Free Republic

Conservation Easements in Ohio and in Montana 17 Years Ago United Nations agencies working against the economic needs and wishes of U.S. citizens compiled a blueprint for achieving Sustainable Development called U.N. Agenda 21. This 40-chapter document (about 300 pages) addresses every facet of human life and how Sustainable Development should be implemented through local, state, and federal government. With its grant-making power (‘visioning grants’ and ‘challenge grants’) and conservation easements, the federal government promoted the Sustainable Development idea and policies to the state and local levels with the creation of an army of new community of Sustainable Development NGOs...

Property Rights is not just a Western problem Over the past few weeks, we have been inundated with heartrending stories concerning the theft of Property Rights by various government agencies manned by unelected bureaucrats foisting their policy regulations with no valid constitutional basis. I believe it fair to say most of us are not only concerned, but getting damned angry in finding just how pervasive the usurpative practices are becoming in even the smallest of communities. Back in the early Eighties, I bought a small agricultural holding with an old eight room house, a tri-level 20,000 sq.ft. post-and-beam barn, ...

"Dale Henderson, a prominent Maine landowner who owns two pieces of land that the new trail runs through, is challenging the state over ownership of parts of the new Sunrise Trail. About 50 miles of the project recently was opened to hikers, bikers, cross-country skiers, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. But Henderson isn’t waiting for the courts to decide his fate. He already has taken matters into his own hands. The landowner recently erected barricades to stop users from traversing his property. In the town of Hancock, Henderson put up a berm on the tracks at one end and a stone...

While the world focuses on the growing numbers of Obama crimes mounting up (We now are told that Jesse Jackson jr. was a stooge reporting to the FBI which should endear him to the entire black community in being an informant.), no one has mentioned a word about the Obama adjoining property in what that crowning glory means literally. Part of what is missing here is the "easement" factor most property owners have no idea exists. In most localities, like Chicago having a cow kicking a lantern which burns down a city, there are easements. It protects your house from...

    U.S. Set to Take Coloradans Land Without Compensation    By Fred Kelly Grant October 24, 2008              At this very hour, Colorado landowners are fighting to prevent the United States federal government from taking their land.  Ignored by the mass media, hundreds of farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado are facing loss of their property at the hands of the IRS.  They are victims of “conservation easements” promoted by federal and state governments, land trust companies, and conservation groups.    As landowners dedicated to preserving the open, agricultural use of their land, lured into the “easements” by both the...

TEXARKANA — The company selected to design Interstate 69 has revealed plans to also implement the world’s first air rail freight system in the corridor, possibly starting in Texarkana, Texas. “You [Texarkana ] have railroads here, you already have an interstate, bringing I-69 is another interstate, you’ve got Oklahoma, you’ve got I-49,” said Gary Kuhn, senior project manager for Zachary American Infrastructure. “This is what the logistics world likes to see — that opportunity to go from one mode to another very efficiently.” In a presentation to the Wilbur Smith Rotary Club, Kuhn said the freight shuttle is a new...

WASHINGTON — John Dingell, the incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Wednesday he wants the Federal Communications Commission to delay its vote on AT&T Inc.'s acquisition of BellSouth Corp. Dingell, saying the combination raises a "significant antitrust question, sent a letter to the FCC asking that it hold off on the vote until after the new Congress convenes in January. "I think it would be in their interest, I think it would be in the interest of the committee, and I think it would be in the interest of the public," he said Wednesday. FCC Chairman...

PFUSA Grange announces an upcoming conference February 22, 2006 Ashland, Oregon - PFUSA Grange announces an upcoming conference focusing on eminent domain abuse and conservation easements. Titled "My Land, My Home, My Business!" the conference will feature Timothy Sandefur from Pacific Legal Foundation, Fred Kelly Grant from Stewards of the Range, and Russell Walker from Freedomworks. The conference will be held both Saturday, April 29th in Phoenix, Oregon and again Sunday, April 30th in Terrebonne, Oregon. The cost for each one-day event, including lunch, will be $35 per person for anyone registered by April 15th, and $50 per person thereafter...

To call Lev Rozin's back yard an urban paradise might be an exaggeration. But with its swimming pool, fig tree, ginger plants and rose bushes, it's a pleasant refuge. Some days, there's nothing finer than to kick back, watch Lord Axel, the Great Dane, frolic on the grass and listen to the wind in the power lines. Rozin's playground is CenterPoint Energy's right of way, and for years the relationship between the utility and Rozin's neighborhood has been congenial. With the company's permission, at least 22 residents on Twin Hills in southwest Houston extended their back yards onto the utility's...

<p>Greg Hardesty lost an arm and part of a leg in a tractor accident 11 years ago, but that hasn't stopped him from working his Elk Grove alfalfa farm.</p> <p>Instead, the southward push of tract housing and shopping centers may force him off the land.</p>

FEDS TAKE PROPERTY FOR A TRAIL; TAKE TAXPAYERS FOR A RIDE William Perry Pendley President and Chief Legal Officer   On May 22, 2002, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordered the United States to pay J. Paul and Patricia Preseault of Burlington, Vermont, for the unconstitutional taking of their property, that is, without paying for it. The United States was ordered to pay: $234,000, plus interest from the February 5, 1986, date of the taking, for a total of $551,931.30; and $894,855.60 in attorneys' fees. The United States will be writing a check for $1,446,786.90! The United States...