Oregon man in Possession of 13 Million Gallons of Illicit Rainwater Sentenced to Jail

NextNewsNetwork ^ | 4/13/13 | Gary Franchi

[Baynative]

OREGON — An Oregon resident with 3 massive man-made ponds on his property is sentenced to 30 days in jail after being found guilty (again) of collecting rainwater without a permit.

[Baynative]

Even rain belongs to the government in a liberal's mind (and a liberal state).

[FlingWingFlyer]

Fascist police states are such wonderful places to live if you’re a liberal. Real utopias.

[null and void]

Poach on the King’s estate, suffer the King’s wrath...

[Paladin2]

Rainwater?

In the East (gov't) dings ya for dumping it, in the West (gov't) dings ya for keepin' it.

[Secret Agent Man]

it’s ridiculous, it will eventually go into the ground again anyway. it all goes back along different paths, evaporation, sewers, or into the ground. so someone changes the percentages of the water falling on their land. there is not any water loss.

[Mark]

Stupid me- I’ve been storing up air!

[Revolting cat!]

It took a long time and a couple of buckets to measure those 13 million gallons!

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

I hope the guy voted for 0bama.

[Revolting cat!]

Quick people, hide your rainwater before they find out!

[mylife]

Unless he was blocking water flow, what is the issue?

Its not like he was pissing down stream.

[OKRA2012]

Even on Texas, the water in public reservoirs belongs to the state or the body that controls the lake. They will send you a water bill if you pump water from the lake for your own use and can prosecute you of you do not pay for the water.

[Revolting cat!]

13 million gallons? That could be worth a fortune.

[gunsequalfreedom]

From the article...

The bigger story here is that rainwater collection is indeed kosher in Oregon, provided that you’re capturing it from an artificial, impervious surface such as a rooftop with the assistance of rainwater barrels. But an extensive reservoir set-up complete with 10- and 20-foot-tall dams is verboten without the proper, state-issued water-right permits — after all, Oregon law dictates that water is a publicly owned resource — and Harrington did not possess said permits.

[JRandomFreeper]

Yep. Government is a shakedown/protection racket with fancy uniforms.

/johnny

[The Cajun]

collecting rainwater without a permit.

People of Oregon, I shake my head and laugh in your direction.............Pathetic dumb asses.

[so_real]

If the government is allowed to claim ownership of the rain that falls on your land, soon will follow a claim of ownership to the sunlight that falls on it, the wind that blows over it, and then the very land itself.

[Revolting cat!]

-- I shot a man in Reno just to watch 'im die. What 're you in for, bud?
-- Uh, ahem, collecting rainwater.

[JRandomFreeper]

"You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant"....

/johnny

[Tupelo]

The key here is WATER RIGHTS.
Water is a valuable commodity in most of the American west and is bought and sold as such.
In most of the west, water is bought and sold like land. Yes Virginia, you buy x number of acre feet and have a deed or a title to prove it. So if you do not have a deed to the water and you are caught using it, you can be prosecuted. Just because a river or stream runs through your land, does not mean you own the water. You may or may not have the rights to some of it or all of it. This is not some johnny-come-lately law, in most states these laws have been on the books and enforced for over 100 years. Look it up. In this case, it sounds like this guy was building illegal dams and using water that belonged to someone else.

[MARTIAL MONK]

Pathetic dumb asses

Not at all. This is basic western water law and has been for a hundred and fifty years. Someone downstream had a claim on that water and he stole it.