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The Pei potato plot. Potatoes.
I love them, you love them.
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The Canadian economy loves them. From
chips, fries, mashed, baked and
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ash browns. Potatoes are a staple
of many of the largest countries eating habits.
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Of all the billion dollars making vegetable
crops in Canada, the potato takes
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the cake as one of the most
versatile potatoes. Can prise fifty two percent
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of all fresh vegetables consumed in Canada
and our top of the food chain in
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twenty other countries around the world.
So what happens when a gargantuan industry that
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thrives on its variety and quality is
threatened. Well, in twenty fifteen,
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we bore witness to a crisis brewing
at the heart of Canada's potato making province.
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We got to see the links that
companies would go to to protect their
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crops. It was no small endeavor, because when the safety of customers and
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profits are on the line, no
amount of money is spared. Hello and
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welcome to Mapless Mysteries, the podcast
where we take a look at unsolved Canadian
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mysteries and crimes, providing you with
a context, history and theories to draw
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your own conclusions. Today we bring
you the story of the potato spiking that
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plagued farmers of Prince Edward Island in
twenty fifteen, sending corporations scrambling and costing
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millions of dollars to resolve. Sewing
needles were discovered to have been intentionally inserted
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into different batches of potatoes. What
followed was a year of fear, a
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media frenzy, and a public health
and safety outcry. Who could have been
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responsible for such a malicious act and
how could the farmers properly address this problem
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to ensure the continued safe consumption of
potatoes. There's only one way to find
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out. Let's dive in a brief
history. To understand the importance of potatoes
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to Prince Edward Island and to Canada
as a whole, we have to take
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a look at some facts about the
history of potato consumption. Prince Edward Island,
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or PI as it's commonly known,
despite being the smallest province in Canada
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both geographically and in population, is
the largest producer of potatoes in Canada by
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volume. Farmers on the island produced
about a quarter of all potatoes eaten across
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the country every year. There are
over one hundred varieties of potatoes being grown,
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not to mention the places that refine
and create fresh or frozen potato dishes.
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In twenty twenty alone, revenues topped
three hundred and seventy million. Potatoes
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are ingrained at the lives of the
Pi farmers, who were often referred to
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as spud Islanders. The island has
mineral rich, iconic red soil which retains
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just the right amount of moisture and
lends itself well to mass production of potatoes.
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The first potato was introduced to Pi
in seventeen fifty eight, and from
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there, as the crops grew,
PI entered in the exportation of potatoes,
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and the eighteen hundreds, the money
flowed in and the rest, they say,
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is history. This business became Pi's
claim to fame, and now it
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does not just benefit its own economy, but all of Canada. Islanders have
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embraced the deep cultural significance of potatoes. PI hosts potato festivals with pageants and
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parades. Museums host the largest exhibit
of potato related farm machinery, agricultural and
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community artifacts, and monuments, such
as the world's largest potato sculpture. In
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addition to its cultural footprint, the
province has been at the forefront of potato
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based research with its pioneering ecological studies
and renewable energy production through biomass combustion.
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Their potato factories boast some of the
highest safety standards across the country, maybe
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even the world. So when reports
in late twenty fourteen began rolling in that
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there had been sewing needles found inside
potatoes, this spelt potentially devastating consequences.
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Pi's dependable and consistent potato crop was
threatened, and the powers that be had
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to get to the bottom of it
to reassure the public and reassert the island's
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position as top of the crop.
The needle this crisis began on October two,
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twenty fourteen, at a Cavendish farm's
processing plant and New n n PI
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workers discovered a unique piece of metal
on the production line that raised concerns.
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Unlike the random contaminants that occasionally would
fall into the line, there was a
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sewing needle that it had seemingly been
embedded into the flesh of the potato,
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as if someone had put it there
intentionally. The question of whether it was
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an accident had to be considered but
seemed unlikely. Certainly, everyone hoped that
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it was easily solvable, but they
could not have been more wrong. The
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next steps were crucial. A full
stop was placed on production as safety inspectors
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tracked down the source of the tamper
potato. Cavendish Farms had many suppliers,
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so it took time to trace this
particular spot to its place of origin.
