Is there a connection between Smithfield & Wholestone Foods?

The short answer is I have no idea, and I really didn’t ponder it until someone told me the other day that many of the execs with Wholestone are former Smithfield management.

There is also the question of who really owns the CAFOs that produce the meat for these plants? Is it local farmers or are they simply contracted by the packers like Smithfield and Wholestone which have ownership in the farms? Maybe the producers are merely leasing from the packers?

I don’t know. But I do know that is how it works with poultry.

In my couple minutes of digging on the interwebs I could find little about Chinese investors in CAFOs and Smithfield’s possible investment in Wholestone. Maybe this is a backdoor plan to close the DTSF plant and transfer all operations to the new plant? 

Wondering if one of Sioux Falls’ super talented investigative journalists will dig into this and find a connection, or maybe NO connection. Oh, that’s right, we don’t have any of those in Sioux Falls but we do have a lot of hog sh!t.

Pot, Taxes, Conflicts, Tractors and other Tidbits

It seems Levitt has turned up the music, just a little bit. During the Mae Simpson concert last Saturday the decibel reading was 83, which is comparable to a lawnmower, motorcycle or truck. An outdoor rock concert is usually at 100 decibels. I’m sure the city is being very strict about the decibel level, but c’mon, can we at least get it up to 90? How about a compromise? Fun Haters.

The Radical Right Authoritarian Blog was at it again, attacking private citizens who are no longer elected officials. Plump and dumb posted former city councilor Stehly’s property tax bill as delinquent (late payment). Funny part is when I checked in the afternoon, she was up to snuff on her taxes. I’m sure this was a leak job by the new Right-Winger in the Treasurer’s office or one of her boot-lickers (this is public information). So why would Fried Fat Pitty want to bother with a private citizens taxes? Because they know that Theresa is the leading candidate for the At-Large position in 2022 that Erickson will be termed out from. I believe also that if Stehly runs, she will easily be back on the council, and they are scared shItless. Remember the rich and connected in Sioux Falls had to spend $125K to only beat Stehly by 99 votes. If she runs again, she will seal the deal. They might have to spend $300K this time around to beat her though. Better get out fundraising.

Our Town, but not for hard questions apparently. I attended the screening of Our Town the other night at the State. It was the first time I saw a movie there. The digital screen is wonderful, but the reclining leather seats, while comfortable (for a nap) not the most ideal seat (to stick to) while watching a movie. I think they  should have went with a more comfortable upholstered seat that is more upright (and they probably could have gotten more seats in there also) either way, this is what happens when you have rich donors tell you what to do. You can’t buy taste or common sense apparently. Either or, the movie was okay, even though there was very little about Sioux Falls since they mostly focused on immigrants who work at Smithfields and the tribe in Flandreau, which was great, because during the Q & A, it gave the film makers an opportunity to school Ten Haken about embracing diversity in the community. Either way, I was looking forward to asking a question about growth for growths sake that came up in the Bend, OR portion of the movie, but the mayor was calling out the questioners and the microphone hander outer was on the opposite side of the theatre, so I knew where this was going. Towards the end when they finally got to our side, a gentleman in front of me, who I believe worked for Billie Sutton’s governor’s campaign was set to ask the last question but before he could, the Mayor reminded us all it was the last question, and it would not be letting this guy ask it because someone else had been ‘winking’ at him longer. Paul can’t even resist censoring people at a Q & A session. He obviously hates transparency more than I thought, and Dems even more.

Who is the SD Supreme Court leaker? Many found it interesting that a State Legislator seemed to know when the SD Supreme Court was going to release a verdict. This is usually not the case unless a staffer has leaked that information. The SDSC did the right thing by rebuking the legislator. Some have also been wondering why it is taking so long. The gossip out of Pierre is that the court already wrote their opinion but are waiting for a review from another person (judge or lawyer) who is familiar with State legalization to make sure the language is proper. I guess the high court does this on occasion. At this point, I have NO idea how they will rule. But I hope they will rule in favor of the intent of the voters, but may still give the power of regulation and taxation to the State Legislature in which the SDSC would have to probably put a 1 year moratorium on the Amendment to work out those details. We will see.

An Englishman, an Italian and a Dutchman walked into a bar . . . This seems to be the opening line to the deal Raven inked with their new owners, Case – New Holland. Am I the only one a bit suspicious of a company headquartered in London, with Italian owners and incorporated in the Netherlands? It’s no secret why they bought Raven, but do you think they will keep the Raven location in Sioux Falls? I have no idea, but usually these international companies find a way to trim the fat, so to speak. I wouldn’t expect them to close the doors immediately, but I would expect some layoffs. This of course would be nothing new to a lot of Raven employees. Raven has had a habit of laying off people when sales are down and trying to get them back when things are good. We all might be pleasantly surprised, maybe CNH will expand the Sioux Falls location, hire more workers, pay better wages and unionize them . . . LOL. They do have unions at some of their other American plants.

The Piggies are coming home to roost for Smithfield

I was hearing rumors about this during the covid shutdown that Smithfield had a large inventory of product at a cold storage unit in town with Chinese labeling, apparently it was very true;

Even as Smithfield warned of a meat shortage, the company was exporting pork outside of the country, the complaint said.

The lawsuit also cited government data, which showed the US pork inventory in cold storage “was well into the hundreds of millions of pounds.” Analysts estimated such an inventory would keep grocery stores supplied for “months,” the lawsuit stated.

“Smithfield’s public messaging amounted to a scaremongering campaign, exploiting consumer fear about food insecurity,” FWW said in the complaint. “These statements, however, were misleading, deceptive, and contradicted by the facts.”

Just more lies from Trump/Noem/TenHaken B.S. factory to keep people working in an unsafe work environment.

If I was Mayor Behindcloseddoors I would have a meeting with Wholestone in devising a way to shutdown the Communist Packing Stinkhole and transfer the workers to a locally owned packing company that doesn’t stink up our town everytime there is a light breeze.

We will see how long it takes the local yocal media to cover this.

Sioux Falls PO looks the other way while kid urinates near bike trail

Just in case any superior officer with the force is reading this, it occurred around 6:30 PM tonight at Cherry Rock park with an officer on an ATV.

As I was riding by the ball fields tonight at Cherry Rock park I noticed a game going on, to my surprise only a couple hundred feet from the portable bathroom a player about 10-12 years old (who should know better) in his full baseball uniform and hat had his wang out and was peeing right along the trail, as I yelled at him to knock if off while riding by, he just laughed and continued, at that moment I looked over and an officer on an ATV talking to a parent looked over as I pointed at the kid, he just turned around and continued to talk to a parent.

Urinating in public, next to a baseball game and near a bike trail wouldn’t you think the officer would have said something? Nope. Apparently it is OK to urinate in a public park as long as you are wearing a youth sports uniform (I told you that is all people care about in this town).

Ironically, after I did my downtown loop, I did see the same ATV cop chasing some transients out from under the Cliff Avenue bridge, so he does have his priorities. None of them were urinating . . . yet.

I never want anyone ever to tell me to my face that our cops are overworked and underpaid, because it is complete B.S.!