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By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court, sidestepping a major decision on the government's power to regulate clean water, told a Florida court Tuesday to reconsider a pollution dispute involving the Everglades. The ruling extends a six-year fight between the 500-member Miccosukee Indian tribe and a water district the Indians accuse of illegally dumping pollutants into Florida's Everglades. The South Florida Water Management District's pump west of Fort Lauderdale dumps as much as 423,000 gallons a minute of polluted runoff from suburban lawns, farms and industrial yards into the Everglades, including 189,000 acres the state...

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Dear Editor: I am livid!!!! I just found out from my daughter that she has been forced for the last two days and will have to continue again tomorrow to watch the lying communist documentary by the liar and traitor to this the greatest country ever, the United States, entitled “Bowling for Columbine”! I have “tolerated” her statements to my daughter and her classmates, that...”President Bush did not win the election, that he stole it, that Gone With the Wind was the biggest farce of a movie ever because the battlefield scenes never happened, and white women were not terrified...

mad cow Is it just me or does anyone else find it amazing that our government can track a cow born in Canada almost three years ago, right to the stall where she sleeps in the state of Washington. Also they track her calves to their stalls. But they are unable to locate 11 million illegal aliens wandering around our country.

December 11, 2003 NBC’s Russert: W.Va. will be key in ’04 vote By Dave Gustafson STAFF WRITER Tim Russert, moderator and producer of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” told members of the Charleston Regional Chamber of Commerce that West Virginia will be critical ground for presidential candidates in 2004. “If Al Gore had won West Virginia [in 2000], he’d be president today,” Russert said Wednesday at the Chamber’s annual dinner meeting. “This was a state [Democrats] thought they had in the bag,” he said at a pre-dinner media conference. “For the first time since Hoover, this state went with the Republican.”...

There you go again, Ho-ward. For the second time in as many months, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean has sparked a controversy, this time with a veiled dig at Southerners. In an interview Thursday with Katie Couric on "The Today Show," he took a poke at southerners in general, and Republicans in particular. "(Republicans) used issues like guns, prayer in school, gay rights, abortion rights - all these divisive issues," Dean told his television interviewer. "What I'm going to say to voters everywhere, but particularly Southern voters is, 'Look, we're going to have to disagree on some of these issues.'"...

'Open Fields' bill would pay farmers to open lands to public use Do you think landowners should be able to receive public funds for letting hunters, bird-watchers and other outdoor enthusiasts use their land? Senators have introduced a bill that would fund state programs to do just that. The "Open Fields" bill was introduced by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), and is co-sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan, Mark Dayton, Max Baucus, Mike Enzi, Tim Johnson, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and Tom Harkin. Harkin today called the bill a win-win for landowners and outdoor enthusiasts. Open Fields,...

August 13, 2003 State may regulate community-sponsored programs in schools By Eric Eyre STAFF WRITER Want to read a book to kids in a West Virginia school? You might have to fill out an “educational impact form,” prove the story is “non-controversial” and ensure that it meets the state’s education goals, according to a state Department of Education proposal. What’s more, your request will likely be scrutinized by a local school council, county school board and superintendent. State Board of Education members want to restrict educational programs sponsored by community groups in schools. But some community activists and education leaders...

Homestead Land and Water Alliance 12752 Platti Road Tracy, CA 95304 (209)835-7974 "mailto:sharon@inreach.com"sharon@inreach.com June 7, 2003 Dear Editor, A recent Tracy Press article, “County to Benefit From New Agriculture Program” sounded so philanthropic! It spoke of a program, PACE (Purchasing Agricultural Conservation Easements), developed by Great Valley Center and American Farmland Trust, two big Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) to help save the poor farmers in their time of need. These NGO’s are going to give farmers “a nice lump sum of money that they can use to improve their operation or for anything they want”. A major problem with these ‘free...

Sharon Votaw April 21, 2003 My husband and I bought some farmland in the California Delta over 30 years ago. This is prime agricultural land with deep, rich soils, ample water and a long growing season. In the beginning we would plant a crop; either beans or tomatoes or alfalfa, hay, wheat, corn, oats or barley. Then we hoped for favorable weather and a strong market. Farming has always been gambler’s choice. Some years were good and some years were lean, but we paid our bills and enjoyed life. Unbeknownst to us, in the early 1990’s the government again became...

