Free Republic

Contrary to common sense, at Lake Tahoe, 'temporary' is spelled f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Posted Jan. 21, 2002 By Harold Johnson "But at my back I always hear Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near." Poet Andrew Marvell's reminder that life is short has special poignancy when you consider the hundreds of owners of small parcels near Lake Tahoe, who have grown old waiting for permission to build retirement or vacation homes on their land. In early January, the Supreme Court heard a lawsuit brought by these landowners. The lawsuit challenges a construction ban in the Tahoe area that was imposed in 1981 and continues ...

A good detective story usually begins with a bang, a murder, a body, an interesting character or a dark and stormy night. But great mystery stories are as much about character and motivation as they are about intrigue and whodunit. Great detectives are observers; they don't pass up the details, dichotomies and small inconsistencies that lead to solving the mystery. They also see and incorporate patterns of behavior in solving that mystery. In the end, the ultimate answer is usually a complex of simplicity. But it is only simple once all the parts of the mystery and puzzle are put ...

Just received the latest email advisory from PLFoundation, re Klamath crisis: Commentary and news from Pacific Legal Foundation (www.pacificlegal.org) The PLF Sentry Vol. 2, No. 4, February 6, 2002 PLF ARGUES COMMON SENSE ON COHO SALMON Pacific Legal Foundation this week filed a federal lawsuit to remove Klamath Basin coho salmon from the federal endangered species list. PLF asked for review by Judge Michael J. Hogan, who issued a landmark ruling last year in favor of PLF's request to delist Oregon coastal salmon. PLF's argument is pure common sense: Klamath salmon aren't imperiled because they're born in abundance in local ...

<p>Last summer, about 1,400 drought-stricken farmers in the Klamath Basin got sucker-punched by scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Marine Fisheries Service — literally. Their irrigation taps were turned off because bureaucrats presumed that any release of water would result in too-low water levels in Klamath Lake and too-slow flows of the Klamath River for the threatened salmon and sucker fish that reside therein. (It wasn't as if the farmers had been suckered into buying bad land — the waterways, which stretch from Oregon into Northern California, they wanted to tap into had been open for nearly 100 years.) Consequently, their harvests failed. Worse, more than 20 farmers are expected to have their lands auctioned off to pay debts, and the regional community lost between $134 million and $200 million. Now it appears that those farmers were sucked dry for no purpose.</p>

Lawsuit filed to remove Klamath Basin salmon from endangered list Wednesday, February 06, 2002 By Andrew Kramer, Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. — A law firm that successfully sued to remove Oregon coastal coho salmon from the endangered species list filed a lawsuit Tuesday to remove the same protection for Klamath Basin coho salmon. The Pacific Legal Foundation filed the federal lawsuit in Eugene and asked for a review by Judge Michael J. Hogan, who ruled in favor of the firm in the coastal coho case. Coho salmon and sucker fish were at the center of last year's water dispute that ...

G'day, As part of the FR Network, I have had set up a Land Rights forum for use by activists. I am the owner of the board. If you would like to join, please FRmail me so i can add you to it! I expect this to be very useful (as FR itself has been). Deus Vult! 'Pod

Forest Service to probe road allegations By JEFFRY MULLINS, Associate Editor ELKO -- Forest Service Supervisor Bob Vaught has called for an investigation into allegations the agency tried to deceive Elko County officials on the status of a road cutting through private property. The county's complaints were aired in a Jan. 24 article in the Elko Daily Free Press. Commissioner Brad Roberts claimed the Forest Service submitted bogus maps and a phony affidavit to support its claim of a public right-of-way on a section of the road near the Humboldt National Forest border. A Jan. 30 letter from Vaught, ...

<p>Drought stricken farmers cheered the release Monday of a report saying that a federal decision to favor fish over crops last summer in southern Oregon wasn't based on sound science.</p> <p>The study by an arm of the National Academy of Sciences is a victory for farmers and a major development in one of the nation's most volatile environmental issues.</p>

For more than 30 years, Ed and Eva Gumbert's 230-acre farm on the Etowah River in north Cherokee County has been their sylvan haven. It was their weekend retreat from the clamor of the workaday world for the first 20 years. Then, after Ed Gumbert retired from his teaching job at Georgia State University in 1993, they sold their Atlanta home and moved permanently into a world of soaring hawks, majestic hardwood trees and unspoiled blue-ridged vistas. They cannot bear to think what the construction of the Northern Arc will do to it. The 59-mile, limited-access highway will slam four ...

Ready or NOT!, here I go: BACKGROUND:IN the recent Bicentennial celebrations, it has become popular to examine the contributions of the Founding Fathers of our country. The names of these individuals are well known to all Americans. Men such as George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson will be remembered as long as this country exists. Yet, one individual, who added much to our heritage and especially to the cause of liberty, is unknown to many people. This man is George Mason of Virginia. A brief examination of his life and contributions will remind us of the heritage of our ...

