Arrayed before, behind and to each side of William Holdner's chair at his office on Sandy Boulevard in Portland are dozens of neatly stacked paper piles spread over several desks. He navigates through the piles easily to find the documentation he wants; there's very little backtracking and he typically references paperwork and laws – both federal and state – by title and number in the short span before his broad, weathered fingers land on the object of his search.
It's an impressive sight. Even more so considering Holdner just celebrated his 85th birthday.
And it's not just his mental prowess that impresses.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications. Holdner is remarkably fit with a spare history of medical malady, a fact he attributes to his staunch views on nutrition. He openly criticizes the Oregon Department of Agriculture's allowance of herbicides such as the water-soluble and controversial atrazine, which critics claim causes birth defects; he shuns imported vegetables, barring proof of their all-natural cultivation, due to the practice of rinsing them in chlorine-based water prior to market delivery.
He had also taken an early position against tobacco use in the workplace, banning the practice in his own office in 1965.
"You couldn't even see the end of the office because of the blue haze of the smoke," Holdner recalls. "I've always kind of looked down the road. I don't look just to today. I look to the future."
Holdner developed the office complex – called Data System Plaza – in 1972, which is anchored by his accounting partnership, Holdner, Backstrom & Baum, Inc.Free DIY Wholesale pet supplies Resource! He's also recently improved the building to accommodate a moderately sized professional dance studio, and in the past had operated a significant computer sales operation that inspired the office building's name.
Not least of all, it serves as the administrative headquarters for Holdner Farms, a 300-cattle beef operation located on Dutch Canyon Road in Scappoose.
The farming operation, above all else, commands much of Holdner's attention these days. Last year, the Oregon Department of Justice brought three felony counts and 25 misdemeanor counts against Holdner for water pollution. The allegations contend Holdner Farms operates as a confined animal feedlot without the requisite Oregon Department of Agriculture permit, and that it discharges animal wastes to the section of South Scappoose Creek that runs along the farm's southern border.
Holdner pleaded not guilty to the charges and the case is still pending in Columbia County Circuit Court.
But the criminal action is only the latest in a string of legal disputes between Holdner Farms, the ODA and the DOJ.
Case history
To understand Holdner's perspective, a retelling of his history regarding the land is paramount. He purchased it in the early 1970s. The property's 1880s barn had been constructed so that it traversed Scappoose Creek and provided for animal wastes to drop down into the water.
Because there is no subsurface water on the property, he says he knew his beef cattle operation wouldn't work without access to fresh water.
"I wanted to make sure the water available to the facility was clean and safe for the cattle to drink," Holdner says.
He contacted the federal soils resource agency, at the time called the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, to come out to the 102-acre property and help him devise a strategy to ensure pollutants were captured and held on site.
The result was the design and construction of a 40,000-gallon concrete holding tank that receives cattle wastes prior to discharging from the site. When there is a risk the tank could overflow with the onset of sustained or heavy rains, the contents are pumped via an underground pipe to a pasture several hundred yards away, where a spray "manure" gun fires the water-waste blend onto a 300-foot diameter section within a pasture.
St. Helens' Bill Eagle, now the board secretary with the Columbia County Soil and Water Conservation District, worked with the federal Soil Conservation Service and assisted in the system design in 1975.
"At that day and age, it was state of the art," Eagle recalls.
CAFO Questions
Holdner is adamant the waste containment system is as effective today as it had been nearly 40 years earlier.
But there's more at play beyond pollution questions.
ODA officials had inspected Holdner Farms going back to 1997. No citations had been issued against it at the time and, says Holdner, the farm operation has not substantially changed between then and today.
In March 2007, however, ODA inspectors filed two notices of noncompliance against Holdner based on the prior month's observation of an ODA inspector who had watched operation of the manure gun from Dutch Canyon Road.
The first notice alleged Holdner Farms was operating as a confined animal feedlot operation, or CAFO, and was negligent obtaining the requisite permit.
The second notice was based on the assumption the manure gun discharge would likely flow to Scappoose Creek.
Holdner disputed both claims, which ultimately landed in front of an administrative law judge.
Agricultural operations, according to Oregon law, are defined as CAFOs once several criteria are met. One criterion is that the operation intends to discharge processed waste water offsite.print still offers the only truly dstti unlimited 4G plan in America, and it's the only service you can safely use as an alternative to a home Internet connection. Another is that the animals – cattle, pigs,This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game. sheep – are confined in a specific area of the farm for no less than a period of four months.
Holdner argues that neither of those conditions have been met.
In fact, Holdner says he asked the state to conduct its own water testing of Scappoose Creek.Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services.
