Posted on 06/30/2002 6:07:10 AM PDT by chance33_98
Homebuilder charged with Endangered Species Act violations
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) A developer who wanted to build 3,200 homes in Pittsburg has been charged with violating the Endangered Species Act.
West Coast Homebuilders Inc. of Concord was charged in U.S. District Court in Oakland Friday with two counts of violating the act after authorities said a department of Fish and Game warden found a dead California red-legged frog on the site last year.
Prosecutors say Albert Seeno Jr. owner of the company ordered his workers to fill in ponds that were home to the endangered frog.
The frog is believed to be the one Mark Twain made famous in his short story ``The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.'' It was put on the endangered species list in 1996, and has disappeared from nearly three-quarters of its natural range.
The company could be placed on five years' probation and fined if convicted of violating the act. The company is expected to plead July 19.
Seeno's attorney Bill Goodman declined to comment on the case Saturday.
These environmentalists are nuts. I'm not sure what the life span of that frog was, but a bigger critter could have just as well eaten him the next week or he could have choked on a lily pad.
I believe that these folks and the "endangered species act" are infringing on the rights of property owners to develop their property according to "reasonable rules".
Somehow, America has to come to their senses. Our forefathers filled in the swamps and got rid of a lot of the diseases associated with them.They cleared a portion of the woods and turned them into farms.
It was a labor of love and sweat and tears.
These environmentalists wish to create the landscape of the past which excludes man.
That's a step backward not forward.
While I'm at it, these uncontrollable burning forests are a rude awakening to the environmentalists who go around screaming...don't touch our forests.
Let's get back to reality.
To you insane environmentalists....get a job.
Sac
Due to the endangered species act, timber companies were not allowed to log and this created HUGE amounts of fuel in the national forests. Nature has restored the balance, at a dreadful cost
The worst thing we can do is listen to the enviro green weenie assholes.
Yeah, sure. First, endangered and now an historical treasure. What's next, sainthood?
America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)
Hypothetical: You own land in Pittsburg, California. You have a house and a pond on your land. There is no law against you filling in the pond to build a tennis court or a barn or whatever. You find out, with absolute certainty, that your pond is the home to the last surviving colony of California Red-Legged Frogs. By filling in your pond you know, beyond a doubt, the frogs will be gone forever.
Question: Would you fill in the pond anyway?
YES
Of course they are nuts, but the real fools are the people who give serious consideration to them, their opinions, and their policies. If these environmentalists could be ignored, their ravings would be of no consequence. Unfortunately however, there are enough stupid people paying attention to them to make them dangerous.
Before they came out to inspect it, he cut down several trees around the pond and used a backhoe to rip out the stumps. He said he wouldn't have been allowed to touch them if the commission knew they were there.
Not only would I'll fill the pond in, I'll sell my property (the frogs) to the nearest French Restaurant to help pay for my new tennis court.
They ARE FROGS.
It's cheap, it's easy, and it works every time.
California red-legged frog
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.