"When it comes to public health, I don't think I have any apology for that"

At his great food blog Crispy on the Outside, reason contributor Baylen Linnekin has some choice words for the Texas officials that nearly derailed a Juneteenth celebration over a few hundred "illegal" sandwiches. From the KSWO story:

Black Cultural Council President Jo Ann Davenport-Littleton said health inspectors told organizers it was illegal for the group to serve 600 free barbecue sandwiches because the sandwiches weren't prepared at the site where they were served.

Organizers say volunteers and the black community felt "humiliated" by the incident.

[…]

The county's top health official, Gino Solla, said state law prohibits any food service operation from having food prepared in a private home for public consumption.

Linnekin also found this gem from the charming Mr. Solla:

"We have to be aggressive when the public interest is involved," [Solla] told the [Dallas Morning News]. "If there was any kind of forwardness and if it was perceived as rude, that I'll apologize for. But when it comes to public health, I don't think I have any apology for that."

Whole thing here.

Comments

[Nigel Watt]

Clearly the State should be in charge of providing food, then we wouldn't have these kinds of problems.

[Elemenope]

Clearly the State should be in charge of providing food, then we wouldn't have these kinds of problems.

Clearly.

[Lost_In_Translation]

The state is just hoping to break the Bake Sale cartels.

[Reinmoose]

I'm surprised they were even allowed to serve free food at all - wouldn't that heart the area's restaurants?

[Guy Montag]

TEXAS? This happened in Texas? The Texas next to Mexico? Are you kidding me? The Texas created by Tennesseeans? The one that used to be part of Mexico, Texas?

Or was this on Houston street in New York City? That is the only non-bizarro explaination.

[Fluffy]

But when it comes to public health, I don't think I have any apology for that.

Strictly speaking, if the sandwiches weren't poison, you should have to apologize for treating people as criminals for handing out sandwiches that were perfectly fine to consume.

That is the element of just about all licensing schemes that gets overlooked as irrelevant: the fact that they criminalize the act of handing someone a perfectly good and non-poisonous sandwich. [Metaphorically speaking.]

Me, I don't think that handing someone a perfectly good sandwich is a criminal act, and conclude that any law which says that it's a criminal act is unjust on its face. But I'm funny that way.

[P Brooks]

But when it comes to public health bossing people around, I don't think I have any apology for that."

[Waterhouse]

I can't wait for Gino Solla to break up that Meals on Wheels crime ring.

[Nigel Watt]

TEXAS? This happened in Texas? The Texas next to Mexico? Are you kidding me? The Texas created by Tennesseeans? The one that used to be part of Mexico, Texas?

Yes, our government is also full of retards.

[Guy Montag]

Oh no, I fell into my free market brainwashing with an emotional reaction.

Thank you Nigel for snapping me out of it before reeducation was ordered.

We need a federal solution to this problem of illicit sandwich distribution. No telling how much transfat they may have contained. Think of the children and the weaker people in our society who need to be protected.

[MP]

Fluffy said:

Me, I don't think that handing someone a perfectly good sandwich is a criminal act, and conclude that any law which says that it's a criminal act is unjust on its face. But I'm funny that way.

Remember, before the law, people would DIE! Horrible painful nasty deaths. You'd bite a sandwich and your head would EXPLODE! And especially, CHILDREN! You should thank your overlords for keeping you safe.

[Gino Solla]

I'm a douche, but I have a mortage to pay (unless I can get you to foot the bill for that as well).

[Er?k Boston, J.D.]

Is there an irony in that this was a celebration of freedom?

[Guy Montag]

Is there an irony in that this was a celebration of freedom?

No, the government should give you freedom in measured amounts so that everybody has the same amount and we don't run out.

These people were trying to hoard freedom, thus creating a shortage that was rectified by the central council.

[JM]

The best part of this story is in the Houston Chronicle article - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5853044.html -

"I hate that it happened," Davenport-Littleton said in a story for today's edition of the Odessa American. "I wanted people to go away talking about how great the celebration was this year. All you heard was 'They were going to deny us barbecue. Here we are in modern-day slavery again.' "

[Troy]

I love that term "illegal sandwiches." Jesus Christ the hubris of these legislators. to criminalize the fucking distribution of a fucking sandwich.

Lets assume, arguendo, that the sandwhiches did have poison in them. We already have a crime for that, it is called attempted fucking murder you retards.

[Guy Montag]

JM,

Davenport-Littleton may not know how right he is. I suspec that the sandwiches were made by modern day slaves, forced to work for sub union wages in sweatshop conditions.

[Waterhouse]

I'm a douche, but I have a mortage to pay (unless I can get you to foot the bill for that as well).

That depends. Did you sign an unfair ARM? Were you touched inappropriately by a predatory lender?

[T]

Yeah, well, stupidity runs amuck. Here in Houston , we had a chili cook-off, a fine old Texas tradition. We held it outside, on a non-profit's building site. Somebody decided they needed to have the fire inspector come out, because of all the propane burners, et al. The moron fire inspector was going to delay the whole thing while he checked every single propane connection for leaks. 40 teams, with at least 2 burners per team. Umm-hmm. Good common sense thinking, there.

[Guy Montag]

T,

Did he check them with a Zippo?

[SugarFree]

I wish we had Juneteenth barbecues around here. Although, to be honest, I think we need more occasions to eat food in the street in general.

[Kent]

Solla was doing a historical reenactment of the pre-freedom days.

[SugarFree]

Kent,

All I got was Solla whipping a chained up sandwich and screaming "Your name is TOBY!"

[Brett]

I think John Stossel told a story in one of his books about how a bunch of old ladies selling muffins were shut down like this. They were told that they had to be licensed to be a food vendor, which required hours of safety courses, and a $20k dishwashing facility in their house. All to sell muffins.

I remember one time I ate a BBQ sandwich and woke up 10 hours later in a bathtub full of ice with my kidney missing.

[Guy Montag]

I remember one time I ate a BBQ sandwich and woke up 10 hours later in a bathtub full of ice with my kidney missing.

I wonder how many more sandwiches they made from that?

[Nigel Watt]

I think John Stossel told a story in one of his books about how a bunch of old ladies selling muffins were shut down like this. They were told that they had to be licensed to be a food vendor, which required hours of safety courses, and a $20k dishwashing facility in their house. All to sell muffins.

One of his videos had a woman in Houston who would give little kids lunches that she made herself. She was shut down by the county. It's a Texas thing, unfortunately.

[CharlesWT]

Some years ago, there was a big fuss in the Dallas/Fort Worth area when a religious organization was prohibited from giving free food to the homeless.

What happen to Texas? Must be all those nanny staters that moved down here from the rust belt during the '80s.

[J sub D]

In Texas, pot luck dinners are illegal.
On the stupid scale this is an 11.

[C L]

Good thing they weren't giving away bacon dogs, or all hell would have broken loose.

[KenK]

OTOH, if anybody got sick then they would definitely sue the government for allowing illicit sandwich distribution.

barbecue denial = modern-day slavery
More than a bit over the top, but then it is probable that actual modern-day slaves don't get barbecue very often.

[Libertarian]

Because I kept silent when they came for my neighbor's barbecue, there was no one to help me when I had a hamburger at my picnic.

[Geotpf]

Interesting thing here is that the organization called the cops and the cops told the food inspectors to get lost.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Can't say that is surprising in a country where you have the wunderidiot Lou Dobbs calling for the impeachment of Bush over a few unwashed tomatoes.