Posted on 07/19/2006 6:49:16 AM PDT by Spiff
County decides it cannot block Minuteman fence By Jonathan Clark
Herald/Review
BISBEE — Cochise County’s planning director ruled Tuesday that the Israeli-style border barrier a local rancher has asked the Minutemen to build on his property can be considered as having an agricultural purpose, and is therefore exempt from county regulation.
The decision clears the way for the Minutemen to begin building a 0.9-mile-long security fence on Richard Hodges’ ranch east of Naco later this month. According to state law, improvements made for agricultural purposes to properties of five or more contiguous acres are exempt from county jurisdiction. County Planning Director Judy Anderson and other officials have been gathering evidence in recent weeks to determine if the barrier proposed for Hodges’ 372-acre ranch — two parallel 14-foot fences topped with razor wire — meets that exemption.
Anderson announced at a public meeting of the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that she has decided in Hodges’ favor.
“I agree that this is not a standard ranch fence. It’s a military fence,” Anderson said. “But my conclusion is that when you read the agricultural exemption, what Mr. Hodges is proposing does serve an agricultural purpose.”
Anderson’s ruling was based in part on legal advice from the county Attorney’s Office. Deputy County Attorney Britt Hanson briefed the board Tuesday on his office’s opinion in the case.
Hanson said he had found only one significant ruling by the state Court of Appeals that addressed the issue of agricultural exemption — a 2003 ruling that said Yuma County could not regulate a farmer’s plan to build housing for his migrant workers. In its decision, the court said the law clearly intended for the agricultural exemption to be broadly applied.
That decision, Hanson said, suggested the Court of Appeals would make a similar ruling in a case involving Hodges’ fence.
In terms of the intended purpose of the fence, Hanson recognized the Minutemen are motivated by political and not agricultural concerns, and that Hodges had written an op-ed piece in the Herald/Review stating he had asked the Minutemen to build the fence to keep drug traffickers off his land.
But Hodges also had told the county of his farm-related concerns, such as a need to keep his 16 cows and 16 calves out of a nearby border road, Hanson said.
“It doesn’t look like a standard ranch fence, and it is certainly not a standard ranch fence,” Hanson said. “But that doesn’t decide the issue. The issue is whether or not Mr. Hodges has an agricultural purpose in building that fence.”
District 3 Supervisor Richard Searle said that while the Israeli design of Hodges’ fence was extreme, he understood the motivation behind it.
“Am I a supporter of a fence like this along the border? No, I’m not,” Searle said. “But I do believe in the general principal that if a private property owner wants to protect his agricultural property, he may have to resort to unconventional means to do that.”
District 2 Supervisor Paul Newman, who represents the Bisbee-Naco-Douglas border area, objected to classifying a fence designed by the Israeli Army as an agricultural improvement.
“I certainly understand the agricultural reasons for fences,” Newman said. “But this wall in particular is more of a political statement that sends a negative message about coming up with a real solution (to the border crisis).”
Newman noted the Yuma County decision cited by Hanson was made at a mid-level court of appeals, and he suggested the state Supreme Court might rule differently.
Furthermore, he said the Minutemen-built border fence would reflect poorly on the county.
“Do we want Cochise County to be known as the place where we put up this wall to nowhere?” he asked.
Neither Newman, Searle, nor District 1 Supervisor Pat Call had a role in Tuesday’s ruling. The decision was made by Anderson independent of the board.
And while Newman worried the exemption would set a dangerous precedent, Anderson said her decision applied only to the particulars of Hodges’ case.
Anderson’s ruling can now be appealed within 30 days to the District 2 Board of Adjustments by any aggrieved member of the public.
During a call to the public prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Betty Lindstrom, an environmental biology teacher who lives near Hodges, expressed concern over the impact the fence might have on migrating wildlife, such as jaguar, white-tailed deer and javelina.
Lindstrom wondered why no environmental impact studies had been done on the fence proposal, and she said environmental groups would likely file lawsuits to block the project.
“These fences are not effective for keeping illegal aliens out,” Lindstrom said as she displayed photos of border fences cut by undocumented migrants. “But they are very effective in stopping wildlife.”
Earlier this year, the Minutemen constructed a 2 1/2-mile barbed wire range fence on the Palominas ranch of Jack and John Ladd. Jack Ladd told the Anderson and the board members Tuesday that a primary concern for borderfront ranchers is keeping diseased Mexican cattle away from their herds.
But when ranchers construct cattle fencing, they often find it vandalized by migrants or drug smugglers, Ladd said. He added that fences on his ranch had been vandalized both by automobile drive-throughs and people armed with wire-cutters.
“So, what can you do?” he asked. “You put something up that you can’t cut with a pair of wire-cutters.”
“You have a right to fence your property,” Ladd continued. “And if the fence doesn’t work, you have a right to put in a fence that does work. If it takes an Israeli-style fence, then so be it.”
JONATHAN CLARK can be reached at 515-4693 or by e-mail at jonathan.clark@bisbeereview.net.
Ping. IBTFROBL!
I wonder if all the folks who have been attacking Simcox for not building more than a five-strand cattle fence will now come to this thread and admit there was good reason why building the Israeli-style fence had not proceeded.
I would venture not too many will show up on this thread. It's too inconvenient.
if there is someone associated with this project, could you please freepmail me. i would like to know the final costs associated with material, and the approximate manhours associated with erecting this fence. will need this info to draft a proposal letter to the entire house and senate, to let them know of the exact cost of putting up a fence vs. feeding, clothing, housing and medicating illegals.
Washington fiddles while America burns. The cost of a Israeli style fence would be nothing compared to the WELFARE DOLLARS FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS -- which exceeds $100 BILLION per year across the nation.
Of course, Washington thinks YOU are too stupid to figure that out. And the vote-chasing libs and RINOs (including Bush) want to pander, so no fence.
The scary part is that he had to fight the county politicos to get it done.
I would bet that they will start working on a change to the county laws to prevent it in the future.
Now we need this fence built on the entire border.
The Senate won't pay for the border fencing they authorized to be built, but US citizens will pay to have it built anyway!! Go Minutemen!
g in AZ
ping
Too bad they can't put up machine gun nests to improve it's effectiveness.
The people of the county should insure those politicos become unemployed next election.
I agree, but you have to choose your moat monsters carefully.
How about the 60 to 70% of the cocaine that comes across this unsecured border. Somebody in DC surely doesn't want a fence.
How about the 60 to 70% of the cocaine that comes across this unsecured border. Somebody in DC surely doesn't want a fence.
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IMHO, the most easily corruptable body of people in this country, is the U.S. Congress. Just ask ANY lobbyist, legal or illegal.
Erected by Minute Men.
About the time I think Capitalism is dead something like this happens.
Once your fence is built, don't castle laws apply to you protecting your property? I.e. make-my-day.
ping
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