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9 Misdemeanors, $1500 in Fines and 30 Days in Jail, All Over Disputed Rainwater Rights
Free Patriot ^ | July 4 2014 | Tim Walker

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.


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: oregon; rainwater; water; waterrights
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The victim of gov't tyranny:

http://freepatriot.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Harrington-rainwater-collector-jailed-e1404251636741.jpg

1 posted on 07/05/2014 10:49:16 AM PDT by PoloSec
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To: PoloSec

Should have just said they were wetlands - the libs in OR would have demonstrated and rioted.


2 posted on 07/05/2014 10:54:56 AM PDT by SkyDancer (If you don't read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read newspapers you are misinformed)
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To: PoloSec

Patriot. I am in awe of him. Especially because he will lose (one way or the other) in the end.


3 posted on 07/05/2014 10:55:06 AM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
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To: george76

of interest ping


4 posted on 07/05/2014 10:55:22 AM PDT by MileHi
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To: PoloSec
P75689: What are you in for?

P28675: Murder. What are you in for?

P75689: Stealing rain.

5 posted on 07/05/2014 10:55:59 AM PDT by Repeat Offender (While the wicked stand confounded, call me with Thy saints surrounded.)
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To: SkyDancer

Aren’t property owners required to keep stormwater runoff on their properties to reduce pollutants and suspended soils from reaching the pristine waters of the state?


6 posted on 07/05/2014 11:00:46 AM PDT by shotgun
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To: shotgun

Your carbon foot print? is too large. Please stop breathing when you speak to me. What falls from the sky is taxable. It’s so simple.


7 posted on 07/05/2014 11:07:51 AM PDT by glyptol
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To: MileHi; dhs12345; dynachrome; Balata; bboop; BulletBobCo; Carley; ColoCowgirl; Colorado Doug; ...

Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)


8 posted on 07/05/2014 11:08:05 AM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: shotgun

I think it’s Maryland where you are actually taxed on the rain runoff from your roof. They calculate sq/ft and tax you accordingly. One inch of rain on a 300sq/ft roof produces “X” amount of runoff into the sewers or some such idiocy.


9 posted on 07/05/2014 11:09:36 AM PDT by SkyDancer (If you don't read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read newspapers you are misinformed)
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To: PoloSec
Oregon State claims that Harrington is diverting water meant for the state’s rivers and streams, which is part of their water supply.

The State's claim is too broad and ambiguous. They need to specify the particular stream or river watershed which is being violated. If Harrington's property is not part of a specific watershed then he is not in violation of the idiotic law.

10 posted on 07/05/2014 11:12:07 AM PDT by immadashell (The inmates are running the asylum.)
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To: PoloSec
Here's more to the story...

I've got mixed opinions on this.


11 posted on 07/05/2014 11:16:25 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: PoloSec

I’ve got kind of mixed emotions on this one. Our Big ranch is 32 sections (32 square miles) and it feeds to the head of the Concho River. While we have built some small ponds we don’t build them in what we call the main basin so we don’t deprive any of those down stream of much needed water. There is one area on the ranch I could dam up and turn it into a lake about 3 miles long and a mile wide but that cuts off water to neighboring ranches. Water is the life blood to West Texas Ranches.


12 posted on 07/05/2014 11:18:20 AM PDT by Dusty Road
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To: glyptol

Can you identify your stolen rain? Stop with that they all look alike to me as that’s racist. Rain drops have feelings too.


13 posted on 07/05/2014 11:19:49 AM PDT by lostboy61 (Lock and Load and stand your ground!)
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To: immadashell

My guess is that he has the wrong lawyer or is representing himself.

The law is faulty in so many ways.

A landowner who builds a small pond to irrigate crops, etc., for instance, would have to get a permit or he would be in the same boat.

So issuing a permit to one and denying a permit to another .....

Bringing in a landscaaper and terracing one’s property to reduce runoff would run into the same legal problems unless not enforced.

One can think of 100 examples.

In many states, mine included, one must create holding ponds to prevent runoff when one grades, paves or in anyway changes the natural runoff pattern.

I thought Oregon had a very wet climate and that there was no problem with lack of water.

Does not make much sense, but then neither do most libs and Oregon is noted for nut case libs.


14 posted on 07/05/2014 11:22:13 AM PDT by old curmudgeon
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To: PoloSec
Water hoarder!!


15 posted on 07/05/2014 11:44:07 AM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: smokingfrog

Kulak!


16 posted on 07/05/2014 11:57:16 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Health Care Haiku: If You Have a Right / To the Labor I Provide / I Must Be Your Slave)
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To: SkyDancer

Yes, you are correct, except that your driveway, parking area, and other impermeable surfaces are included along with the roof.


17 posted on 07/05/2014 12:03:21 PM PDT by expat2
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To: expat2

I’d blame whoever it was that caused the rain in the first place and have those idiots go after them ... wasn’t the owners fault it rained on the property. The libs sue you for capturing the rain (CO & OR) or tax you if it runs off into sewers.....


18 posted on 07/05/2014 12:06:31 PM PDT by SkyDancer (If you don't read the newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read newspapers you are misinformed)
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To: PoloSec

Does that mean that one is not allowed to dig a fish pond on his property to raise fish as a food source?


19 posted on 07/05/2014 12:07:43 PM PDT by 353FMG
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To: PoloSec
local jail to serve 30 days

I think the penalty is worse if the EPA rules that the puddle in your backyard is a navigable waterway.

I do see your point but the price of freedom is eternal vigilance and the nation is far from vigilant.

"How strangely will the tools of a tyrant pervert the plain meaning of words!" --Samuel Adams, to John Pitts, 1776

"When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you - you know your nation is doomed." Ayn Rand

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." - Tacitus, Roman Senator and Historian (A.D. c.56 - c. 115)

20 posted on 07/05/2014 12:18:52 PM PDT by MosesKnows (Love many, trust few, and always paddle your own canoe.)
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