Iowa Archives - Missourinet

August sentencing date set for Missouri businessman involved in grain scheme

July 7, 2019 By Brian Hauswirth

A northwest Missouri businessman and former school board member faces a potential lengthy federal prison sentence, for a $142 million grain fraud scheme.

61-year-old Randy Constant is a prominent businessman and is also a former Chillicothe School Board member.

Federal prosecutors in Iowa say Constant pleaded guilty in federal court in December to one count of wire fraud. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Morfitt tells Missourinet Constant is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams in Iowa on August 16.

Constant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Morfitt says Constant admits the grain fraud scheme is more than $142 million. Constant misled customers into thinking they were buying certified organic grain when it was not organic.

Prosecutors also say Constant admits falsely telling customers the grain he sold was grown on his certified organic fields in Nebraska and Missouri. Prosecutors say the certified organic fields were sprayed with unauthorized substances.

As part of his December plea, Constant agreed to forfeit about $128 million in proceeds from the fraudulent scheme.

Three Nebraska farmers who pleaded guilty to the scheme will also be sentenced on August 16 in Cedar Rapids. Morfitt says the three farmers, who are from Overton, Nebraska, also pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Both the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the FBI have investigated the case.

Missouri man marks anniversary of his historic free speech case

February 25, 2019 By Missourinet Contributor

Reported by O. Kay Henderson, Radio Iowa

A Missouri man has marked the 50^th anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that came four years after he wore a black armband to school. John Tinker, who now lives in Fayette, created a free speech case that is still cited today.

John and Mary Beth Tinker with current Des Moines area high school students. Photo by O. Kay Henderson

In December 1965, Tinker, his sister Mary Beth, along with a friend, wore black armbands to high school in Des Moines to protest the Vietnam War. John Tinker said black armbands have been worn as a symbol of mourning for centuries.

“It’s a silent, non-disruptive symbol and so we thought it fit what we were trying to do very well,” Tinker said.

The Tinker siblings and their friend were sent home and threatened with expulsion for wearing the armbands. The parents of the three teens sued on their behalf and four years later the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District that a student’s right to free expression doesn’t end “at the schoolhouse gate.”

“It declared that students in the public schools are persons under the law and are endowed with their First Amendment rights,” Tinker told Radio Iowa.

Tinker and his sister were featured in a day-long event at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines on Friday. More than 200 Iowa students attended. There was a national live stream discussion with students in other states as well.

“Having stood up for what we believed way back then about the war in Vietnam and having the courts vindicate us — I think that helps the students today understand that if they’ve thought about an issue and if they feel strongly about it, that they do have the right to speak out about it,” Tinker said, “and I encourage them to do that.”

Tinker and another high school student were 15 years old when they wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. His younger sister, Mary Beth, also wore an armband to school. She was 13 and in junior high.

The Tinkers will speak at Iowa State University tonight, at the University of Iowa Tuesday evening and at Drake University Wednesday evening.

Five states join Missouri in challenge of California egg law

March 6, 2014 By Mike Lear

Missouri is not going it alone in challenging the State of California’s egg law.

Attorney General Chris Koster has announced that five states have joined in his suit against California alleging that it is unconstitutionally trying to regulate farming practice outside its borders. Those states are Nebraska, Alabama, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Iowa.

With Missouri, those five states produce more than 20-billion eggs per year, 10-percent of which are sold to consumers in California.

California voters in 2008 passed Proposition 2 that, beginning next year, would regulate the size of the enclosures that house egg-laying hens. To avoid a potential competitive advantage to that state’s own egg producers, the California State Assembly passed a bill requiring producers in other states to comply with that law in order to sell eggs in California.

The six states’ suit asks the federal court to rule that California’s legislation violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. Koster says that clause prohibits any state from enacting legislation that regulates conduct wholly outside its borders, protects its own citizens from out-of-state competition, or places undue burdens on interstate commerce.

In a statement Koster says he welcomes those five states joining the effort.

“This case is not just about farming practices,” Koster says. “At stake is whether elected officials in one state may regulate the practices of another state’s citizens, who cannot vote them out of office.”