peanut boss remains in legal limbo.(Suffolk Sun)

I FIRST HEARD from Beth Falwell back before Christmas. She told me she was the sister of Stewart Parnell, former president of Peanut Corporation of America in Lynchburg.

That's right. That's the company accused about two years ago of shipping peanut butter and peanut products contaminated with salmonella.

Seems like it should be about over with, doesn't it? Not so, Beth told me in her e-mails. Her brother, she said, has been "brutally slandered and has lost everything he worked his whole life for because of lies and untruths."

She said she was contacting me because she had learned that I've been around for a long time. O.K. Guess that was meant to be a compliment. She said she had to be careful with what she put out.

But she's obviously concerned about her brother.

Their dad, Hugh, started the company 33 years ago. Her brother eventually took over.

Stew is about as caring a guy as you'd want to find anywhere, she said. She said he's a Christian. He thinks nothing of doing whatever he can to help anyone who needs help.

He's still in a kind of limbo, according to the news reports I've been able to find. He hasn't heard whether the federal government still might charge him. There are lots of lawsuits out there that he's worried about.

An article that ran in the Lynchburg paper - The News and Advance - on Jan. 11 says it has been two years since the incident began. The Food and Drug Administration said it found salmonella in an open container of peanut butter made by PCA. Federal investigators raided Parnell's home office on Wiggington Road just outside of Lynchburg for a criminal investigation.

Products made by PCA were in things ranging from ice cream to Asian-style sauces and dog biscuits, according to an article posted on MSNBC.com.

Stewart Parnell has been accused of purposefully selling salmonella-tainted peanuts. He said he only approved shipment of products that originally tested positive after a second test came back negative for salmonella.

Sounds reasonable, I guess. But let's face it, there are lots of folks out there who don't think anything should have been shipped after it tested positive the first time.

Now, I thought I was hearing from Beth because she wanted to see her brother get a fair break. I thought she was offering me an exclusive interview, but it seems she's talked to news sources elsewhere.

Her brother's attorney said in one news article, "There is absolutely no reason in the world that he would have knowingly engaged in any form of misbehavior."

Not everyone agrees with that - like the lawyers representing the people who got sick or even died from salmonella-laced peanut products they claim originated at PCA. In one case, the company is facing a $12 million lawsuit from one family and about 100 other salmonella victims.

Now, salmonella, I believe, is a pretty nasty experience.

It's the most common foodborne illness, causing stomach upsets and diarrhea. In the PCA case, it was linked to the deaths of several people.

But Beth told me on the telephone that some of those people who claimed their death was caused by salmonella also had other serious health problems.

One of the biggest problems, she said, are the people writing on blogs. Opinions and speculation are taken by many as truth. I've always wondered what people would be doing with their time if they weren't writing on blogs or making Internet comments?

She said her brother still has three years of being under scrutiny to look forward to.

Meanwhile, his friends who were also in the peanut business have left him.

"He's been banned from the peanut business for something he didn't do," his sister said.

I told her that sounds odd, as bad as it is. I don't know many people in the upper crust of the peanut business, but I can only assume they're like peanut farmers, firmly attached to the earth.

Linda McNatt, (757) 222-5561,

linda.mcnatt@pilotonline.com

CAPTION(S):

Don Petersen | associated press file photo

Stewart Parnell, former president of Peanut Corporation of America, hasn't heard whether the federal government still might charge him in a salmonella outbreak two years ago.