- 5 -
there from one day to the next. Petitioners had to rearrange
their lives so they could be personally present when the milk was
picked up, in order to see the money before they released the
milk. The situation did not stabilize for months.
The personal experiences of three of petitioners illustrate
the effects of these events.
Phillip A. Souza (Souza) was in partnership with his
brother, petitioner Arnold Leroy Souza. Souza has been a dairy
farmer for 30 years. At the time of the default, he owned about
450 cows which had to be milked every day. Unlike many of the
milk producers, Souza was able to find another dairy to buy his
milk within 2 days of Knudsen's default. Even so, he lost about
$76,000, which forced him to borrow money from his father and a
bank.3 He suffered a stress-related heart attack in 1988 (for
which he takes 11 pills daily).
George Knevelbaard (Knevelbaard) was born into the dairy
industry and believed, based on past experience, that "There
would always be work, there would always be bills, and on the
first and the 15th there was always a check in the mailbox. This
was as certain as the sun rising and setting." His expenses were
about 90 percent of his revenue. He was shocked to discover that
the system on which he and his family had always depended was in
jeopardy. Suddenly, and continuing for months, he could not
3 As of Dec. 14, 1995, the money had not all been repaid.
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