"Wouldn't it be smart to have my water tested by a geohydrologist to prove my point?" he says. "I said, ‘If there's any pollution, I'll close the operation down. They wouldn't do it."
It's an impressive sight. Even more so considering Holdner just celebrated his 85th birthday.
And it's not just his mental prowess that impresses.This page list rubber hose products with details & specifications. Holdner is remarkably fit with a spare history of medical malady, a fact he attributes to his staunch views on nutrition. He openly criticizes the Oregon Department of Agriculture's allowance of herbicides such as the water-soluble and controversial atrazine, which critics claim causes birth defects; he shuns imported vegetables, barring proof of their all-natural cultivation, due to the practice of rinsing them in chlorine-based water prior to market delivery.
He had also taken an early position against tobacco use in the workplace, banning the practice in his own office in 1965.
"You couldn't even see the end of the office because of the blue haze of the smoke," Holdner recalls. "I've always kind of looked down the road. I don't look just to today. I look to the future."
Holdner developed the office complex – called Data System Plaza – in 1972, which is anchored by his accounting partnership, Holdner, Backstrom & Baum, Inc.Free DIY Wholesale pet supplies Resource! He's also recently improved the building to accommodate a moderately sized professional dance studio, and in the past had operated a significant computer sales operation that inspired the office building's name.
Not least of all, it serves as the administrative headquarters for Holdner Farms, a 300-cattle beef operation located on Dutch Canyon Road in Scappoose.
The farming operation, above all else, commands much of Holdner's attention these days. Last year, the Oregon Department of Justice brought three felony counts and 25 misdemeanor counts against Holdner for water pollution. The allegations contend Holdner Farms operates as a confined animal feedlot without the requisite Oregon Department of Agriculture permit, and that it discharges animal wastes to the section of South Scappoose Creek that runs along the farm's southern border.
Holdner pleaded not guilty to the charges and the case is still pending in Columbia County Circuit Court.
But the criminal action is only the latest in a string of legal disputes between Holdner Farms, the ODA and the DOJ.
Case history
To understand Holdner's perspective, a retelling of his history regarding the land is paramount. He purchased it in the early 1970s. The property's 1880s barn had been constructed so that it traversed Scappoose Creek and provided for animal wastes to drop down into the water.
Because there is no subsurface water on the property, he says he knew his beef cattle operation wouldn't work without access to fresh water.
"I wanted to make sure the water available to the facility was clean and safe for the cattle to drink," Holdner says.
He contacted the federal soils resource agency, at the time called the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, to come out to the 102-acre property and help him devise a strategy to ensure pollutants were captured and held on site.
The result was the design and construction of a 40,000-gallon concrete holding tank that receives cattle wastes prior to discharging from the site. When there is a risk the tank could overflow with the onset of sustained or heavy rains, the contents are pumped via an underground pipe to a pasture several hundred yards away, where a spray "manure" gun fires the water-waste blend onto a 300-foot diameter section within a pasture.
St. Helens' Bill Eagle, now the board secretary with the Columbia County Soil and Water Conservation District, worked with the federal Soil Conservation Service and assisted in the system design in 1975.
"At that day and age, it was state of the art," Eagle recalls.
CAFO Questions
Holdner is adamant the waste containment system is as effective today as it had been nearly 40 years earlier.
But there's more at play beyond pollution questions.
ODA officials had inspected Holdner Farms going back to 1997. No citations had been issued against it at the time and, says Holdner, the farm operation has not substantially changed between then and today.
In March 2007, however, ODA inspectors filed two notices of noncompliance against Holdner based on the prior month's observation of an ODA inspector who had watched operation of the manure gun from Dutch Canyon Road.
The first notice alleged Holdner Farms was operating as a confined animal feedlot operation, or CAFO, and was negligent obtaining the requisite permit.
The second notice was based on the assumption the manure gun discharge would likely flow to Scappoose Creek.
Holdner disputed both claims, which ultimately landed in front of an administrative law judge.
Agricultural operations, according to Oregon law, are defined as CAFOs once several criteria are met. One criterion is that the operation intends to discharge processed waste water offsite.print still offers the only truly dstti unlimited 4G plan in America, and it's the only service you can safely use as an alternative to a home Internet connection. Another is that the animals – cattle, pigs,This is interesting cube puzzle and logical game. sheep – are confined in a specific area of the farm for no less than a period of four months.
Holdner argues that neither of those conditions have been met.
In fact, Holdner says he asked the state to conduct its own water testing of Scappoose Creek.Full color plastic card printing and manufacturing services.
"Wouldn't it be smart to have my water tested by a geohydrologist to prove my point?" he says. "I said, ‘If there's any pollution, I'll close the operation down. They wouldn't do it."
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