To the editor:

Lester has now changed his method of deceiving the public. Instead of lying about what he did. He is now lying about what he did not do. He will not  take the blame for being the lead man of the $55,000,000 beef plant fiasco.

However he has now, on the eve of the election, trying to take credit for stopping the flow of Chinese catfish into the entire United States. It gets even better. He is now claiming that his efforts are leading Congress to strengthen the Federal Country of Origin Labeling Law (F-COOL). Lester Spell obviously has no shame when it comes to deceiving Mississippians.

First, Lester Spell did stop some Chinese catfish sales at predominately small independent grocery stores in Mississippi. However this was after officials in Alabama had taken the lead and banned catfish from China when they determined that some frozen fillets contained two antibiotics not allowed by the Food and Drug Administration. Of course Lester’s version is that he has saved America from total annihilation.

Second, Lester Spell hasn’t even been doing his job at home by enforcing Mississippi’s Country of Origin Labeling Law for beef (M-COOL) much less leading Congress in strengthening(F-COOL). F-COOL was passed in May of 2002 but has never been administered and enforced. The truth is that the fight to finally implement F-COOL is being led by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson from Minnesota and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin from Iowa. I would venture to say that Harkin would not know Lester Spell from Adam’s house cat. Please, Lester seek some professional help for your misplaced allusions of grandeur.

Sincerely,

Dudley Butler of Benton, formerly of Batesville