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The investigation led them to the small
town of Summerside, Pi in link Letter
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Farms. Link Letter is a family
run operation whose heritage extends back to the
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seventeen hundreds alongside the genesis of the
potato. The farm grew rapidly through the
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twentieth century as the family acquired land
and their potato operation took off, spending
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eight generations of farmers. Linkletter prided
itself as one of the most consistent and
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the safest quality crops on the island. Their response would dictate whether that would
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continue. On October six, another
potato with the sewing needle was found in
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a bag in a grocery store.
On October eighth, a worker at a
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diner found a sewing needle in a
potato while he was peeling them. At
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least half a dozen needles were found
before Linkletter gave the word to voluntarily recall
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nearly eight hundred thousand potatoes that had
been part of the contamina debatch and shipped
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all across the country. They also
decided to pause production for the time being,
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which would have equated to millions of
dollars in lost revenue. In the
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release statement the public was made aware
of the tampering, CEO Gary Linkletter relayed
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the shock that the farm experienced and
the horror of the potential ramifications of the
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spikings. The recalled spuds were not
shipped back to the farm, but instead
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to the RCMP, who quickly became
involved in the investigat They X rayed and
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inspected each potato one by one for
further unsaely objects. The ARCMP search turned
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up a few more sewing needles.
This was a depressing realization. Anyone hoping
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for this to be a one time
incident were quickly disappointed. Now everyone was
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on high alert, leading to further
discoveries of even more needles at different productions
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with ties to link Letter, such
as in their frozen French fries. Needle
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potatoes had made their way out to
grocery stores across the Maritimes, including New
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Brunswick, Nova, Scotia and Newfoundland. The further long in production they were
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found, the more cause for concern. Luckily, no one had been reported
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as having ingested the potatoes, but
it was too close for comfort. The
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investigation ramped up and dragged on into
the new year, and as it expanded,
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it was discovered that needles were not
just popping up at link Letter farms.
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Other farms were also hit, though
the names of these farms seemed to
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have not been disclosed to the public, possibly as a way to stem the
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panic that had already arisen. The
total number of needles may be difficult to
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determine, but continue discoveries were made
for over a year. Other objects such
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as nails were found, and fears
of copycat potato spikings were prominent. To
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say this was the most shocking thing
that had ever happened to the small town
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of Summerside would be an understatement.
The impact of this revelation continued. What
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would Link Letter Farm's next move be
after the recall and further sabotage. Well,
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for these types of rare events,
these safety guidelines needed to be followed
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to the letter recalling the potatoes was
the first step, but it was not
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the only one they would need if
their reputation was to survive. They issued
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public statements assuring everyone that they were
taking this matter seriously and were committed to
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the safety and well being of their
customers. They hired food handling experts,
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consulted other agencies worldwide, and explored
a complete revamping of their quality assurance technology.
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Linkletter, as already stated, boasted
what many would call a superior safety
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system, but it seems that there
was always room for approbate. The solution
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ended up being rather expensive men detectors
that needed to be installed in their factories
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and would allow potatoes on the line
to be scanned for any detectable foreign material.
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Other farms across the island were also
encouraged to adopt these into their safety
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practice, but it was quite a
costly endeavor. Safety first and all,
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but as some farmers pointed out,
were all these safety upgrades really necessary to
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an already state of the art system. A potato with a needle inside of
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it was unlikely to be consumed anyway. Operations continued to be shut down while
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the detectors were installed. When they
were up and running. The equipment being
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used worked well, but almost too
well. The metal detectors were ultra sensitive,
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leading to plenty of false alarms,
so the machines went off. The
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line was shut down, inspected,
and there was no metal objects embedded in
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a potato Gary Linkletter of link Letter
Farms commented on these developments with optimism,
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saying, there is certainly loss,
but that's the price we're playing. The
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big thing is that we get back
to production. Despite the growing pains,
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these new steps in the process were
here to stay. The entire industry largely
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adopted and now requires these safety checks
and tests to keep the crop tamper free.
