Many of you are familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — sometimes referred to as Mormons. For years (decades really), Prophets have been advising members to get out of debt and to set aside a food store.
Over the years the amount of food to be stored has fluctuated (from 7-years worth at the high, to “at least 90-days” at the low) — but the message of setting aside a store of food for when times get tough hasn’t changed.
To help with the process, the Church has set up a very impress network of suppliers, storage, and packaging facilities to help members and non-members alike buy quality food in bulk, and package it for mid- to long-term storage.
Awesome idea, right? Even FEMA recommends putting together an emergency kit with food and water for each member of the family.
Why then would Agents of the Federal Government pay an unannounced visit to a food storage cannery in Tennessee and demand their customer lists? Why would they want to know the identity of Americans purchasing food in bulk?
It really happened! This incident was confirmed by Oath Keepers Tennessee Chapter President, Rand Cardwell. Here’s what he had to say:
“A fellow veteran contacted me concerning a new and disturbing development. He had been utilizing a Mormon cannery near his home to purchase bulk food supplies. The man that manages the facility related to him that federal agents had visited the facility and demanded a list of individuals that had been purchasing bulk food. The manager informed the agents that the facility kept no such records and that all transactions were conducted on a cash-and-carry basis. The agents pressed for any record of personal checks, credit card transactions, etc., but the manager could provide no such record. The agents appeared to become very agitated and after several minutes of questioning finally left with no information. I contacted the manager and personally confirmed this information.”
This event is troubling indeed.
UPDATE:
The organization responsible for breaking this story, oathkeepers.org, has subsequently withdrawn their story under pressure from many that the claim was “fabricated”.
How can this be when the Chapter President reportedly spoke with a credible source? Apparently the “source” is now denying ever having shared the story — causing Oath Keepers much embarrassment, and leading to a new policy that sources should be recorded (audio or video) to prevent a source recanting their statement at a later time.
Others are now pointing to a provision in the Patriot Act that allows a gag order be placed on instances like this — and cannot be appealed for a year after the initial order has been given.
Is this what happened here? We may not ever know for sure — but something still doesn’t smell right.
