Postville, IA – Postville’s police chief says he’s trying to add another officer to his staff as crime has risen in the city after an Immigration raid in May.
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The Agriprocessors meatpacking plant was raided May 12, when 389 people were charged with being in the country illegally. Most were also charged criminally.
Postville Police Chief Michael Halse says the workers who have come to replace those picked up in the raid are temporary. He says he doesn’t know their backgrounds or where they came from.
Halse says he hopes life will return to the way it was before the raid, but predicted that normalcy could be years away.
Could be this means that Agriprocessors has to hire normal wokers, just like other slaughterhouses do.
Obviously, the ones they hired BEFORE the raid were “normal.” Now they take what they can get & pray they’re honest. They just can’t win with you, can they? Now CRIME is their fault? Do you know how ridculous you sound?
Anonymous Says:
Obviously, the ones they hired BEFORE the raid were “normal.” Now they take what they can get & pray they’re honest. They just can’t win with you, can they? Now CRIME is their fault? Do you know how ridculous you sound?
09-07-2008 – 4:24 PM
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Mitzva goreres mitzva, aveira goreres aveira
The friends of the original illegals are obviously trying to take revenge on Potsville because so many othem were caught being illegal.
The Rubashkin Family should seriously consider firing every single illegal who is still now working there and hire only frum yidden who are not malshinim. Also, the Rubashkins should raise their prices and pay the yidden or any legal worker with no sinister connections, with regular wages.
If the Rubashkins stay totally straight (and it could be they already are), the workers who are fakers will look for new places to snitch on.
Warning: too much more of all these scandals at Meal Mart and upstate supermarket and Agri and schita problems are going to force many, many frum Jews to become vegetarians (and that is not so terrible).
Frum jews will never become vegetarians in large numbers, contrary to what PETA is trying to do. Meat is a staple of our diet and religion.
you are supppose to help yidden. not help illegals from mexico and equador. this is a big hillul hashem from any angle that you look at it ! So sad ! go hire more goyim – enjoy !
It’s so sad to see how many of mishalonu are joining in this wicked witch hunt against Agri
who have basically done nothing wrong. All these allegations are for minor insignificant errors for these kinds of large businesses.
It’s just the powerful unions are pushing all the levers to give them hell until they give in to their demands. The jealous haters in our community
are gleefully jumping on the bandwagon. The Yom Hadin is coming – I predict a stellar year for Agri and they will prevail – as for their enemies
… if they do teshuvah maybe Hashem will have rachmonus.
you all sound rediculous. No yid is going to stand for 12 hours or more a day doing hard physical labor. neither will americans. It is a hard fact that the “Illigals’ will do the jobs we wont.
The reason crime has spiked is because they have hire who they can get, from the lower class america, a bunch of druggies, criminals etc.
They work for a week or 2 and then decide it’s easier to live on wellfare, so they return to whatever freeway underpass they came from.
PETA is bashing Shchita as a whole, wake up and smell the roses.
agri just cant get a break so now its there problem that crime went up! ha ha ha its just gettin plain stupid. MEATLOAF how do u spin it now?
post 7 there is only one meshluni that keep posting from different names but everybody knows its ys.
Avrohom Abba Says:
“The Rubashkin Family should seriously consider firing every single illegal who is still now working there and hire only frum yidden who are not malshinim.”
Alivai there should be such yiddin who would stand on their feet 12 hours a day, put up w supervisors yelling at them to work faster and faster, even if its dangerous so we could eat kosher flesh. No, I don’t think you’ll find too many yeshiva bochurs who will do that. For that matter, you can’t find too many Rabbonim either who will sit and learn proper shechita – why do you think 50-70% of the mashgichim at Agri are Israeli?
“If the Rubashkins stay totally straight…”
Not likely, but if nes gadol haya sham can happen, maybe it could happen in Postville.
Anonymous Says:
“Agri who have basically done nothing wrong. All these allegations are for minor insignificant errors for these kinds of large businesses…”
Allegations – some already proven – of statutory rape, bribery, extortion, employing minors, paying workers off the books — these are not ‘insignificant errors.’ This is a way of life in Postville and it is a giant chillul Hashem.
“…It’s just the powerful unions are pushing all the levers to give them hell until they give in to their demands.”
It should only be so simple. Its the: a) unions; b) anti-Semites; c) jealeous competitors; d) PETA … who else can we blame? It seems we can blame everyone — except the owners of the plant and … ourselves.
Sorry, second para should read “fleish” not flesh. Typing too fast.
BTW, thanks for the compliment, but no … I’m not related to Rav Yudel Shain.