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No one could afford another potato tampering
ever again, so it became the
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standard for all large operations. This
took a toll on the farmers who struggled
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to meet the financial expectations. In
the hopes of alleviating some of the pain,
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the federal government pledged to step in
with four million dollars in financial assistance
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to help these struggling farmers who could
not afford to foot the lofty bill.
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This type of intervention was appreciated by
most, but not everyone. Some were
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less than sympathetic. To the plight
of the potato farmer and the entire industry.
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This included the outspoken former leader of
the provincial Green Party in PI,
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Sharon Labchuck. Labchuck and our associates
have long been critics of the power that
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potatoes wheeled over the small island.
She is not a fan of how the
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big business industry operates and equates potato
farming with that of a powerful empire that
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is above the law. She takes
issue with the amount of land that farmers
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occupy on the island and the pesticide
that they used throughout the season. Laptuck
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labels these chemicals as probable cancer causing
carcentogens that have changed the ecological landscape of
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Pi for the worst. She regularly
blasts the government's financial interests in the potato
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and the laws that have been put
in place to protect farmers at all costs.
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Now on top of that, with
the financial aid, she was livid.
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Interviews at the time asking for her
comments in the entire situation captured her
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perspective pretty well. Though she was
sympathetic due to the safety risk for consumers,
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she remained against the government support.
She was quoted as saying, this
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is an outrageous use of taxpayer money. This is an industry that is supposedly
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worth a billion dollars, but it
can't afford to pay for its metal detectors.
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Despite the reservations that some such as
Labchuck Raised Canada, stepped in to
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protect its prize jewel. The follow
resources were expended to bolster the safety of
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farms, but they were all support
in dissolving the potato needle mystery. Whoever
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was behind the sabotage was very much
still at large, and that meant a
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continued risk to the crop. The
RCP were in charge of handling the criminal
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investigation, but the farmers themselves did
not stand by and patiently wait. Instead,
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they banded together to pool whatever influence
they could define the saboteur. The
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Pei Potato Board, an elected set
of farmers who are the law of the
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land for potatoes, announced a fifty
thousand dollars reward for information that led to
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the culprits behind the spikings. Greg
Duddald, representing the board, was quoted
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as saying, the first and foremost
thing is to think strategically. That probably
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means safety first, then throw money
at it to flesh out any leads.
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Tips were called in, but no
arrests were made. Other potato farmers across
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Canada eventually added to the money pool. The offered reward was subsequently doubled to
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one hundred thousand dollars. When nothing
came to that, the reward was increased
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to a wop in five hundred thousand
dollars half a million, albeit with a
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time limit attached to it. Potato
farmers and RCMP were already heavily invested in
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tracking down any leads, and now
anyone seeing that amount of dollar signs would
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keep their ears open. So how
do you profile someone who likes sticking needles
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and potatoes. The residents of Summerside
had lots of theories and kept looking over
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their shoulders. In a small town, people talk and secrets get spilt.
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Here's just some of what they thought. It could have been someone local,
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someone familiar with the legacy of link
letter. Potato fields are easily accessed.
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It's as simple as someone walking into
a field with a handful of needles under
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the cover of darkness. Any kind
of person that messed up living among them
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made everyone fearful and paranoid. Or
maybe a link letter employee could have been
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responsible. Having direct access to the
crop and being able to slip in easily
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without much fear of being caught.
It could have been a disgruntled recently fired
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employee who wanted to get a little
revenge. In that case, it may
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have been more likely that they would
sabotage machinery, as spiking potatoes held the
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very real risk of harming people rather
than just being a nuisance. With each
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additional needle, it felt more and
more like a concerted effort than a random
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revenge plot, especially with multiple farms
being involved. The ARS ANDP were looking
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to contact anyone who might have useful
information and discided to connect with Sharon Lapchuk
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to get her two cents on who
could have been responsible. She was not
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considered a suspect herself, but as
an outspoken potato industry dissenter, she ran
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in many of the same circles as
others who had a bone to pick with
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the farmers. For her part,
she was not offended at being called,
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as it made sense. No one
of note came to mind, though that
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she knew of who was going around
bragging about their successful vendetta against potato farmers.
