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It's all about control of other people's lives and property. Big Government advocates love control.
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The Government has stepped up to a whole new level of deranged crazy by jailing an Oregon man for the heinous crime of – wait for it- collecting rainwater on his own property. ***GASP*** I don’t know why anyone would dare do something so egregious, but here you have it:
Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning to begin serving his 30-day, jail sentence in Medford, Ore.
“I’m sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty,” Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail.
Several people held signs that showed support for Harrington as he was taken inside the jail.
Harrington was found guilty two weeks ago of breaking a 1925 law for having, what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property. He was convicted of nine misdemeanors, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined over $1500 for collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property.
We have very strict laws about collecting rainwater to prevent someone of doing damage to the environment or to their neighboring property owners. It wouldn't have been hard for him to follow the guidelines and go the legal route to collect rainwater on his property if he wanted to.
Though that website is full of annoying pop up ads. Here is an article from the Oregonian, this tells you what actually happened and why he was jailed and fined, something the OP's article seems to omit.....also, the OP's link also seems to omit the date, this is from July 2012....so someone is a little late to this story.....
Jackson County man sentenced for illegal water diversion, ordered to breach dams
State Water Resources Department officials said Harrington has three dams across channels that cross his property outside of Medford and feed into Big Butte Creek. The creek is a tributary of the Rogue River.
Two of the dams stand about 10 feet high and the third is about 20 feet tall. Harrington stocked the reservoirs that formed behind the dams with trout and bluegill, built boat docks and used the ponds for fishing.
State officials estimated 40 acre-feet of water collected behind the dams, enough to fill nearly 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Officials are uncertain whether Harrington built the dams himself, ordered their construction, or if they were on the property when he bought it. At any rate, it is illegal to divert and store waters of the state without a permit.S
Until recently it was illegal to collect rainwater in Colorado. That guy wasn't "collecting rainwater" he blocked creeks and built his own reservoirs. Nice spin OP.
40 acre feet of rainwater. AND he was warned first. And the reason for Oregon doing this is to prevent people from damming up rivers etc and controlling the water.
( sorry, sometimes the inner five year old within me escapes, despite my best efforts to suppress him )
We all do it, most people won't admit it though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
It's all about control of other people's lives and property. Big Government advocates love control.
---------------------------
The Government has stepped up to a whole new level of deranged crazy by jailing an Oregon man for the heinous crime of – wait for it- collecting rainwater on his own property. ***GASP*** I don’t know why anyone would dare do something so egregious, but here you have it:
Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning to begin serving his 30-day, jail sentence in Medford, Ore.
“I’m sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty,” Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Ore.) Jail.
Several people held signs that showed support for Harrington as he was taken inside the jail.
Harrington was found guilty two weeks ago of breaking a 1925 law for having, what state water managers called “three illegal reservoirs” on his property. He was convicted of nine misdemeanors, sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined over $1500 for collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property.
As far as this guy, the headline makes it out to be like he just put a few buckets in his yard to collect rainwater. That's a lot different than what he actually did.
A press release (issued on 29 July 2012 by the Oregon Water Resources Department and published by Eugene television station KVAL) was prefaced with the information that it was "legal to collect rainwater off of surfaces like roofs or tarps, (but) property owners need to obtain permits before altering or collecting flowing bodies of water." Harrington's case was described as one that was far in excess of an individual's simple collection of rainwater:
Harrington stored and used water illegally by placing dams across channels on his property and preventing the flow of water out of these artificial reservoirs without obtaining a water right permit. The height of each dam varies; two dams stand about ten feet tall and the third stands about 20 feet tall...
...Finally, the laws in question are not new laws aimed at criminalizing water collection in Oregon or elsewhere; rather, the law that Harrington was found to be in violation of was passed in 1925, and the cited case involving Harrington's large (illegal) reservoirs was decided in 2007.
Oregon has always struck me as a very strange and weirdo'ish place. It's like a corrupt, left-wing, bizarre east-coast state....mistakenly stuck on the west coast.
Hi, I can't pump my own gas....... that's bizarro garbage that belongs on the trashy east-coast!
Until recently it was illegal to collect rainwater in Colorado. That guy wasn't "collecting rainwater" he blocked creeks and built his own reservoirs. Nice spin OP.
Your post is total lies. He was collecting rainwater that fell on HIS land.
Try reading the link again.
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