COWS RITCHIE

investigation.”

He also questioned the animal rights group’s tactics.

“We are equally concerned about the manner in which this video was brought to our attention,” Larson said. “Had the ‘undercover’ employee brought this to our attention when it occurred, we may have been able to prevent it earlier.”

Publix said it contacted the Florida Department of Agriculture, which plans to send inspectors to the dairy.

“We were recently made aware of the undercover video taken at Larson Dairy, Inc.,” Publix said in a written statement. “Like you, we are disturbed by the images and shocked by the cruelty shown toward the animals.”

Richard Couto, the animal rights group’s founder and lead investigator, said the group had not selected that dairy because of any particular cruelty reports. woman she had worked with got drunk and caused her child’s death. The child actually died in a gun accident involving a second child.

Businesses such as Mazik’s Main Street Leasing are fighting back against vicious, fake reviews on websites. Jewelers in Massachusetts won $34,500 after a rival business called them “thieves” on Yelp.

Antonio has tried to spin this dispute into a David vs. Goliath contest, playing on Mazik’s wealth and her relative powerlessness, but there’s another way to look at things, and it’s this: Mazik, who has contributed heavily to Mount Dora’s civic health over the years, apparently finally got fed up with a decade of trash-talk and decided to strike back. Good for him.

Certainly, there’s plenty to criticize Mazik about, if that’s the goal. Some of the facts surrounding his career are bad enough.

He founded a facility in 1987 in the rural Lake

“We wanted to see what was happening in a typical, larger scale dairy setting in the state of Florida,” he said.

“Upon our first entry, an hour of being undercover at the Larson Dairy, we were extremely surprised at finding strong signs of animal abuse, right then and there,” Couto said. “The workers, the milkers, management, were punching the cows in the udders to get them into milking position. They were screaming. They were punching them in the face. They were kicking them and then large [bars] of rebar came out.”

The sheriff said the materials received by his office, which included still photos but no videos, indicate that three workers were involved. But he said the Larson family, whom he’s known for more than 30 years, wouldn’t have been involved in anything like the abuse shown at the farm.

“These gentlemen would not condone this activity,” Stephen said. “Had they known about it, they would have fired them on the spot.”

At the end of the video, the group urges viewers to avoid supporting such abuse by giving up dairy and switching to a vegan, or plantbased, diet.

Jem area of Lake County to care for seriously disabled clients. Now it’s being closed because of deaths and injuries that never should have happened. The Agency for Persons with Disabilities has stationed an inspector at Carlton Palms around the clock until all the patients can be moved. The deadline is March 2019. Mazik says he hasn’t owned the business since 2009 but still owns the property.

In late 2015, the online investigative website Pro Publica wrote reams about Mazik and Carlton Palms, and they’re not getting sued. Neither is the Sentinel, which has harshly criticized some of the Delaware businessman’s ventures.

Real journalists rarely are sued because they put research into uncovering the truth, and they don’t base stories or columns on rumor. Frankly, it’s a relief to see Mazik sue. Hopefully, the action will send keyboard cowards scurrying for their lives, leaving real journalists as the last man standing.