The only thing half sensible in your comment (the other part was totally not):
“Allegations – some already proven – of statutory rape, bribery, extortion, employing minors, paying workers off the books — these are not ‘insignificant errors.’ This is a way of life in Postville and it is a giant chillul Hashem. ”
Is absolutely not true.
“statutory rape” – by a Mexican supervisor. And by the way these things happen anywhere up till the White House.
“bribery” – of whom may I ask?
“extortion” – Even the media doesn’t mention this.
“employing minors” – An exaggerated media libel, which the Rubashkin were unable to prevent being that they were presented with valid ID’s. And on notification such minors were promptly fired.
“paying workers off the books” – again no basis in reality.
You really have to do some self-introspection at your hatred of a fellow Jew and for posting such hatred on a public forum.
Shame on you!
STOP WITH ALL THIS SINAS CHINUM TO THE RUBASHKINS. I DON’T THINK THAT YOU KNOW THEM PERSONALY. BUT TO SAY THAT THEY ARE WRONG IS EASY. I WOULD BE CAREFULL IF I WAS YOU. WE ARE IN THE MONTH OF ELUL, NEARING ROSH HASHANA. WOULD YOU LIKE IF HASHEM JUDGED YOU, LIKE YOU ARE JUDGING THEM. (BY HEARSAY) I DONT THINK YOU WOULD LIKE IT, SO LETS ALL COME TOGETHER WITH A LITTLE AHAVOS YISROE,L AND DAN LEKAV ZECHUS, (YOU NEED 2 EDIM TO MAKE SOMEONE POSSUL, AND YOU NEED A BAIS DIN TO CONFIRM THAT) WELL I WISH YOU ALL A SHANA TOVA UMEZUKA. A HAPPY AND SWEET NEW YEAR AND LETS STICK UP FOR EACH OTHER, CONSIDER RUBASHKINS AS YOUR BROTHER!!!!!!
Anonymous Says:
STOP WITH ALL THIS SINAS CHINUM TO THE RUBASHKINS. I DON’T THINK THAT YOU KNOW THEM PERSONALY. BUT TO SAY THAT THEY ARE WRONG IS EASY. I WOULD BE CAREFULL IF I WAS YOU. WE ARE IN THE MONTH OF ELUL, NEARING ROSH HASHANA. WOULD YOU LIKE IF HASHEM JUDGED YOU, LIKE YOU ARE JUDGING THEM. (BY HEARSAY) I DONT THINK YOU WOULD LIKE IT, SO LETS ALL COME TOGETHER WITH A LITTLE AHAVOS YISROE,L AND DAN LEKAV ZECHUS, (YOU NEED 2 EDIM TO MAKE SOMEONE POSSUL, AND YOU NEED A BAIS DIN TO CONFIRM THAT) WELL I WISH YOU ALL A SHANA TOVA UMEZUKA. A HAPPY AND SWEET NEW YEAR AND LETS STICK UP FOR EACH OTHER, CONSIDER RUBASHKINS AS YOUR BROTHER!!!!!!
09-07-2008 – 10:22 PM
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THE SAME TORAH THAT YOU QUOTE ALSO TELLS US TO BE CHABDAYHU V`CHASHDAYHU.
We have all the rioght in the world based on all that has been going on to be choshed them.
stop with your ellul shtick.
If you were so careful all year as you were in ellul then we would be here arguing.
So, crime is up in Postville.
Now this is Rubashkins fault, too?
I don’t whether to laugh or cry.
It just comes to show you how if you are hellbent on blaming and destroying people, you will do it.
Sorry for dragging this in, but it seems all too reminiscent of old fashion Jew bashing and blaming.
As a child, I always wondered how blood libels happened and persisted for so many generations. Where the people not intelligent enough to think for themselves, I wondered? How could they believe in the abject demonization of people, attributing to them all sorts of vile attributes? Were the people that dumb?
Oylom Goylam. It takes only a few inciters to create a progrom.
Even in 21st century, this can happen:Repeated often enough, certain allegations have already been accepted as fact. Once that is accepted as fact the anger grows. First the unions, then PETA ,now its CRIME.
Come’on, people. Are you Oylom Goylom? Are you ready to demonize just because someone said so?
Will you blame Rubashkin tomorrow for the weather?
Good grief!
MEATLOAF well another way to prove your identity who would call you rav other than beside yourself ha!
Dear Meatloaf says…
‘”statutory rape” – by a Mexican supervisor. And by the way these things happen anywhere up till the White House.’
a) I don’t know the national origin of the supervisors involved.
b) I don’t buy meat shechted in the White House.
c) The crimes took place inside the supervisor;s office in the plant.
“bribery” – of whom may I ask?
