Dear Sheriff Gillespie,

I am a long time resident of Logandale and I want to commend the judgment and performance of your officers that responded last week to the Quail Hollow “Farm to Fork” dinner incident involving the Southern Nevada Health District (Health District Crashes Party At Quail Hollow Farms: Progress, October 25, 2011). They showed great community insight and judgment.

What happened at their dinner was a travesty of common sense and justice. I am sure SNHD will justify their position as just following regulations, but that is normal ‘CYA’ for any bureaucracy that has an overzealous inspector. Please do not allow this incident to taint the involved officers in any way. I know sometimes these things can get turned around and I am sure you will be hearing from SNHD.

Events or dinners like this occur all the time in this community as church functions, Boy Scout fundraisers, or community fundraisers to help with cancer victims and personal tragedies. All this is no secret nor is anybody hiding that fact. This is how people in a good community interact with one another.

These events usually go something like this: Someone will donate a locally raised animal and citizens will buy a dinner that is cooked and prepared locally, maybe even in someone’s home, without SNHD or government oversight. Any excess is sold at the end of the event to further assist the fundraiser so this would technically become a commercial event.

If we follow this precedent all these community events would now have unsafe food, therefore be illegal, and now subject to SNHD jurisdiction. This kind of logic does extreme damage to the community and is out of control— please don’t drink SNHD’s safety Koolaid!

There are many honest hard working people in Moapa Valley that do their best to comply with SNHD regulations when it comes to small family farm commercial ventures. But this particular inspector and the SNHD are notoriously out of control and the regulations beyond common sense safety.

No one wants to stand up and face the SNHD because of potential retaliation and the resulting economic damage this can cause. As I talked with the editor of the Progress he strongly emphasized this point as, in many similar cases, no one will go on the record. I have had my own personal conversations with these same people on previous occasions that validate that same fact.

It is pure retribution that three SNHD inspectors showed up at Chef Giovanni’s bakery in Las Vegas the Monday morning after this incident.

The whole thing is ridiculous. Try and stay as far away from SNHD’s craziness as possible.

I know it is not your place to choose which laws to enforce but it is your place to protect our civil rights from unlawful invasions of privacy, trespass, and unlawful search and seizure whether from low-life criminals or over-zealous government bureaucrats; thank you for standing on our side—the side of protecting your citizen’s civil rights.

It is a comfort to know your officers out here in Moapa Valley have good community judgment. I think this judgment comes from participating within our community where they can understand it from the inside.

I do not know which officers responded to the call but if I can support you or your officers in any way on this issue please call on me and I will be glad to assist.

Lindsey Dalley