Green Group Suggested Video Cameras to Spy on Farmer

The Daily Signal ^ | August 25, 2014 | Kevin Mooney

[Henry Hnyellar]

An environmental group that stands accused of overstepping its inspection authority and trespassing across a Virginia farm also tried to have video cameras installed to monitor the property.

An officer of the Piedmont Environmental Council proposed that one of that group’s board members “runs a security company and could offer the use of security cameras to record visitors,” according to documents examined by The Daily Signal.

Martha Boneta, who owns Liberty Farm in Paris, Va., last year sued the Piedmont Environmental Council and others because, she said, PEC encouraged Fauquier County officials to harass her with citations of zoning violations and other actions.

As previously reported by The Daily Signal, Boneta says PEC’s inspections have gone far beyond what is required to assure compliance with an easement on the property.

Documents obtained by The Daily Signal show the environmental group sought not only to monitor Liberty Farm through increasingly invasive inspections but also to install the video cameras to monitor visitors.

However, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, a quasi-state agency created by the state legislature to preserve open space, would not go along.

[uglybiker]

Environmentalism = East Nazi Germany

[Ben Ficklin]

"None of that justifies video surveillance by green nuts"

The judge will decide that. In the meantime, you will want the court of public opinion to decide.

Your problem is that you posted the wrong article, because the article you posted has a link to Piedmont's position paper, which also links to the county's position paper and the consent decree from the first lawsuit.

From both the deed and the first court decision, Piedmont has the right to inspect the property for violations. No doubt Piedmont will argue in court that Boneta's actions of defiance to the deed and the first court decision gives them the right utilize a camera.

And getting back to the possibility that the IRS is getting involved, it would stand to reason that if she is cheating on the easement, and cheating on the county zoning, then there is a good possibility that she is also cheating on her taxes.