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Lapchuck insisted that she, along with
everyone she knew, valued human life
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and would never risk harming someone the
way the saboteur had. People continued to
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speculate that it could have been a
group of anti potato crop environmentalists, rival
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crop competitors, or even a group
of unruly teenagers. Whoever was spiking potatoes
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BA did it quietly, and the
people who police were connecting with and interviewing
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had little information to share. The
RCMP followed the few tips they received,
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and as the money increased, so
did the information. The deadline for tips
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related to the investigation was extended far
into the new year of twenty fifteen,
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along with the increased reward. As
the potato farmers slowly restarted their operations,
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there was a slow trickle of further
incidents of foreign material being found inside potatoes.
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These included needles and nails being discovered. However, it's unclear how many
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of these incidents were intentional, or
whether the fancy new metal detectors were just
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doing a good job at picking up
those pieces of metal. All the incidents
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that were thought to be intentional were
deemed to be food terrorism by the media.
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Others labeled the culprits as disgusting and
insane. Everyone remained hungry for answers.
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The reward was still extraordinarily high,
to the point where encouraged some individuals
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to try to take advantage. Police
got calls claiming to be from people finding
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spiked potatoes, only to discover that
they were trying to get some of the
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reward money for themselves and intentionally stabbed
in their own potatoes with needles. More
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dead ends for the RCMP. The
investigation ultimately ended with no arrests having ever
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been announced. The half a million
dollar reward finally meant its extended time limit
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right before the next harvest, and
no one ended up collecting. The number
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of potato spikings dwindled as the savoteur
essentially evaporated. It was an unsatisfying end,
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00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:37.000
but an ending nonetheless. After twenty
fifteen, any news about potato spikings
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00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.360
linked to link letter or any other
potato farm is hard to come by.
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00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:45.799
Despite the misstep, the behemoth that
is the Pei potato farming industry keeps plowing
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00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:50.200
forward now with an even higher,
more expensive, and seemingly invincible safety standard.
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It'll take more than a few needles
to stop it now, and farmers
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remained hopeful that these types of abhorrent
actions are in the past. So what
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00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.519
did you think of the Pei potato
plot. Did the perp get cold feet
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00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:07.879
after the entire police force started hunting
them down. Was it an organized effort
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00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:11.559
to try and fry the potato industry
or was it all a prank that spiraled
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00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.320
out of control. Let me know
what you think by following me on Instagram
215
00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.240
at Maple Moose Mysteries and sending me
a message. If you want more mysteries
216
00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:25.399
crimes Unsolved Canadian stories, be sure
to follow this podcast Maple Moose Mysteries and
217
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.279
give me a writing. It really
helps me out and I appreciate it.
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00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:30.480
If you do, Hey, maybe
we can grab a poutine sometime and talk
219
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:36.080
about other Canadian stereotypes. I love
Maple, I love Moose's. I love
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00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:38.360
to see you next time when we
have a new mystery to share with you all.
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The Pei potato plot. Potatoes.
I love them, you love them.
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00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:16.160
The Canadian economy loves them. From
chips, fries, mashed, baked and
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ash browns. Potatoes are a staple
of many of the largest countries eating habits.
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Of all the billion dollars making vegetable
crops in Canada, the potato takes
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the cake as one of the most
versatile potatoes. Can prise fifty two percent
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00:00:29.480 --> 00:00:33.560
of all fresh vegetables consumed in Canada
and our top of the food chain in
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00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:38.200
twenty other countries around the world.
So what happens when a gargantuan industry that
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thrives on its variety and quality is
threatened. Well, in twenty fifteen,
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00:00:44.039 --> 00:00:48.679
we bore witness to a crisis brewing
at the heart of Canada's potato making province.
