INTRODUCTION
operations. All of this information had been gathered and collated by an independent consumer safety agency, the Better Government Association, based in Chicago. However, the BGA was working for and financed by NBC (National Broadcasting'Corporation).
 When I returned from Canada, I was amazed at what had already taken place. Within three days, the secretary of the USDA, John Block, had suspended Cattle King and Nebraska Beef from receiving.any future government contracts; and they would embargo and condemn all of the future meat production (21,000,000 pounds) purchased by the government. Jier, my name, Cattle King's, and Nebraska Beefs were plastered across the front page of every major newspaper in the country, again without any proof of the allegations. Not one allegation aired on the original show was ever proved. But this lack of substantiation never slowed the pursuit. The NBC financially-backed consumer advocate group, the BGA, and the government agencies, through the cooperation of the national wire service offices of AP and UPI (Associated Press and United Press International), continued to spread "headline rumors". During the next six months, my life, and my family's lives, not to speak of the reputation of the meat companies, were turned upside down.
    From the beginning of this witch hunt, I decided to fight this injustice with all of my resources. I enjoy a challenge, and I am a fighter, and I do not take anything lying down. But, unlike earlier in life when I could face an opponent one on one, and on a fair field of battle, this time I gradually grew to realize that those who sought my undoing had all the cards and the deck was stacked against me. During the next year, various accusations continued to be made. One was that we had allowed staples to enter the packaged meat. It was alleged that people who had purchased Cattle King meat from grocery stores had contracted salmonella, a sickness caused by uncooked pork. Another was that we distracted federal inspectors so we could process rigor mortis cattle that had died in the yard. Again, none of these media charges were ever proved. But, by the end of December, 1983, the damage had already been done.
    On December 14, a so-called congressional hearing was organized to determine if there was any truth to the accusations. I became confused because it was chaired by only one congressman. There was no committee, not even a congressman or congresswoman from the agricultural committee that was stationed in Washington, DC, from our district. The congressman was Tom Harkin, from faraway Iowa, who would in the future receive

INTRODUCTION
excellent press coverage and become a U.S. Senator. I finally realized how awesome the opposition was. The entire procedure was rigged and was actually instigated by the influence of the media, which was led by NBCs-financed BGA, and then the'administrative government in Washington, DC could and would take over. The United States administrative government the prosecution was allowed twelve hours of testimony, almost entirely provided by disgruntled ex-employees of Cattle King who had been released for being unreliable and who had been provided expense money by the BGA. Cattle King was allowed only four witnesses in one hour, at 7:00 p.m., which was at the end of the day after all the newspaper reporters had left to meet their deadline in the evening news. The reporters, and consequently the readers, had a horrified and distorted view of the true picture. The headlines read: POISONED BY CATTLE KING BEEF. During the proceedings, I realized what writer Al Knight said in his editorial a few days later;"... that BGA director Terrence Brunner was orchestrating the entire play." Aside from Terrence Brunner actually being on the panel of the "so-called" Congressional hearing committee, he directed the NBC cameras which were there for the express purpose of following up their initial September 18 expose' in January. When I went home that night and thought about everything that had happened and how, I knew that I was in for the fight of my life.
    False accusations from media systems assaulted my companies with no mercy. The press pictured the Cattle King Beef Company, the Nebraska Beef Packers, and their owner, Rudy "Butch" Stanko, as outlaws, comparable to J.R. Ewing on the infamous TV show Dallas. The constant headlines and the results of the media coverage at the "so-called" congressional hearing would inflame the public and substantiate action by the Justice Department. The sole purpose of the congressional hearing was not to discover the true story but to make news to instigate prosecution. The news would inflame the public, that would justify immediate bureaucratic action. Four months later, actual charges were finally stipulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), working through the Department of Justice, and, again, rubber stamped by the Grand Jury. The outcome was a trial and my conviction. For many people, this would be the end of the story; but in my case it is only the beginning. During the past two years, I have spent every waking moment realizing the power behind the "force" that is hidden from almost every mind that strives to progress and pursue the ultimate life style in this world of opportunity. In this land of freedom,