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Posted on 07/05/2014 10:49:16 AM PDT by PoloSec
One has to ask you “who owns the rainwater that falls from the sky?” If you said the property owner then I’m sorry to say you are ‘dead wrong’.
Gary Harrington has been in the news as of late and this week he entered a local jail to serve 30 days for collecting rainwater on his property.
The issue at heart is the dispute of who really owns the water, snow and collective run-off that falls from the sky. Gary Harrington will begin serving a 30 day jail sentence for refusing to back down on that issue that surrounds his rural estate in Oregon. “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 Jail.
The small group held signs in support for Harrington as he walked inside the jail, turning to wave goodbye to the crowd before slipping inside.
Harrington has been found guilty of breaking a 1925 law for having three illegal reservoirs on his property.
Not only has Harrington refused to comply, but he has also been convicted of nine misdemeanors, sentenced to 30 days in jail, fined over $1,500, all for collecting rainwater and snow run-off on his Oregon property.
Oregon State claims that Harrington is diverting water meant for the state’s rivers and streams, which is part of their water supply. “The government has become big bullies” and “from here on in, I’m going to fight it”, he said.
He went on to say, “They’ve just gotten to be big bullies and if you just lay over and die and give up, that just makes them bigger bullies.” Harrington went on to say, “We as Americans, we need to stand on our constitutional rights, on our rights as citizens and hang tough. This is a good country, we’ll prevail.”
Harrington will be serving time into the month of September due to other related issues from this entire incident.
Well, the next time it floods from rain and private property is damaged, the property owner should rightly sue the state for not controlling their water
Looks like this dude needs to start laying off on the Krispy Kreme =)
Well, the next time it floods from rain and private property is damaged, the property owner should rightly sue the state for not controlling their water
Western water rights are different than Eastern. In the West we have appropriations based on a first in time system. When water is scarce, the most recent priority is shut off first, and so on, with the oldest appropriation having the highest priority.
What he is doing is trying to circumvent others' property rights by keeping all his runoff. Basically, he is stealing water from its rightful owners.
May God send the rain to Texas where it will fall on the just and unjust and we will share it and be thankful knowing that he owns it.
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I'm sure the law doesn't differentiate between water that is passing through (like a stream) and water that falls from the sky by the grace of God. It should. The law is almost always an ass.
I could see someone being limited from taking from a stream or river, but not rainfall. I'm sure many would disagree, but I see rainfall quite differently, as there are any number of things one could do besides building a pond, or similar structure to increase ot decrease the amount of runoff a given stretch of land might have. I see this as just another form of collectivism.
Watersheds areas big as the regulators say they are. In parts of WA state, it is illegal to place cistern or water barrel on your property without the approval of the State dept of wildlife. They say that if the water is allowed to run freely, it might run off of your property and then it wouldn’t be yours any more.
I live in Martinsville Indiana and they just last month stated this crap here. It will cost us about $100/year for our one acre lot in the industrial park for rain water. And this is for every square foot of land in the city limits, residential and commercial including your yard as well. We calculated how many millions of dollars this tax will cost people, and there is no announcement on where the money will officially go either other than "waste water treatment".
Next they’ll tax you on the number of trees you have. Or how much sunlight your property is receiving.
Looks like a “donut hoarder” to me.
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