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We got to see the links that
companies would go to to protect their
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crops. It was no small endeavor, because when the safety of customers and
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profits are on the line, no
amount of money is spared. Hello and
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welcome to Mapless Mysteries, the podcast
where we take a look at unsolved Canadian
14
00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:08.799
mysteries and crimes, providing you with
a context, history and theories to draw
15
00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:12.920
your own conclusions. Today we bring
you the story of the potato spiking that
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plagued farmers of Prince Edward Island in
twenty fifteen, sending corporations scrambling and costing
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millions of dollars to resolve. Sewing
needles were discovered to have been intentionally inserted
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into different batches of potatoes. What
followed was a year of fear, a
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00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:33.400
media frenzy, and a public health
and safety outcry. Who could have been
20
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responsible for such a malicious act and
how could the farmers properly address this problem
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to ensure the continued safe consumption of
potatoes. There's only one way to find
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out. Let's dive in a brief
history. To understand the importance of potatoes
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to Prince Edward Island and to Canada
as a whole, we have to take
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a look at some facts about the
history of potato consumption. Prince Edward Island,
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or PI as it's commonly known,
despite being the smallest province in Canada
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both geographically and in population, is
the largest producer of potatoes in Canada by
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volume. Farmers on the island produced
about a quarter of all potatoes eaten across
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the country every year. There are
over one hundred varieties of potatoes being grown,
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not to mention the places that refine
and create fresh or frozen potato dishes.
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In twenty twenty alone, revenues topped
three hundred and seventy million. Potatoes
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are ingrained at the lives of the
Pi farmers, who were often referred to
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as spud Islanders. The island has
mineral rich, iconic red soil which retains
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just the right amount of moisture and
lends itself well to mass production of potatoes.
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The first potato was introduced to Pi
in seventeen fifty eight, and from
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there, as the crops grew,
PI entered in the exportation of potatoes,
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and the eighteen hundreds, the money
flowed in and the rest, they say,
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is history. This business became Pi's
claim to fame, and now it
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does not just benefit its own economy, but all of Canada. Islanders have
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embraced the deep cultural significance of potatoes. PI hosts potato festivals with pageants and
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parades. Museums host the largest exhibit
of potato related farm machinery, agricultural and
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community artifacts, and monuments, such
as the world's largest potato sculpture. In
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addition to its cultural footprint, the
province has been at the forefront of potato
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based research with its pioneering ecological studies
and renewable energy production through biomass combustion.
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Their potato factories boast some of the
highest safety standards across the country, maybe
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even the world. So when reports
in late twenty fourteen began rolling in that
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there had been sewing needles found inside
potatoes, this spelt potentially devastating consequences.
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Pi's dependable and consistent potato crop was
threatened, and the powers that be had
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to get to the bottom of it
to reassure the public and reassert the island's
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position as top of the crop.
The needle this crisis began on October two,
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twenty fourteen, at a Cavendish farm's
processing plant and New n n PI
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workers discovered a unique piece of metal
on the production line that raised concerns.
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Unlike the random contaminants that occasionally would
fall into the line, there was a
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sewing needle that it had seemingly been
embedded into the flesh of the potato,
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as if someone had put it there
intentionally. The question of whether it was
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an accident had to be considered but
seemed unlikely. Certainly, everyone hoped that
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it was easily solvable, but they
could not have been more wrong. The
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next steps were crucial. A full
stop was placed on production as safety inspectors
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tracked down the source of the tamper
potato. Cavendish Farms had many suppliers,
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so it took time to trace this
particular spot to its place of origin.
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The investigation led them to the small
town of Summerside, Pi in link Letter
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Farms. Link Letter is a family
run operation whose heritage extends back to the
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seventeen hundreds alongside the genesis of the
potato. The farm grew rapidly through the
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twentieth century as the family acquired land
and their potato operation took off, spending
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eight generations of farmers. Linkletter prided
itself as one of the most consistent and
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the safest quality crops on the island. Their response would dictate whether that would
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continue. On October six, another
potato with the sewing needle was found in
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a bag in a grocery store.
