It Begins… US Citizen Goes to Jail for Collecting Rain Water

Gateway ^ | July 9, 2014 | Jim Hoft

[george76]

Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property, went to jail today.

...

Gary Harrington will be serving in jail until September 2014 for collecting rainwater.

...

“I’m sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty,” Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail.

[Dead Corpse]

Limited laws. They knew full well that too many laws leads to crap like this and people like you...

[Dead Corpse]

You just admitted that there is water flowing downstream.

How much of someone else’s water is theirs? Just like welfare leaches, how much of my paycheck belongs to them?

[Uncle Chip]

So I guess then that it is okay for his neighbors down below to dam up the river and flood his land and put it all under water if they so choose —

Would that be okay???

[familyop]

"They declared his property a wetland, so removing rainwater is “endangering” it."

But here's what the article says.

"Harrington was found guilty two weeks ago of breaking a 1925 law for having, what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property...The Oregon Water Resources Department, claims that Harrington has been violating the state’s water use law by diverting water from streams running into the Big Butte River."

The State government did it--the same people who are wanting to take our rights out of the Constitution and rule over us even more like commies/monarchs (same thing).

[Conscience of a Conservative]

No. This happened in 2012. Not sure where Hoft is getting the ‘jailed until Sept 2014’ stuff.

[MaxMax]

So I guess then that it is okay for his neighbors down below to dam up the river and flood his land

Strawman arguments, this is Twice you've pulled a dead rabbit from your hat.

1. He's not damming up any waterway
2. He's not flooding any land
3. He dug a hole and it filled with water
4. There are no waterways connected to the ponds
5. The runoff from the ponds is just as natural as rain or snow across the entire property
6. He's charged after the permit was pulled for not having a reason for the ponds

[familyop]

The County is enforcing that State law, and it's the County Sherrif's Department that's jailing him--a sheriff's department elected by his Republican and Democrat commie/NIMBY neighbors, their government derived incomes.

That's what's really going on all over the country, and the perpetrators in every locale control both political parties.

Oregon criminalizes permaculture; claims state ownership over all rainwater - ponds and swales restricted - jail time for violators (Natural News)

He was convicted by a jury of commie/NIMBY neighbors.

Harrington Conviction and Sentence (Oregon government)

Oregon man jailed for having three water reservoirs (ponds?) (Permies)

Man Sentenced to 30 Days for Catching Rain Water on Own Property (Right Wing News)
http://www.rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/man-sentenced-to-30-days-for-catching-rain-water-on-own-property-enters-jail/

There have even been several long threads of arguments between DU members at DU (will show in search engines), because there are both Democrats and Republicans involved in trying to shut down the property rights and other rights of Americans. And yes, it's a class struggle. And yes, they started it decades ago.

[TigersEye]

You’re right. I hadn’t viewed the video until now but it is dated Aug. 2012.

[familyop]

"So I guess then that it is okay for his neighbors down below to dam up the river and flood his land and put it all under water if they so choose —

Would that be okay???"

That's a good display of technical knowledge and reading comprehension from one of our socio-political superiors. The years ahead will be fun indeed.

Man Sentenced to 30 Days for Catching Rain Water on Own Property Enters Jail (CNSNews.com)
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/man-sentenced-30-days-catching-rain-water-own-property-enters-jail
"(CNSNews.com) – Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning to begin serving his 30-day, jail sentence in Medford, Ore."

[familyop]

...with date and author.

Man Sentenced to 30 Days for Catching Rain Water on Own Property Enters Jail (CNSNews.com)
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/man-sentenced-30-days-catching-rain-water-own-property-enters-jail
August 8, 2012
By Kendra Alleyne
"(CNSNews.com) – Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning to begin serving his 30-day, jail sentence in Medford, Ore."

[Uncle Chip]

Is everyone else up there living under the 1925 Law???

Why do you and he think that he shouldn’t have to??

[familyop]

Rain or snow that falls on a property in dry parts of the West does not run downhill to any stream on another property. It evaporates very quickly instead and falls hundreds of miles downwind. Commie NIMBYs seek to control and/or own properties that they did not pay for by their sneaky and evil conspiracies with corrupt state and local governments. They develop jealousies against their neighbors’ energy and willingness to do some work outdoors and hate their neighbors for not being as short, troll-like and generally repulsive as themselves.

[Uncle Chip]

Rain or snow that falls on a property in dry parts of the West does not run downhill to any stream on another property.

Tell that to the Colorado River, the Green River, and every other river out west.

You don't know what you are talking about.

[Uncle Chip]

6. He's charged after the permit was pulled for not having a reason for the ponds

No one spends the time and effort and money to dig 3 reservoirs to hold 13 million gallons of water for no reason.

Why wouldn't he give them his reason for doing so???

What do you think his reason was???

[familyop]

"Tell that to the Colorado River, the Green River, and every other river out west."

That comment is hysterical.

"You don't know what you are talking about."

That's a fallacious argument. Here's a good argument.

In the West, I've watched water evaporate within minutes from properties that are not far uphill from streams. I've dug into western soil during and after rains. I've watched snow and ice evaporate without pooling at all, as the wind blew it away.

I've seen hysterical, short, fat, ugly women from the east (and their short, fat, henpecked, lilting, limp-wristed, Elmer-Fudd-looking husbands/boyfriends) claim that the local frost level was somewhere over 10 feet down in their NIMBY arguments aimed at keeping their neighbors from building on their own properties.

But you...? We don't need influence from the east, and we don't want to hear opinions from easterners. Over 100 years ago, typically corrupt lawyers came to the West, violated private property rights, robbed people and made messes of our laws.

Most of the people from the rural Midwest would be very welcome, though. Ozark hillbillies, specifically, would do the West much good.

[Uncle Chip]

Where do you think the water from those spring/summer/fall thunderstorms in the higher elevations flow to???

Evian Bottles???

[Oztrich Boy]

What do you think his reason was???

1. Dig 3 ponds

2. ?

3. Water Monopoly Empire.

[MaxMax]

3. LOL! His next phase was to empty the Pacific into a hidden reserve under his bomb shelter.
Thank god our Government stopped him and saved the planet.

[ViLaLuz]

“This is not about environmentalism, but about water rights - specifically about Harrington diverting water from the Big Butte River.”

There’s a river named after Michelle 0bama?

[familyop]

Outside of creeks or rivers, water doesn’t flow far. It evaporates very quickly under high-altitude sun and/or wind. Being interested in agriculture, small construction and thermal systems, I’ve watched it happen thousands of times.

It doesn’t go downward through soil or run over dry land more than a few inches. After the heavier rains (not heavy at all compared to the east), there’s been no standing water on dry land for more than a few minutes. Dry land is land without any stream or surface water rights: the kind of land that some landowners want to collect rain water on.

This is the West. It’s not like the East. There’s not much humidity or rain here except on the northwest coast and extreme north, near the border (Montana and the like).

The water in the streams flows down from snow, mostly, on the peaks—nearly all of it within a few feet of those streams, and most of the water by far in those streams is underground. I’ve seen streams that only hold a few inches of water on the surface and 40 feet underground.

And yes, I’ve learned quite a bit about water systems.