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Ag Agent Bishop Responds to Dennis Avery Article, Speaks Positively of Oganic Farming, Then Gets "Fired for Telling About Dangers of Corporate Farming."
via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
2 February 2001
Virginia Tech University Files Defense in Alexandria Virginia Disrict Court (below) as ACLU Takes Case.
Upset Master Gardeners & Citizens Protest. Bishop's Original letter (A) below. Several excellent published responses at (B) below. Contact Points For Your Letters in (C) below. Legal Update on the Case (article 2 February 2001) in (D) below.
(A) Here is the Original Letter to the Editor, by Dennis Bishop:
Traditional Farming is Unnatural, a Rape of the Earth (by Dennis Bishop). (Fredericksburg, Virginia, 31 August 2000) Being neither an organic farmer nor a student of organic agriculture, I feel unqualified to respond to the specifics of Dennis Avery's recent bashing of organic farming ["Natural food not always a safer choice," Aug. 13, 2000]. However, I am a horticulturist and I am greatly concerned about the doomed road that traditional, chemical agriculture has taken in its relationship with the Earth.
Traditional, chemical agriculture is doomed because it has plowed through the Earth without giving thought to where it is going; and it is doomed because it has used and raped the Earth unceasingly without giving back. How long can any relationship endure which gives little thought to its course and uses and abuses the other party without giving back?
Nature knows what is best for herself; therefore, every honest discussion of this topic should start by accepting that all agricultural practices are unnatural and are detrimental to the health of the Earth's ecosystem. Nature does not devise monocultures of any kind-never planting anything in a row. If nature had her way, there would be no vineyards, no orchards and certainly no corn fields, but there would be manure, compost and many natural toxins. These elements are all part of a system that renews the Earth and provides the checks and balances of a healthy planet.
Therefore, despite my ignorance, I take the side of the organic growers. They give greater thought to maintaining a healthy planet; for example, they practice the use of green-manure crops to renew the soil. Organic growers give thought to where they are going and they give back. Dennis G. Bishop Stafford (Virginia, USA)
(B) Citizens and Master Gardeners Protest Firing with some moving Letters to the Editor at: http://www.thefreelancestar.com/ (search in quotes "Dennis Bishop." Dozen-plus articles).
(C) Address Your Letters & Comments to:
(1) Honorable James S. Gilmore, Governor of Virginia, 804-786-2211 State Capitol Building, Third Floor, Richmond, Virginia 23219. E-Mail via web http://www.thedigitaldominion.com/contact.cfm (2) Charles W. Steger, President, Virginia Tech Institute and State University, 540-231-6000 . Names of Regents: http://intra.vt.edu/govern/bov.html and http://www.unirel.vt.edu/president/index.html (3) ACLU Voice Mail: 804-644-8080. (4) Letters to Bishop & the News Editor, Fredericksburg Free Lance Star, Mr. Chris Muldrow: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(D) Va.Tech Extension Officials Say Letter Wasn't Reason Agent Lost His Job (2 FEB 01, by Pamela Gould, The Free Lance-Star) www.Fredericksburg.com . Attorneys for Virginia Cooperative Extension say a letter written by former Stafford County agent Dennis Bishop damaged the program's credibility, but was not the reason he lost his job. Papers filed in U.S. District Court in response to Bishop's law-suit seeking reinstatement claim that his performance so deteriorated in the month following his annual evaluation that he would have been terminated even without publication of the letter to the editor in the Aug. 31 edition of The Free Lance-Star.
Bishop's "publication of the letter is one example of [his] violation of the terms of his employment in that it had the effect of adversely affecting the mission of the Virginia Cooperative Extension in providing competent educational and technical assistance ... in matters relating to horticulture, agriculture and management of natural resources," Senior Assistant Attorney General Guy W. Horsley Jr. wrote in his Jan. 22 response to the lawsuit. Bishop received a favorable first-year evaluation from his immediate supervisor Aug. 14. On Sept. 11, Northern District Director Beverly Butterfield notified him he was being placed in a terminal six-month position.
In between, The Free Lance-Star published a letter from Bishop criticizing traditional farming methods and stating that they "rape the earth." The letter came in response to an Aug. 13 opinion piece critical of organic farming, but Bishop said he wrote it from home and did not identify himself as an extension agent.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia filed suit Dec. 13 against Virginia Cooperative Extension officials and Virginia Tech, which administers the extension program. The federal suit claims Bishop was fired in retaliation for his published letter and seeks his reinstatement on the grounds that his free-speech rights were violated.
The response from the Virginia Attorney General's Office states that extension agents have a duty to advise farmers and others in the traditional agricultural community and that Bishop showed a "pattern of ignoring and violating the clear expectations of the terms of his employment," thus justifying his reassignment.
But Bishop said he was never told of any problems with his performance or attitude. And Cooperative Extension officials admit his personnel file does not contain any complaints or reprimands.
"My opinion is they went digging for dirt after the letter to the editor," Bishop said this week.
Bishop was hired as an environmental horticulturist for Stafford County in August 1999. In his first year, he helped launch the popular First Saturdays
in the Garden program and worked with Downtown Greens Community Gardens, gaining a loyal following among local gardeners, who protested his dismissal.
After being transferred to the temporary position, Bishop submitted a one-month notice and resigned in October. He now works on the grounds staff at Mary Washington College.
Kent Willis, Virginia director of the ACLU, said the state's response has had no impact on the group's allegations.
"We stand by our case," he said. "And we believe that, as our complaint said, he was demoted because of his letter."
A trial date for the lawsuit has not yet been set. END
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FPN Editor Note: Virginia Polytechnics Institute and State University ("Virginia Tech") is the U.S.Government archives repository for all bio-tech research data.