On October eighth, a worker at a
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diner found a sewing needle in a
potato while he was peeling them. At
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least half a dozen needles were found
before Linkletter gave the word to voluntarily recall
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nearly eight hundred thousand potatoes that had
been part of the contamina debatch and shipped
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all across the country. They also
decided to pause production for the time being,
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which would have equated to millions of
dollars in lost revenue. In the
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release statement the public was made aware
of the tampering, CEO Gary Linkletter relayed
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the shock that the farm experienced and
the horror of the potential ramifications of the
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spikings. The recalled spuds were not
shipped back to the farm, but instead
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to the RCMP, who quickly became
involved in the investigat They X rayed and
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inspected each potato one by one for
further unsaely objects. The ARCMP search turned
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00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:12.720
up a few more sewing needles.
This was a depressing realization. Anyone hoping
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for this to be a one time
incident were quickly disappointed. Now everyone was
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on high alert, leading to further
discoveries of even more needles at different productions
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with ties to link Letter, such
as in their frozen French fries. Needle
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potatoes had made their way out to
grocery stores across the Maritimes, including New
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Brunswick, Nova, Scotia and Newfoundland. The further long in production they were
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found, the more cause for concern. Luckily, no one had been reported
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as having ingested the potatoes, but
it was too close for comfort. The
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investigation ramped up and dragged on into
the new year, and as it expanded,
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it was discovered that needles were not
just popping up at link Letter farms.
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Other farms were also hit, though
the names of these farms seemed to
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have not been disclosed to the public, possibly as a way to stem the
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panic that had already arisen. The
total number of needles may be difficult to
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determine, but continue discoveries were made
for over a year. Other objects such
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00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:10.000
as nails were found, and fears
of copycat potato spikings were prominent. To
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say this was the most shocking thing
that had ever happened to the small town
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of Summerside would be an understatement.
The impact of this revelation continued. What
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would Link Letter Farm's next move be
after the recall and further sabotage. Well,
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00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:26.319
for these types of rare events,
these safety guidelines needed to be followed
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00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.839
to the letter recalling the potatoes was
the first step, but it was not
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the only one they would need if
their reputation was to survive. They issued
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public statements assuring everyone that they were
taking this matter seriously and were committed to
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the safety and well being of their
customers. They hired food handling experts,
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consulted other agencies worldwide, and explored
a complete revamping of their quality assurance technology.
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Linkletter, as already stated, boasted
what many would call a superior safety
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system, but it seems that there
was always room for approbate. The solution
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ended up being rather expensive men detectors
that needed to be installed in their factories
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00:08:03.279 --> 00:08:07.600
and would allow potatoes on the line
to be scanned for any detectable foreign material.
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Other farms across the island were also
encouraged to adopt these into their safety
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practice, but it was quite a
costly endeavor. Safety first and all,
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but as some farmers pointed out,
were all these safety upgrades really necessary to
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an already state of the art system. A potato with a needle inside of
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it was unlikely to be consumed anyway. Operations continued to be shut down while
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the detectors were installed. When they
were up and running. The equipment being
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00:08:31.840 --> 00:08:37.200
used worked well, but almost too
well. The metal detectors were ultra sensitive,
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leading to plenty of false alarms,
so the machines went off. The
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line was shut down, inspected,
and there was no metal objects embedded in
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00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:50.120
a potato Gary Linkletter of link Letter
Farms commented on these developments with optimism,
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00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:54.000
saying, there is certainly loss,
but that's the price we're playing. The
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00:08:54.039 --> 00:08:58.639
big thing is that we get back
to production. Despite the growing pains,
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these new steps in the process were
here to stay. The entire industry largely
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00:09:03.080 --> 00:09:07.440
adopted and now requires these safety checks
and tests to keep the crop tamper free.
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00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:11.679
No one could afford another potato tampering
ever again, so it became the
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00:09:11.720 --> 00:09:16.559
standard for all large operations. This
took a toll on the farmers who struggled
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00:09:16.559 --> 00:09:20.480
to meet the financial expectations. In
the hopes of alleviating some of the pain,
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the federal government pledged to step in
with four million dollars in financial assistance
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00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.080
to help these struggling farmers who could
not afford to foot the lofty bill.
