Latest Doping Scandal: 4H Steer Tests Positive for Steroids

As if all the major league baseball players weren't enough, now we have a drug scandal in the 4H!!! Reported in this week's Plain Dealer:

Three years of judging market steers at the Great Geauga County Fair. Three straight champions off one family farm. But put an asterisk next to that last title. The grand champion steer from this year's fair faces disqualification because it tested positive for a steroid, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The state issued its finding Friday, nearly three months after launching an investigation.

The Huntsburg Township teen who raised and exhibited the animal has been asked to forfeit the auction winnings - reported at $7,743 - and other first-place prizes, including the champion's banner and blue ribbon claimed over Labor Day weekend.
The 1,335-pound steer shown by Clark Adams tested positive for an anti-inflammatory medication known as Dexamethasone. The drug was administered "without the direction of a veterinarian" and made the animal appear more sound, the state reported. The presence of the steroid made the animal unacceptable for immediate slaughter, officials said. The animal was processed for meat after the drug cleared its system.

Clark, 17, and his mother, Dona, signed a form during the fair claiming the steer had not been administered drugs. The boy's father, John Adams, called the omission an oversight. He said on Friday a groomer clipping the steer two days before the fair recommended the drug - which he equated to ibuprofen - to combat swelling in the animal's right rear hock. Nobody thought that it would be an issue, the father said.
Rumors of the positive test started circulating around rural Geauga soon after the fair. John Adams bristled at the notion that his son has been labeled a cheater. .....more