HR and supervisor’s originally demanded cash bribes in order to get a job at the plant.
“extortion” – Even the media doesn’t mention this.
Read the ICE affidavit. Workers were required to purchase a car from a supervisor in order to get a job at the plant. The supervisor was paid a small amount every Saturday following payday.
“employing minors” – An exaggerated media libel, which the Rubashkin were unable to prevent being that they were presented with valid ID’s. And on notification such minors were promptly fired.
The current charge before the Attorney General identifies 57 minors. Those are only the ones they could identify from payroll records. Others were paid off the books. Again, read the ICE affidavit.
BTW, if there were no minors working on the plant how come the school bus used to stop at the plant in the morning to pick up kids?
‘”paying workers off the books” – again no basis in reality.’
See above.
Nice to see 5WPR is still on the job!
jj 11:07
You have every right to chabdeihu v’chashdeihu
and refrain from eating their shechita (I’m sure Rubashkins themselves would have no taynas to you)
However to spew the hatred and venom and essentially spin every allegation against them in the worst possible way as if they are doing everything l’chachis and are evil people is just evidence that you are a vicious hater with a vandetta against Rubashkin for whatever sinister reasons. Also what kind of yid uses the loshon
“stop with your ellul shtick” NOT one that has Yiras Shmayim – I hope Hashem will have more rachmonus on you (although you don’t deserve it)
than you have on your fellow yid that is under
disproportional daily attacks.
Some of the haters here will soon say that Agri is obviously to blame for the sudden surge in hurricanes because of the massive chillul Hashem they are causing and their intranginance in correcting their greedy violations etc etc.
You low lives, believe me anyone can make up stories and blame and destroy but thankfully most of us are g-d fearing decent yidden that are willing to give the benefit of doubt to a fellow yid and even if not we would NEVER go around gossip mongering and destroying – that we leave for the scum.
regarding the sexual harassment which you like to call rape for sensationalism, was comitted by one individual who was promptly fired, and if i am not mistaken that whole case was dropped because of lack of suffient evidence.
regarding bribery it was not HR, it was a floor superviser who acted on his own.
extortion, firstly it has never been proven and besides if it was true the guy was doing on his own.
child labor, they are still alegations (as with all of the above)- they have been handed to the attorney general but they remain allegations until it is brought to trial and they are found guilty (if they will even be brought to trial)if your interested in the truth you can read up on the fact that the iowa dept of labor minor specialist made a suprise inspection on april 3rd of this year and did not find a single minor at the plant. they didn’t identify any minors through payroll records being that EVERY employee at agri had id stating they were at leat 18. what does a school bus stop next to plant have to do with working there (if they work how are they going to school?)
the bottom line is you keep on bringing up the ice affidavit (which included allegations of drug production and arms at the plant, if you believe those allegations, i rest my case) which is all based on verbal accounts and an article in the forward which was again baed on verbal accounts without any hard evidence. Which leads me to the final point, if you are truly fair you would wait until charges are brought against the company and a fair trial is complete, but being you aren’t interested in justice, you have no need to wait.
•“to meatloaf Says:
regarding the sexual harassment which you like to call rape for sensationalism, was comitted by one individual who was promptly fired, and if i am not mistaken that whole case was dropped because of lack of suffient evidence. “
Wrong.
A) The sexual predation which occurred on Agri premises was conducted by a number of supervisors (none of them Jewish baruch Hashem!)
B) Some of the women were actually 16 year old girls while the supervisors were over 21. That constitutes statutory rape.
C) No supervisor was ever fired for sexual assault.
D) Much of this case has yet to come to out in public. Be patient. It will.
“regarding bribery it was not HR, it was a floor superviser who acted on his own.”
A) Bribery began before 2005 and was intermittent. Workers had to pay a few hundred dollars to get jobs.
B) From what I understand from workers, people in the HR department were involved.
C) “floor supervisors” are officials of the company and their actions, whether approved or not, occurred while they acted in their capacity as representatives of the company.
‘extortion, firstly it has never been proven and besides if it was true the guy was doing on his own.’
I have heard testimony from a number of former workers that they were forced to buy a car as a prerequisite to obtaining employment at Agriprocessors. Again, the guy may have been “doing on his own” but he used his official capacity as supervisor to carry out his scheme. Furthermore, Sholom Rubashkin was informed that this was going on. As one former federal official said to me, “there are so many issues here, you could spend an entire career just prosecuting what has gone on inside this plant.”
“child labor, they are still alegations (as with all of the above)- they have been handed to the attorney general but they remain allegations until it is brought to trial and they are found guilty (if they will even be brought to trial)”
I have spent time in Postville and I have met children who worked in the plant.These are not allegations.