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This type of intervention was appreciated by
most, but not everyone. Some were
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less than sympathetic. To the plight
of the potato farmer and the entire industry.
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This included the outspoken former leader of
the provincial Green Party in PI,
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00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:48.120
Sharon Labchuck. Labchuck and our associates
have long been critics of the power that
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00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:52.799
potatoes wheeled over the small island.
She is not a fan of how the
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00:09:52.840 --> 00:09:58.039
big business industry operates and equates potato
farming with that of a powerful empire that
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00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:01.000
is above the law. She takes
issue with the amount of land that farmers
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00:10:01.039 --> 00:10:05.440
occupy on the island and the pesticide
that they used throughout the season. Laptuck
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00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:11.320
labels these chemicals as probable cancer causing
carcentogens that have changed the ecological landscape of
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00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:16.759
Pi for the worst. She regularly
blasts the government's financial interests in the potato
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00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:20.679
and the laws that have been put
in place to protect farmers at all costs.
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00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:24.799
Now on top of that, with
the financial aid, she was livid.
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00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:28.039
Interviews at the time asking for her
comments in the entire situation captured her
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00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:33.559
perspective pretty well. Though she was
sympathetic due to the safety risk for consumers,
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00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:37.240
she remained against the government support.
She was quoted as saying, this
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00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.720
is an outrageous use of taxpayer money. This is an industry that is supposedly
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00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:46.559
worth a billion dollars, but it
can't afford to pay for its metal detectors.
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00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:50.919
Despite the reservations that some such as
Labchuck Raised Canada, stepped in to
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00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:58.480
protect its prize jewel. The follow
resources were expended to bolster the safety of
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00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:03.000
farms, but they were all support
in dissolving the potato needle mystery. Whoever
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00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.840
was behind the sabotage was very much
still at large, and that meant a
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00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:11.480
continued risk to the crop. The
RCP were in charge of handling the criminal
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00:11:11.480 --> 00:11:16.960
investigation, but the farmers themselves did
not stand by and patiently wait. Instead,
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00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:20.879
they banded together to pool whatever influence
they could define the saboteur. The
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00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:26.360
Pei Potato Board, an elected set
of farmers who are the law of the
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00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:31.320
land for potatoes, announced a fifty
thousand dollars reward for information that led to
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00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:35.720
the culprits behind the spikings. Greg
Duddald, representing the board, was quoted
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00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:41.159
as saying, the first and foremost
thing is to think strategically. That probably
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00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:45.159
means safety first, then throw money
at it to flesh out any leads.
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00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:48.759
Tips were called in, but no
arrests were made. Other potato farmers across
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00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:54.799
Canada eventually added to the money pool. The offered reward was subsequently doubled to
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00:11:54.879 --> 00:11:58.399
one hundred thousand dollars. When nothing
came to that, the reward was increased
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00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:03.080
to a wop in five hundred thousand
dollars half a million, albeit with a
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00:12:03.080 --> 00:12:09.120
time limit attached to it. Potato
farmers and RCMP were already heavily invested in
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00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:13.840
tracking down any leads, and now
anyone seeing that amount of dollar signs would
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00:12:13.919 --> 00:12:16.919
keep their ears open. So how
do you profile someone who likes sticking needles
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00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:22.480
and potatoes. The residents of Summerside
had lots of theories and kept looking over
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00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:26.480
their shoulders. In a small town, people talk and secrets get spilt.
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00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:28.960
Here's just some of what they thought. It could have been someone local,
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00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:33.240
someone familiar with the legacy of link
letter. Potato fields are easily accessed.
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00:12:33.320 --> 00:12:37.759
It's as simple as someone walking into
a field with a handful of needles under
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the cover of darkness. Any kind
of person that messed up living among them
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00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.559
made everyone fearful and paranoid. Or
maybe a link letter employee could have been
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00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:50.000
responsible. Having direct access to the
crop and being able to slip in easily
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00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:54.440
without much fear of being caught.
