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Posted on 07/23/2012 4:47:14 PM PDT by Kaslin
The showdown between the federal government and the historic town of Tombstone is headed to court. Using the 10th Amendment as a defense for the residents of Tombstone, the Goldwater Institute will be pushing back against the United States Forest Service (USFS), which is preventing the repair of crucial water lines to the town. More from Goldwater:
The City of Tombstone is squaring off against the U.S. Forest Service over water rights in a fight to rescue “The Town Too Tough to Die.” Citing the Wilderness Act, the Forest Service is refusing to allow the city to repair its waterlines to mountain springs it has owned for nearly seventy years – and which date back to the 1880s. This refusal is threatening residents, private property and public safety with the risk of a total loss of fire protection and safe drinking water.
The role of the USFS in the creation of massive forest fires in the west has been well documented by myself and Michelle Malkin. This case is no different.
In a show down between the federal government and the “Town Too Tough to Die,” the U.S. Forest Service is refusing to allow Tombstone to repair its mountain spring water lines after forest fires, floods and torrential mudslides destroyed them in the Monument Fire of 2011. Not content with allowing forest fires to burn down some of the most beautiful land in Arizona, the Forest Service is willing to risk the lives and properties of Tombstone residents and tourists due to the loss of adequate fire suppression capabilities and safe drinking water.
Between May and July 2011, the Monument Fire engulfed a large part of the eastern portion of the Huachuca Mountains. Record-breaking monsoon rains followed. With no vegetation to absorb the runoff, huge mudslides forced boulders to tumble down the mountain sides, crushing Tombstone’s mountain spring waterlines, destroying reservoirs and shutting off Tombstone’s main source of water. In some areas, Tombstone’s pipeline is under 12 feet of mud, rocks and other debris; while in other places, it is hanging in mid-air due to the ground being washed out from under it. In response, federal bureaucrats are refusing to allow Tombstone to unearth its springs and restore its waterlines unless they jump through a lengthy permitting process that will require the city to use horses and hand tools to remove boulders the size of Volkswagens.
Aside from military bases and offices, the federal government should not be in the business of owning land.
The land should be deeded back to the states. Actually, by means of a lottery, it should be deeded back to the citizens.
So they are saying the lives of people are less important than some twigs, mice, moss, etc. by restricting water for drinking and fire fighting.
While I mostly agree, this would have to be done very carefully to avoid emulating what happened in Russia in the early 1990's, when citizen vouchers were scooped up for pennies on the dollar (or rouble) by the emerging oligarchs.
Yup, they don’t care about peoples lives.
At the rate some Federal agencies are abusing power there might be another bombing that makes Oklahoma City look tiny. I do not advocate such action, just observing what’s happening.
Gotta wonder...if this was a “Chocolate City” as one Mayor once described his distressed town, would the Corps of Engineers be on it like ants on an anthill? I’m guessing they would.
You've hit the issue right. Our US government is on an anti-human, fascist track.
“So they are saying the lives of people are less important than some twigs, mice, moss, etc. by restricting water for drinking and fire fighting.”...
That is what they are saying and it is happening all over this country but silently. The news media does not get the information or, chooses not to publish it. I have dealt with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife people for some time and I can tell you with certainty, their mission is to take the country completely out of the peoples hands and into their own.
They should, but Congress can't do it because Federal lands are effectively collateral for Federal debt.
Tombstone is >30 miles from me, I live next to the Huachuca Mtns, and the Monument Fire affected I and my family.
Enough of that nonsense. Get armed citizen volunteers for security and make the freakin’ repairs! Dare the damned forest service thugs to interfere. That’s the only way to start regaining our rights- with resistance.
This sounds like Klamath Falls all over again. Ping to someone who would know.
The Forest Service is being faulted but is cler of charges. The Forest Service is merely enforcing the law, the law designating the land in question as wilderness and thus pretty much untouchable.
The fault then is that of the Congress that passed the law designating the area to be wilderness. Tombstone should therefore seek redress in the congress to pass a waiver for utilities easements
Does the USFS have their own SWAT team?
It would also put the land back on the tax rolls, the government doesn’t pay taxes on owning 1/2 of the western states....
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