Farmer Joe loses 30 year lease in Hua Hin

[lomuamart]

Never did have one of his turkeys. Drummond's following up:
http://www.andrew-drummond.com/view-story.php?sid=431

[sateeb]

read about this on the Khon kaen forum...Is he a well known character around HH?

[Roel]

lomuamart said:

Never did have one of his turkeys.

Remember the Christmas turkey we had at another forum member's house a couple of years ago?
Might well have been one of Joe's.

Don't think I ever met Joe during my years in Hua Hin.
A sad and kind of stereotype story indeed.
I always wonder what went wrong. Was it all planned from the start?

If Joe reads this forum I can only wish him good luck with the court case(s).
Also on the internet there are the usual pathetic replies: he asked for it, why didn't he see it coming, he should have done this, he should have done that.
Do not listen to these bar stool morons Joe. What do they know. Keep your head up.

[JW]

Hope that Joe gets justice, all I know is that he is a nice guy who worked bloody hard.

[sargeant]

I met him 2 or 3 times damn nice guy hope he gets justice and i wish him the best of luck

[Randy Cornhole]

Sadly common story of a foreigner fleeced yet again by a greedy Thai woman.

I knew Joe quite well when I was in HH and wish him all the best.

[Spitfire]

Yes, you could say that this is a somewhat classic stereotypical story of 'greedy bitch robs OK chap' that just wanted to work hard and have I life in a different country.

Notice too the bit about that demon company CP, same old shite here, get too good at something and some bunch of c**** will try to screw you up. This happens at many levels, not just the high one in this case that this chap got too.

[Super Joe]

Yes, you could say that this is a somewhat classic stereotypical story of 'greedy bitch robs OK chap' that just wanted to work hard and have I life in a different country.

Yes true, met him briefly a couple of times and seemed a nice, gentle chap, but way way out there. Having read the details so far it has to be one of the most extreme cases of a farang being wreckless when it comes to protecting your assets, and more importantly your kids futures. Something like 28 rai in his wife's name and zero registered rights for himself, then get's his first lease with her on the last 6 rai & house AFTER they divorced... but never read the lease, got a translation or has a copy... all while operating a prohibited business on it... using a lawyer his Thai wife had been friends with for decades. Wtf!?

But that doesn't change what's right & wrong... he certainly doesn't deserve this obviously, and the level of greed displayed by the wife (assuming he does have all the kids to look after as said) is shameful. There seems to be many pieces of the jigsaw not yet in Andrew D's reports, some nuggets have come out today in postings. Something doesn't sound right about an alleged altered lease as well, leases are registered at the land office and a copy stapled to the land office's filed copy of the chanote.

Notice too the bit about that demon company CP, same old shite here, get too good at something and some bunch of c**** will try to screw you up. This happens at many levels, not just the high one in this case that this chap got too.

That was just a journalist sensationalist soundbite (printbite!?) speculating that CP were involved, AD did state the real and less dramatic known 'facts' deeper inside the story... "He was put out of business by Thailand's Livestock Department during the Asian Bird Flu years"

Doubt Joe's turkeys would concern CP with their 600 Billion Baht annual revenue, he was left alone for years to carry out his business until bird flu came along. Can't see many governments risking people getting sick by allowing an illegal immigrant farmer who lacks the facilities needed to safeguard against something as high profile. Seems Joe was sadly unlucky that a successful business he put his all into was cruely hit by this bird flu carry on. Foreigners operating prohibited businesses here using loopholes, just like developers, knowingly choose to take on all the associated risks. Hope this doesn't come across as being harsh on Joe, but there's some serious lessons to be learned here and if we just brush it under the carpet, do our usual ranting at the mean, nasty Thais then people will never learn anything from it. I hope Joe gets some justice very soon.

SJ

EDITED: Took some of the waffle out.

