Texas Declares War on Drones

Your reaction to this story will depend on whether you believe businessmen are mustache-twirlers who pollute rivers...or whether you believe that the kind of government that leaves potholes unfilled for years might jump into action to shift blame and point fingers rather than accept responsibility. From my POV, there doesn't seem to be much motive to intentionally dumping blood into a river rather than down a sewer line, so I kind of think the Ondruseks might be telling the truth.

http://www.suasnews.com/2012/12/20401/columbia-packing-co-in...

  A Dallas County grand jury returned several indictments on
  Wednesday against an Oak Cliff meat packing company 
  accused of dumping animal blood in a creek that flows into 
  the Trinity River.

  Columbia Packing Company and its owner, Joe Ondrusek, 
  face twelve indictments for water pollution.

  If found guilty, the company could pay fines between
  $6,000 and $1.5 million. Ondrusek himself could get 
  five years in prison and fined up to $100,000 for each 
  count.

  The grand jury also found evidence that the company, 
  Joe Ondrusek and family member Donny Ondrusek tampered 
  with physical evidence and returned six counts against 
  them. The company could face more fines, and the Ondruseks 
  could face up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 
  for each charge.

  Neighbors near the plant on 11th Street had long 
  complained about noxious fumes and other problems from the 
  meat packers. But investigators didn’t get involved until 
  a remote-controlled toy enthusiast happened to affix a 
  video camera to an RC aircraft and videotape 
  gallons of what appeared to be blood gushing down the 
  river.

  Officials from the Dallas County Health Department, Texas 
  Environmental Crimes Task Force, Texas Commission on 
  Environmental Quality and Environmental Protection Agency 
  took photos and tested emissions.

  Weeks of investigation found the plant discharged pigs’ 
  blood into Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River. 
  In January 2012, the company issued a statement saying it 
  would never knowingly pollute the environment.

  The plant shut down operations a few months later.

  WHAT HAPPENED

  On Thursday, January 19, 2012, approximately 50  
  individuals from various governmental agencies executed 
  a search warrant at our plant. The search warrant accused 
  Columbia Packing of intentionally dumping waste into the 
  creek located a couple of hundred yards behind our plant.

  Let me be very clear: Columbia Packing did not and has not 
  intentionally or knowingly polluted or illegally dumped 
  hazardous materials. Our sewer line ties into a City of 
  Dallas sewer main. It does NOT dump into the creek as has 
  been alleged.

  There was a clog in the sewer line near a cleanout valve.  
  When water was used (i.e. washing down after production), 
  the sewer line was backing up causing water to come out an 
  overflow/vent pipe.  The city of Dallas apparently knew 
  there was a problem on December 9th, but allowed it to 
  continue and did not notify us until 41 days later when 
  government agencies served search warrants.

  Two days before the warrants were served, a Columbia lawn 
  mowing crew discovered the sewer overflow. We immediately 
  called a plumber and took swift action to begin stopping 
  the overflow. The clog was cleared and the line was open 
  and running cleanly into the city’s sewer main in less 
  than 24 hours.

  If the city had contacted us on December 9th, the problem 
  would have been fixed the same day. Instead, the city 
  knowingly allowed this overflow to continue for 41 days.  
  Government officials did something my family never would 
  have done- they allowed products to contaminate the 
  Trinity River for more than a month without taking 
  corrective action. The City has full access to our 
  property at all times to test the sewer line. At any time, 
  officials could have entered our property to find the 
  source of the overflow.

  There is no cross connection between our sewer line and 
  storm water. The City has now dye-tested and camera 
  inspected our sewer lines, and our sewer line is clear and 
  goes to the city sewer main.  The city maintains a box on 
  our sewer line that has for years monitored the amount of 
  waste water going through the line and the substances 
  contained in the waste water.  The city monitors this 
  locked box on its own schedule.

  When the City searched our property they found 18 possible 
  code violations. Within 30 days we addressed and repaired 
  each issue the City brought to our attention. Keep in 
  mind, our Oak Cliff facility has been in operation since 
  the early 1930’s, and the City of Dallas has never cited us 
  for any violations in the past.