Lower Greenbrier River Byway Wins Grant to Make Plan by Chris Chanlett The Lower Greenbrier River Byway project is awaking from a long winter’s nap. Recently the West Virginia Department of Transportation informed the group that its grant application to write a Corridor Management Plan [ this is the whole problem right here, they get the money , write up their plan, then the WVDOH and The NPS, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife and so on, come into play, rip up the local’s plan, and then goes to the process of Environmental Impact Plans, that turn out to not get...

National Park Service ...Friend or Foe? What an interesting question! We have all been reared to believe that the NPS was so good for the preservation and conservation of lands for the protection of future generations. Well, many have screamed out against the NPS since around the early 70’s, but their voices fell on deaf ears or those ears that did not have the time or inclination to listen. And of course the lack of media coverage to bring the pro’s and con’s to the awareness level of the public commons....those of us that live on the land and really...

National Park Service ...Friend or Foe? What an interesting question! We have all been reared to believe that the NPS was so good for the preservation and conservation of lands for the protection of future generations. Well, many have screamed out against the NPS since around the early 70’s, but their voices fell on deaf ears or those ears that did not have the time or inclination to listen. And of course the lack of media coverage to bring the pro’s and con’s to the awareness level of the public commons....those of us that live on the land and really...

Property rights activists are worried that a renewed push to combat non-native “invasive species” could end up granting massive new powers over private land to the federal government. “This could expand the federal government’s power far beyond what the Endangered Species Act has done,” said R.J. Smith, director of the Center for Private Conservation. “Few people have endangered species on their land. Almost everyone has non-native species.” Smith and other pro-private-property activists are keeping an eye on the Interior Department as it works on a major invasive species control proposal. Smith said environmentalists are trying to use the legitimate problems...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PARK WARS, PART 1 Debate roars over future of Yosemite Protesters, communities mobilize to fight Clinton-era anti-car plan -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: May 12, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: This is the first of a two-part series exploring the controversy surrounding a massive plan underway by the U.S. Park Service to reduce the level of human access to America's most beloved national park – Yosemite. In this installment, WND explains the history of the plan and the efforts of local communities to put a stop to it. By Sarah Foster © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com In late December 1996, a tropical storm...

Congress drew a circle around the 75,000 acres in the New River Gorge National River in 1978. It's taken the National Park Service (NPS) less than 25 years to take-over 65,000 of those acres. Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) just obtained more tax dollars for the NPS to take 6,800 more acres in the area, while Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV) got millions more for a new NPS visitor center, currently under construction, to serve as the front door to the New River Scenic Parkway. Some land is donated to the NPS (as required by law), some is bought outright, some is...

Something horrible is going on! How come our Flags are being jerked? How come cities across the country are pulling yellow ribbions and telling folks they can't post them? If they do, they can get fined? To Hell! It is time to stop this madness and place all the American Flags and Yellow Ribbons you want too!

KEEP IT TO YOURSELF Deborah Cannonie, Staff Writer March 28, 2003 . FIELDSBORO -- Diane Johnson found out the hard way that yellow ribbons make Mayor Edward "Buddy" Tyler see red. The borough mayor supports the council’s unanimous vote to outlaw any ribbons or other memorials for the American troops fightingin Iraq, if those ribbons are placed on public property because the government doesn’t want them there. "I’m shocked and outraged," Johnson said. "I can’t believe the mayor would force me to take down ribbons put there in honor of American troops, fighting for our freedom in Iraq." Johnson and...

PALESTINE — A West Virginia woman who joined the U.S. Army because there were few jobs in her native Wirt County is among a dozen soldiers reported missing after a supply convoy was ambushed in southern Iraq, her father said Monday. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, 19, of Palestine, works as a supply clerk with the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company, said her father, Greg Lynch. “The only thing they can tell us is she’s missing,” Lynch said. He said that an Army official, accompanied by State Police, came Sunday night to the family’s two-story white house, perched atop a hill along a...

Freepers! Please let this idiot know what you think about what he thinks! I am so ashamed this man is from WV! Here is his contact info: Beckley Office 106 Main St. Beckley, WV 25801 (304) 252-5000 (304) 252-9803 (Fax) Washington DC EMail Address: nrahall@mail.house.gov Washington DC Web Address: http://www.house.gov/rahall/ Top Stories Rahall says he supports troops, but not war By: Mannix Porterfield, Register-Herald Reporter March 25, 2003 Unconvinced Saddam Hussein ever posed any threat to the United States with mass-kill weapons, Rep. Nick Rahall pledged "1,000 percent" to coalition forces Monday and suggested he might return to the Middle...