It could have been a disgruntled recently fired
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00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:58.120
employee who wanted to get a little
revenge. In that case, it may
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have been more likely that they would
sabotage machinery, as spiking potatoes held the
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00:13:03.320 --> 00:13:07.159
very real risk of harming people rather
than just being a nuisance. With each
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00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:11.120
additional needle, it felt more and
more like a concerted effort than a random
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00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:16.559
revenge plot, especially with multiple farms
being involved. The ARS ANDP were looking
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00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:22.039
to contact anyone who might have useful
information and discided to connect with Sharon Lapchuk
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00:13:22.120 --> 00:13:24.600
to get her two cents on who
could have been responsible. She was not
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00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:30.120
considered a suspect herself, but as
an outspoken potato industry dissenter, she ran
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in many of the same circles as
others who had a bone to pick with
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00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:35.600
the farmers. For her part,
she was not offended at being called,
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00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:39.399
as it made sense. No one
of note came to mind, though that
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00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:45.200
she knew of who was going around
bragging about their successful vendetta against potato farmers.
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Lapchuck insisted that she, along with
everyone she knew, valued human life
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and would never risk harming someone the
way the saboteur had. People continued to
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00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:58.960
speculate that it could have been a
group of anti potato crop environmentalists, rival
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crop competitors, or even a group
of unruly teenagers. Whoever was spiking potatoes
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BA did it quietly, and the
people who police were connecting with and interviewing
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had little information to share. The
RCMP followed the few tips they received,
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and as the money increased, so
did the information. The deadline for tips
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related to the investigation was extended far
into the new year of twenty fifteen,
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along with the increased reward. As
the potato farmers slowly restarted their operations,
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there was a slow trickle of further
incidents of foreign material being found inside potatoes.
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These included needles and nails being discovered. However, it's unclear how many
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of these incidents were intentional, or
whether the fancy new metal detectors were just
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doing a good job at picking up
those pieces of metal. All the incidents
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that were thought to be intentional were
deemed to be food terrorism by the media.
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Others labeled the culprits as disgusting and
insane. Everyone remained hungry for answers.
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The reward was still extraordinarily high,
to the point where encouraged some individuals
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to try to take advantage. Police
got calls claiming to be from people finding
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spiked potatoes, only to discover that
they were trying to get some of the
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00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:11.960
reward money for themselves and intentionally stabbed
in their own potatoes with needles. More
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dead ends for the RCMP. The
investigation ultimately ended with no arrests having ever
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00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:22.120
been announced. The half a million
dollar reward finally meant its extended time limit
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right before the next harvest, and
no one ended up collecting. The number
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00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:31.120
of potato spikings dwindled as the savoteur
essentially evaporated. It was an unsatisfying end,
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00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:37.000
but an ending nonetheless. After twenty
fifteen, any news about potato spikings
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00:15:37.039 --> 00:15:39.360
linked to link letter or any other
potato farm is hard to come by.
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Despite the misstep, the behemoth that
is the Pei potato farming industry keeps plowing
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00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:50.200
forward now with an even higher,
more expensive, and seemingly invincible safety standard.
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It'll take more than a few needles
to stop it now, and farmers
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00:15:54.679 --> 00:16:00.600
remained hopeful that these types of abhorrent
actions are in the past. So what
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00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:03.519
did you think of the Pei potato
plot. Did the perp get cold feet
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00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:07.879
after the entire police force started hunting
them down. Was it an organized effort
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00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:11.559
to try and fry the potato industry
or was it all a prank that spiraled
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00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:15.320
out of control. Let me know
what you think by following me on Instagram
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00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:19.240
at Maple Moose Mysteries and sending me
a message. If you want more mysteries
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00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:25.399
crimes Unsolved Canadian stories, be sure
to follow this podcast Maple Moose Mysteries and
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00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:27.279
give me a writing. It really
helps me out and I appreciate it.
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00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:30.480
If you do, Hey, maybe
we can grab a poutine sometime and talk
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00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:36.080
about other Canadian stereotypes. I love
Maple, I love Moose's. I love
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to see you next time when we
have a new mystery to share with you all.