“if your interested in the truth you can read up on the fact that the iowa dept of labor minor specialist made a suprise inspection on april 3rd of this year and did not find a single minor at the plant. they didn’t identify any minors through payroll records being that EVERY employee at agri had id stating they were at leat 18. what does a school bus stop next to plant have to do with working there (if they work how are they going to school?) “
A) It is not the job of IOSHA to identify minors working at the plant. That is the obligation of the employer.
B) BTW, there is no such thing as a surprise OSHA inspection. The employer needs to be notified before hand and give permission for OSHA to enter the premise.
C) I believe the IOSHA visit in April was in response to OSHA charges brought in March and had nothing ot do with child labor.
D) The school bus. Yes, well that is an interesting story. From what I’ve been able to put together, the bus would pick up kids working the clean-up shift (night) at the plant. The kids would then go to school in the morning, go home to sleep in the afternoon and then be ready to work the night shift the next day. They were part-time students. In this way the school could continue to count the students as part of the census when it applied for per capita funding from the state. Nice. Eventually though most students found this too grueling and I believe (not proven) dropped out of school to go to work. Keep in mind that before the May 12th raid, there was a raid at the school and computers and information taken as part of an investigation by the state. What do you think they were looking for – stolen milk money?
“the bottom line is you keep on bringing up the ice affidavit …”
Yes, I tend to believe US government officials when they swear before a judge that they believe the information they present is true.
“Which leads me to the final point, if you are truly fair you would wait until charges are brought against the company and a fair trial is complete, but being you aren’t interested in justice, you have no need to wait.”
Tell me my friend, do you think we should have waited for a trial and verdict of the Monsey butcher who was accused of selling treif, before taking action? Or maybe we should wait until accused child molesters are tried and convicted before taking action to stop them from attacking children – after all, nothing has been proven?
The problem is nothing at Agriprocessors is transparent. Therefore the kahilah has an obligation to take steps to protect itself, just like in Monsey and just like with child molesters.
BTW, Agri shut down its beef processing line at 12:15 today according to friends inside the plant. Rumor has it the USDA had something to do with it. We’ll know in another 12 hours or so.
i don’t know who you are or what your agenda is (not just anyone visits postville and interviews people and has freinds in rubashkins plant) but you clearly would like to see rubashkin taken down, as clearly evdient in your writing, namely:
1 in regard to the sexual harassment allegations:
A there has been a supervisor fired for possible sexual harassment
B Once again it has nothing to do with rubashkin, all they can do is fire anyone that behaves is such a manner.
C your statement to be patient and this story will come to light is disgusting, as opposed to hoping that these allegations are false and your fellow yidden will be cleared of guilt, you seem to be waiting for their downfall!
2 regarding the bribery:
A your statement ““floor supervisors” are officials of the company and their actions, whether approved or not, occurred while they acted in their capacity as representatives of the company.” makes no sense, if a supervisor (or anyone in a company for that matter) acts on their own without company knowledge, is in no way whatsoever representing the company they work for.
regarding the child labor, while there were minors working at rubashkin, they all had id stating that they were older, leaving rubashkin innocent of knowingly hiring minors.
also, there was an inspection on april 3rd (which you once again try to paint otherwise with your own ideas like “I believe the IOSHA visit in April was in response to OSHA charges brought in March and had nothing ot do with child labor.”) with the specific aim of identifying minors by a an inspector whose specialty is in identifying minors and failed to identify any.
about the affidavit:
all the goverment officials were swearing before the judge is that they were told so and so, not that they have actual evidence of anything. i.e. the claims there was drugs and arms at the plant, which i hope you don’t seriously believe.
finally, speaking of obligations, you and anyone like yourself have the obligation to realise that there is an entire kehilla of 100 families in postville that you may destroy, not to mention the livelyhood of countless people who rely on rubashkin for their business and many many communities around the us that rely solely on rubashkin for kosher meat, even where it makes no business sense for them to deliver there, but do so for kashrus. your true colors come shining through once again when you state that the beef line was shut down and then cite RUMORS for the reason, you can wait the “12 hours or so” to find out fact?!
UInfortunately, reality has overtaken your theories. See the latest.
I do not take joy in what has happened in Postville. On the contrary, I find it a giant chillul Hashem.
Ultimately the problem was not caused by Rubashkin, but by the kahillah. We failed to police this company and took the word of Rabbonim who had a financial interest in looking the other way. No, I will not cheer the downfall of this company. Instead I will mourn the lack of leadership in the Jewish community and those leaders who were more concerned with the availability of kosher meat then they were with violation of Jewish law embodied in this scandal.