly from the largess of the chemical producing companies.  A definite conflict of interest.

Hi Rita,

Sorry to hear that drift is becoming more and more obvious—clearly the policies in place, as well as enforcement of them, are not enough to protect our communities.

I work at Pesticide Action Network, the maker of the Drift Catcher. Feel free to give me a ring at 415-625-9072 if you would like to chat more about Drift Catchers, potential opportunities for using them, and the rest of our Grassroots Science program.

Best,
Paul

I worked for the Huron Police Department for 11 years, serving 9 months as the agency’s Interim Police Chief.

I have known Richard Street for many years and have contributed to some of his articles about Huron with photos, documents and testimony.

In 2010, I turned the city over to the Fresno County Grand Jury for misappropriation of Federal funds, illegal (fictitious) internal loans to avoid takeaways of State funds and the unexplained disappearance of over $175,000 in narcotic’s forfeiture funds.

While that investigation is currently ongoing, don’t expect the farm worker to benefit from its outcome. The political corruption in Huron is only the tip of the iceberg.

The city has a long history of exploitation of the farm worker. In 2010, I discovered several families living in the back yard of a house on Cherry Street (a section of the city called Tortilla Flats) in portable tool sheds. The sheds had no water or sanitation and exposed wiring was visible on the home-made electrical connections to the main house on the property.

The city would not allow me to take action, under city ordinances, to eject the families from those sub-human dwellings. This is matter of official record in my reports and this is only one such event where the city either failed or refused to take action to raise the standard of farm worker housing, because they didn’t want to upset business and home owners who were members of the voting community.

On more than one occasion, I called CPS out to take protective custody of children who were living in filthy, sub-human environments. One such case took place at the Contreras farm Labor Camp in 2009. The next day, we found the children back in the apartment, still using only a 5 gallon bucket as a toilet and still plagued by roach infestation.

When I complained to a CPS supervisor about the incident, I was told that the general condition of housing in Huron lowered the acceptable standard of living to a level that was lower than one would find in a larger community.

Basically, since everyone had roaches and improper sanitation, it was impossible to raise the living standard.

Hotels and farm labor camps, owned by local business persons, are exempt from enforcement because of their position within the community. The Huron Hotel is one example. It would simply be condemned in any other community in California, but continues to operate despite numerous Huron Police reports finding it in violation of the uniform fire code and basic standards of human habitation; again this was well documented in a number of my reports and reports written by my code enforcement officers.

Landlords have removed people’s doors, held their personal property for ransom and even threatened renters with deportation. Repeatedly, we have arrested local businessmen for illegal eveictions, only to have the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office fail to file charges stating their caseload was too heavy to deal with such trivial maters.

Nothing in Huron is going to change for the farm worker until the tide of city government begins to change. The farm workers cannot vote, and therefore, their voices are unheard by city officials.

Something must be done to raise the living standard in this community.

Has Andrew Zeisel, re:2008 e-mail, received information on the pesticide drift catcher?  I have inquired as to where they might be purchased.  Please respond, spring planting is only weeks away.  Thanks.