[margaretcarnes]

I knew Joe from our visa runs, and those very occassional times when he would rock up at the bar for a well earned beer or 2 after the Christmas rush.
There has been some sh..e posted on A N Other forum about all this, obviously by people who have never met Joe let alone know him. He has had many setbacks - an early one was the bird flu outbreak in the UK around 2002, when there were restrictions placed on the import of Irish turkey eggs, on which he depended then, to Thailand. After that Joe started to develop his own cross-breed UK/Thai birds with, I believe, some success.
There was talk of moving his operation to Malaysia at one time, where it would have been easier perhaps for a farang, but for whatever reason that didn't happen.
I am very sorry to hear of these further problems faced by such a dedicated and gentle man, who loves Thailand and has never been afraid of trying to maintain his life and business there.
He has always kept himself to himself and got on with it - (and speaks Thai very well too.)

If you read this forum Joe - the very best of luck. Take care - Mags

[Farmer Joe]

GETTING THE FACTS RIGHT
There are many errors in Super Joe's blog, which I will attempt to correct.
1/All agricultural activities had finished before the lease was made. My tenancy has been strictly residential. The lease was made while we were still married.
2/My Free Range operation posed negligible risk to public health, and we never had any notifiable disease problems. Sample birds were lab tested (cloacal swabs), one week before the issue of DLD Movement Licenses. IN CONTRAST, Thailand's huge fighting cock network poses a huge risk to public health, and is totally out of control. Even during the Bird Flu epidemic, cock fighting continued as normal....HOW IRRESPONSIBLE IS THAT?
3/CP entered the turkey business about 2 years before I was "squeezed out". Their product was inferior to mine, which was no doubt very embarrassing. They have since quit the business, because their costs are too high, using high tech buildings.
4/My lease was drawn up by Khun Ton (P&A Notary Office). The agreement I signed in his office was complete, and perfectly legal. When his clerk went to the Land Office the next day to register the lease, the toxic clause "residency & orchard gardening" was added in a Land Office document....in my absence, and without my knowledge or consent. My wife was in contact with the clerk at the time by phone!

[Farang]

Farmer Joe, thanks for setting the thing right.

Are you saying that the clerk from Khun Ton office or from Land Office afterwards and without consulting you altered the document already signed by you?

Assuming I have understood you correctly, which one was it?

This is a really, really serious matter, a forgery, no matter who did it.

[JW]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for putting some real facts out there for everyone to read, there is no doubt that everyone I know hopes that you get justice.
Best of luck to you.

JW

[Super Joe]

GETTING THE FACTS RIGHT
There are many errors in Super Joe's blog, which I will attempt to correct.
1/All agricultural activities had finished before the lease was made. My tenancy has been strictly residential. The lease was made while we were still married.

Hi Joe, apologies for getting that wrong then, I took it from an Andrew Drummond posting yesterday,

2/My Free Range operation posed negligible risk to public health, and we never had any notifiable disease problems.

I didn't actually say you had had any diseases there to be fair, just about the risk which unfortunately we don't get to decide about. Obviously when it comes to farangs that aren't large well known corporations the government won't care less about us or our livelihoods.

My lease was drawn up by Khun Ton (P&A Notary Office). The agreement I signed in his office was complete, and perfectly legal. When his clerk went to the Land Office the next day to register the lease, the toxic clause "residency & orchard gardening" was added in a Land Office document.... in my absence, and without my knowledge or consent. My wife was in contact with the clerk at the time by phone!

Was that added as an additional sheet attached to the lease, or a whole new lease produced and your old one discarded? And what did they do about putting your signature on this new land office document Joe? Also what was the meaning of 'residency & orchard gardening', that you can use the land for purposes other than that? Sorry for the nosey questions

Good luck with it all, hope you get your half

SJ

[redzonerocker]

I just hope it all gets sorted out with the minimum of fuss (as possible) & with a positive outcome

[margaretcarnes]

Joe - good on you for putting everything straight on here, and please let us know how things proceed when you can.
As for PA Notary - yes - understood. Ton IMO is a sound guy. The clerk you refer to cleared off some years ago under a cloud. Stick with it. We are all behind you.