Review Finds Flaws in Federal Biological Opinions That Allowed Klamath Water CutoffThe Associated Press Feb. 3 A National Academy of Sciences report found that government scientists did not have enough evidence to issue biological opinions that led authorities to cut off irrigation water to farmers last summer to protect endangered and threatened fish. The academy reviewed biological opinions by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on endangered suckers in the Upper Klamath Lake and the National Marine Fisheries Service on threatened coho salmon in the Klamath River. A copy of the review was obtained by The Associated Press. The interim ...

Drought washes out: This year's snowpack is the best in February since 1974 By SCOTT MABEN&nbsp;The Register-Guard &nbsp;Recommend this story to others. &nbsp; WHAT DROUGHT? Mother Nature has delivered Oregon from one of the driest years on record to a year of ample mountain snowpacks, swollen rivers and the promise of full reservoirs this summer. Skiers, boaters, anglers, farmers and hydropower generators are seeing a swift return to normal conditions. If wet weather continues during the next two months, Oregon's brief bout with drought will be history for sure. Tom Finegan of the Natural Resources Conservation Service checks the depth ...

Rep. Greg Walden will be at the Klamath County Fairgrounds tomorrow at 3PM to announce the preliminary findings of the National Academy of Science. Word is the preliminary report is positive news for the irrigation community. Please pass the word along and attend tomorrows meeting. This is short notice, so we are relying on neighbors telling neighbors!

Analysis of Hage v. United States Lyman D. Bedford, Esq: 02.03.02 On January 29, 2002, Senior Judge Loren A. Smith issued his final opinion and findings of fact with respect to the property rights phase of Hage v. United States, which phase was tried in Reno, Nevada in October 1998, with post-trial oral arguments occurring in San Francisco in June 1999. At issue was the nature and scope of the Hages’ property rights on the federally managed grazing allotments appurtenant to the Hages’ Pine Creek Ranch. In his decision, Judge Smith found that the Hages owned extensive water rights ...

Utah governor sells out State's sovereignty By Charles Bloomer: 02.02.02 Utah governor Mike Leavitt, in his State of the State address last week, announced that he will formally ask President Bush to declare another national monument in Utah. Leavitt wants the federal government to take control of 620,000 acres of the San Rafael Swell, located in southeastern Utah. Gov. Leavitt opposed the creation of the 1.7 million acre Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument in 1996 when President Clinton created the monument through an Executive Order. Gov. Leavitt's opposition was based largely on the fact that Clinton had unilaterally ...

Battle is not just about fish SALMON: By trying to overturn protections, litigants seek to control the very idea of nature. By John Krist On the surface, the intensifying legal battle over just what constitutes an endangered species of Pacific salmon seems to be a conflict over water rights, land-use regulation, economic development, all the tedious issues that lawyers and public-policy wonks adore but which average citizens ignore. Look again. At a deeper level, the debate is one in which every American has a stake, for it is a battle for control of the language and imagery used to describe ...

News from the Committee on Resources U.S. House of Representatives Rep. James V. Hansen, Chairman 1324 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-6201 (202) 226-9019 For Immediate Release: Contact: Marnie Funk/Tracey Shifflett February 1,2002 202-226-9019 Resources Chairman Chides Green Scissors Groupfor Fanciful 2002 Report That Ignores America's Energy and Economic Realities Group's "Green" Agenda Means Countless Pink Slips for American Workers Washington, D.C. - House Resources Chairman James V. Hansen today condemned the Green Scissors 2002 Report for suggestions - that if followed - would damage the environment, further slow the U.S. economy and cost countless American jobs. The ...

Major Victory in Hage v. United Sates Landmark Takings Case Decided in Favor of Property Rights Sierra Times : 02.01.02 The long anticipated final decision on the property rights at issue in Hage v. United States, the takings case filed by Nevada ranchers, the Wayne Hage family, has finally been issued by Senior Judge, Loren A. Smith. On January 29th, Smith ruled Hage owns extensive property rights on his grazing allotments, specifically water rights, 1866 Act ditch rights of way, the right to have their livestock consume the forage adjacent to their waters and ditches and the right of ...

Reader response... Wetland Woes By Jeannie in Connecticut I read your website with great interest and would like to share my story. My husband is a firefighter and I am a full time stay at home mom to two small children. We are simple common blue collar folk with simple dreams and aspirations. My husband worked three jobs to get us out of a crime ridden town, and to the charming low crime town we now live in. It had always been our dream to own a larger home on a nice size piece of property. We thought we were ...

Solutions that Value People’s Lives, Not Extremist Hype, Must Dominate Klamath Water Planning Process Sierra Times 01.30.02 SACRAMENTO, California; January 29, 2001 — A noted Endangered Species Act attorney with the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation, which has been actively litigating on behalf of Klamath Basin farmers, Wednesday issued the following comments in response to the Bureau of Reclamation’s Draft Biological Assessment for the Klamath Project Operation. "It is important that we proceed with caution. The document we have in our hands today does not guarantee water deliveries, it does not guarantee a return to common sense, and it certainly ...